Chessington Zoo Chessington Zoo News 2018

Eric

Eric

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Just returned from a January 5th 2018 visit and i'm less than impressed. Zoo Days stated that the zoo would be fully open.

I wanted to take up the cheap winter Zoo Days offer of 16.00 entry whilst the amusements are closed,as i would not pay the greedy price of 49.00 in summer,even with the full park open (i'm a fan of zoos not theme parks)

Took me just over 90 minutes to walk around the zoo and aquarium.
Some of the animals were out,even on a cool day (=gorillas,fossa,lions,spider monkeys,meerkats,zorilla,penguins,sea lions,lion headed tamarins,dorcas gazelle,ocelot,great view of the binturong and squirrel monkeys ),but understandably the Sumatran Tigers,giraffe,eland,ankole,rhino,were not on view,even in their warm viewing dens.The zufari jeep ride was closed,so no rhinos on view.

There was a hell of a lot less animals that Chessington exhibit than i thought.There's more on show at Tilgate (smaller animals that is!) and Paradise Wildlife Park.!

Theres no longer a house(s) exhibiting reptiles or bugs.Two of the staff said that they are no longer in the zoos holdings (they did have some for the hallowe'en period),but i'm assuming there might be some on show during the summer months.?

Still,it was a pleasant hour and a half to waste when nothing to do,or having a love for animals,and reasonably good priced.
 
Well, I know precisely the person who would know if this is true or not..... I'll make enquiries.
 
' understandably the Sumatran Tigers,giraffe,eland,ankole,rhino,were not on view,even in their warm viewing dens.The zufari jeep ride was closed,so no rhinos on view.'

I haven't been since the Zufari jeep ride was introduced and the giraffe arrived but there was an African section and surely it wouldn't take much planning to have access to those animals when visiting on a 'Zoo Day'. Tigers off show too?
 
Pacu said:
' understandably the Sumatran Tigers,giraffe,eland,ankole,rhino,were not on view,even in their warm viewing dens.The zufari jeep ride was closed,so no rhinos on view.'

I haven't been since the Zufari jeep ride was introduced and the giraffe arrived but there was an African section and surely it wouldn't take much planning to have access to those animals when visiting on a 'Zoo Day'. Tigers off show too?
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The tigers were on show,but must have been hiding when i went past their enclosure. I'm assuming the giraffe were either locked up off show because Zufari was closed,or they did not fancy coming out that day/.
 
Pacu said:
' understandably the Sumatran Tigers,giraffe,eland,ankole,rhino,were not on view,even in their warm viewing dens.The zufari jeep ride was closed,so no rhinos on view.'

I haven't been since the Zufari jeep ride was introduced and the giraffe arrived but there was an African section and surely it wouldn't take much planning to have access to those animals when visiting on a 'Zoo Day'. Tigers off show too?
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The website suggests during 'Zoo Days' to visit the Wanyama Village & Reserve, where Grevy's Zebra and the rare Scimitar Horned Oryx roam... ...which suggests the area is open.
 
If it is the same as previous years, the Wanyama village area is open, but this is not the same as the Zufari area (with the rhinos and giraffe) which is only accessible via the guided tours. You can usually see across to the Zufari area, but with very limited view, especially from the main car park; this is how I've usually seen the giraffes on winter Zoo Days.
 
I visited on a zoo day in November and the Eland, Zebra and Ankole Watusi were all on display in the Wanyama Village section (the Africa area with thee hornbills, meerkats, mongoose etc.)

If you check the website I think the only ones that should not seen in the Wanyama village are the Rhinos, giraffe, greater flamingo, blesbok and oryx.

Zufari List:
Chessington World of Adventures Resort

Wanyama Village List:
Chessington World of Adventures Resort


Also, the Sumatran tigers were on display when I visited, so they aren't offshow on zoodays. Maybe they were just in hiding!
 
Crowthorne said:
If it is the same as previous years, the Wanyama village area is open, but this is not the same as the Zufari area (with the rhinos and giraffe) which is only accessible via the guided tours. You can usually see across to the Zufari area, but with very limited view, especially from the main car park; this is how I've usually seen the giraffes on winter Zoo Days.
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I don't think we disagree with each other here. I wasn't disputing that Zufari was closed but Pacu seemed under the impression that the Wanyama Reserve was off-show too. The evidence from the website and an eye-witness account suggest its not.
 
I’ve posted a photo of the zoo map for this winter’s zoo days in the Chessington Zoo media section .
 
Visit today and really not much has changed. Porcupines have left the collection, their enclosure now has a striped skunk. The group of Lak Alaotra Lemurs seem to be down to two, at least two others seemed to be visible in an off-show enclosure behind the dik-diks. It seemed busier than usual, but that might be because it was half term and some of the rides were running. The location of the new tiger enclosure doesn't look very close to the main zoo area so will be interesting to see if and how that will be accessed in future winter zoo days, or if it will be off-limits like the Zufari ride with the rhinos.
 
Crowthorne said:
Visit today and really not much has changed. Porcupines have left the collection, their enclosure now has a striped skunk. The group of Lak Alaotra Lemurs seem to be down to two, at least two others seemed to be visible in an off-show enclosure behind the dik-diks. It seemed busier than usual, but that might be because it was half term and some of the rides were running. The location of the new tiger enclosure doesn't look very close to the main zoo area so will be interesting to see if and how that will be accessed in future winter zoo days, or if it will be off-limits like the Zufari ride with the rhinos.
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I also noticed those two Lac Alaotra Lemurs in the offshow exhibits backing onto the Wanyama village. I wonder why they've been separated?

I also think the new tiger enclosure is going to be quite large and considered it's own area (like trail of kings or Wanyama Village), their Facebook shows some images of themed decorations etc. and they've put a lot of advertising into it. I also believe there's going to be a themed ride next to the exhibits. This makes me believe that it'll probably be open on zoo days as it isn't just an exhibit plonked in the middle of some rides, but rather, it's own section of the resort. There's four new Amur tigers after all, it has to be quite big!
 
Four new Amur tigers have arrived at the zoo in preparation for the opening of the new Tiger Rock attraction.

The four tigers have come from Sweden and are named Olga, Tsar, Kalinka and Kyra. They're currently offshow until the opening of their exhibit on 5th of May.
 
Crowthorne said:
Not too many changes since my last visit in 2016, mostly just cosmetic changes like new artworks by the tigers and lions, the replacement of the wildlife area next to the Fossas with more fake rockwork, that kind of thing.

The Grevy's Zebras have been separated due to infighting

Saw Fossa male Sambara and the new female (whose name escapes me), still in adjoining but separate enclosures. No sign of the older female Perinet.

Three lion cubs doing well

Four Kirk's Dik-Dik visible in the rear half of their enclosure

No sign of the Southern Ground Hornbill, a new indoor area has been built onto the existing house.

The Lynx have gone and their enclosure is undergoing refurbishment.

First time I've ever seen Common Eland. These may have been just brought in from the main Reserve enclosure though.

Two Ankole Cattle have joined the collection.

Lovebirds have gone.
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tennisfan said:
Couple of changes
Looks like the female Fossa has gone , the male Fossa has access to both areas currently.
There is a Caracal in the back enclosure behind the Serval enclosure.[/QUOTE

Not sure if you will be interested, but I was Keeper-in-Charge of birds at Chessington Zoo in 1960. After gaining more experience with mammals I was made Assistant-Head Keeper in 1962. I left and emigrated to Australia in 1963, where I continued to work with native species.
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To confirm, is the serval in the refurbished lynx enclosure? And says on zootierlieste they now have caracal, anyone heard about this?

And any news about the tiger enclosure opening?

Thanks
 
The Tiger enclosure will open in May - the Tiger's themselves arrived from Kolmarden back in February. A group of four related Amur's. The Sumatran's are staying in the existing enclosure
 
zootiger said:
To confirm, is the serval in the refurbished lynx enclosure? And says on zootierlieste they now have caracal, anyone heard about this?

And any news about the tiger enclosure opening?

Thanks
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The former lynx enclosure is split into two. The serval is 'on-show' at the front, and a caracal can be seen in the rear half.
 
the former Fossa enclosures appear to be being renovated. there are some hints on the Chessington Facebook page recently as to what the new arrivals might be.

The fossa appears to have moved to Paris (Vincennes] according to zootierliste
 
tennisfan said:
the former Fossa enclosures appear to be being renovated. there are some hints on the Chessington Facebook page recently as to what the new arrivals might be.

The fossa appears to have moved to Paris (Vincennes] according to zootierliste
Click to expand...

Oh this is sad news, the Fossa were my main reason for ever visiting Chessington, they were particularly showy after 2pm on Zoo Days. At one talk last year (spring 2017), soon after they got the new female, they were planning on putting her with the male with hopes of breeding. Seems this didn't work out, so a real shame to hear they have gone.

Just checked the Facebook, and the hints on there indicate the Fossa will be replaced with Margay.
 
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