Great Quarantine Getaway

If you, like me, are from Sofia, or just visiting the city, the Sofia Zoo is the perfect place to spend an afternoon surrounded by lovely animals and nature! It accepts visitors 365 days a year and is currently open, despite the measures against COVID 19.

The last time I’d visited the zoo was right after Christmas. Me and my boyfriend were tired of staying in the house and stuffing ourselves with the ton of Holiday leftovers and just needed a break from watching movies and drinking wine. Usually, we would just go to the mall for a walk and some shopping, or to the Largo Di Serdika for a hookah. But due to the Coronavirus measures in Bulgaria all of our go-to places were currently closed (they still are), so we had to think of something different. Then, I heard from a relative that the zoo is going to be open all throughout Christmas and, although we were a bit skeptical of visiting an outdoor site in the winter, we decided to put on some cozy clothes and go anyways.

If you never been to the Sofia Zoo, it is a large park that covers 89 acres located in the outskirts of the city. It was founded by royal degree on 1 May 1888 and, although it had moved locations several times in order to facilitate its ever-growing collection of inhabitants, it is now the largest and oldest zoological park on the Balkan Peninsula. It hosts 2150 animals of 237 species, 29 of which are endangered. The Zoo is also one of The 100 Touristic Places – a list, featuring the best natural and historical sights in Bulgaria.

One thing I really like abut this zoo is the fact it is really affordable. The entrance fee is just 4 BGN ( around 2 EUR) for adults and even lower for senior citizens, children, and students. This is the reason it was not lacking visitors despite the chilly weather – there were a lot of families with children and other couples. It is open from 8:30 in the morning until 16:30 for the winter season. The snacks facilities near the main entrance were also open, so we managed to grab some hot dogs and water and started our visit.

The previous time I went to the zoo a couple of years back, they were renovating the monkeys’ enclosure and it was closed. Now it is done and it is simply amazing! There are much larger outdoors spaces for the primates to play in, with a lot of climbing structures and real vegetations.

I was really impressed by the beautiful mural by the world-famous painter Stanislav Trifonov, best known as Nasimo. When I was researching it, it turned out it is decorating the enclosure of the bear Liam, and the colors, used for the painting, are chosen to be as close as possible to its natural habitat. For our disappointment, Liam himself was hiding somewhere from the cold, but we will definitely go and visit him again later during this year, when a female bear from Singapore is going to join him in his renovated home.

One of the most interesting animals for us was the black panther Okichuko – his name means “A Gift from God” in an African language. This impressive gentleman was born in the Sofia Zoo in 1996 and is 24 years old – the life expectancy for his kind is 20 years. Although he is elderly, he still impresses his admirers by walking next to the glass of his outside enclosure. The zoo staff had left a note letting visitors know of his advanced age and pointing out he is undergoing physicals therapy. On the website of his adopters – “Sveta Sofia”, a private primary school, I have found the amazing story of his father – Ebony. He was born in Canada, but then came to live in Bulgaria in an apartment in Plovdiv. In order not to scare somebody, the black panther was walked on the city streets late at night. In 1986 he was donated to the zoo by his owner, who continued to visit him every Saturday for the next 13 years and to bring him 5 kilos of beef (his daily meal). What a story!

My personal favorite animals in the entire zoo are the cute and small coypus that live in an enclosure near the Big Cats. The hippo Norman (27), the rhino Chico (36), and the elephant Artaida (57) – the only one of its kind in Bulgaria, are some of the oldest and most interesting inhabitants the zoo has to offer. Th tiger is just magnificent as well.

Unfortunately, due to COVID 19 measures the inside part of the zoo (The Big Cats House, Terrarium and Aquarium, The Elephant House, and some of the Monkey Houses) are temporarily closed. This is not big of a problem, as there are plenty of animals to visit that are visible in the outside enclosures. It took us about two and a half hours to see everything, but in the spring and summer, when the weather is a bit better and ice cream is offered at the numerous kiosks around the park, we would have stayed longer.

Another thing that might improve the experience would be if they were selling small packages of food and the visitors were allowed to feed some of the animals. This is done in Greece, Spain, UAE and makes the visit to the zoo much more exciting.

The Sofia Zoo is an institution worth admiring. They are often in the news with their nice initiatives – like having free access days for the International Children’s Day or the Day of Sofia, organizing workshops for children, a birthday party for the 57th b-day of the elephant, or giving Christmas presents full of treats to the monkeys. If you are an animal lover, do not hesitate to support them by participating in their adoption program, which allows adopters to be included in the process of improvement of animal welfare. Or just visit them – 4 levs is a small price to pay for an amazing day amongst the animals!

Photos: Personal Archive