Zoos

Zoo Łódź with the Orientarium

In the Łódź Park na Zdrowiu, at Konstantynowska 8/10, runs a zoological garden that in 2022 underwent a transformation on a European scale. Zoo Łódź, founded in 1938 and comprehensively rebuilt in 2022, is known today above all for the Orientarium — an all-year, two-level pavilion devoted to the fauna of Southeast Asia, occupying half of the garden’s area.

The underwater world of the Orientarium

The heart of the pavilion is an oceanarium with an underwater tunnel through which sharks and rays swim over the visitors’ heads. Around it unfolds Southeast Asia: Sumatran orangutans, sun bears, langurs, geladas, pygmy hippos and Amur tigers. The star of the garden is Kraken — the largest gharial crocodile in Europe, measuring 5 metres and still growing, living here with his partner Penelopa. You can watch the elephants up close during bathing with feeding, every day at 11:00 and 15:30 — led by Aleksander, over 40 years old, the largest in the herd.

From Borut to EAZA

The zoo’s history began in 1938; its first inhabitant was the deer Borut, and in 1944 more than 500 animals lived here. Today the institution belongs to WAZA (since 1975), Species360 (since 1991) and EAZA (since 1993), and its collection is distinguished by koendu antelopes — the only ones in Poland — and rarely kept Asiatic lions.

In practice

The zoo is open daily 9:00–18:00, in winter until 17:00. The car park at the entrance is paid (PLN 20). Children under 3 enter free, as do persons with disabilities up to 16 with a guardian; discounts apply, among others, with the Large Family Card, and one-day and annual tickets can be bought on site and online. Feeding shows: red pandas 11:30, orangutans 13:00, otters 14:00, camels 16:00. The grounds are pushchair-friendly — lifts operate in the Orientarium.