"Like a Hidden World”: SA Man Explores Abandoned Groote Schuur Zoo in Cape Town and Stuns Mzansi

• The Property Knight's Julian Justus de Villiers stumbled upon a forgotten zoo hidden in the slopes of Cape Town's Devil's Peak
• The graffiti-covered Groote Schuur Zoo, which closed in the late 1970s, sat overgrown with rusted cages and crumbling stone structures
• South Africans flooded the comments with childhood memories of visiting the zoo on Sunday afternoons

A Cape Town content creator has sent locals on a wave of nostalgia after filming a visit to the city's long-forgotten Groote Schuur Zoo on 17 August 2026. Julian Justus de Villiers, known online as The Property Knight, shared a selfie-style video of the abandoned site on Facebook, and it quickly caught fire.

The zoo sits on the slopes of Devil's Peak, along Rhodes Drive near the University of Cape Town. In the video, de Villiers navigates crumbling staircases, rusted enclosures covered in graffiti, and thick overgrowth that has slowly swallowed the structures whole. He described the feeling of walking through the place as "like the beginning of a horror movie," though the tone shifted between eerie and playful as he explored with a companion.

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Cape Town's hidden ruin

The Groote Schuur Zoo operated for decades before closing in the late 1970s. According to commenters, some of the animals kept there were used in research at UCT, and the zoo earned a troubled reputation in its final years. One viewer recalled that the closure came after reports of animal neglect.

What struck de Villiers most was that the site appeared completely untouched and deserted. Standing inside one of the stone enclosures, he could not hide his amazement: "It's like a hidden world."

View the Facebook video below:

Mzansi remembers Sunday trips to the Zoo

South Africans took to the page with memories of visits to the zoo as children:

Gloria Taylor wrote:

"The best zoo is a closed zoo."

Sam Carelse shared:

"My parents took us to that zoo in the 70's. The zoo is located close to UCT."

Deon Halls confirmed:

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"It was called the Groote Schuur Zoo and closed in the late 70's."

Felicite Burger recalled:

"If I remember correctly zoo got closed as animals were neglected. Remember going there as a child."

Ronni Goodier Vanderbyl said:

"Even as a child in the 60's I felt sad for the animals... my sister got too close to the chimp cage, got her jersey grabbed..."

Bernard Patrick remembered:

"Yeah take me back years ago. We used to walk from Athlone to that zoo."

Ella Bauer added:

"I used to go there as a little girl as well as the tea garden restaurant next to Rhodes Memorial for the yummiest scones."

More Briefly News stories on zoo's

• A Nigerian zoo left Mzansi in stitches after a family visiting the attraction discovered that some of the animals on display were fake.
• A 3-year-old boy was left critically injured after a stranger allegedly threw him into a crocodile enclosure at a UK zoo, with the suspect arrested.
• A South African woman criticised the deteriorating conditions at the state-owned Pretoria Zoo, prompting Mzansi to call for government intervention.

Source: Briefly News