This evening there was a Members' meeting at Chester Zoo concerning the Heart of Africa project. It was available for members to stream live on the internet. I signed up to do this. The meeting was interesting, but some of the sound quality was very poor, and although there was a slide show, no images were available.
Heart of Africa is the first phase of Grasslands and was first proposed in 2010. Plannng started in 2017. Opening is expected to be Spring 2025. The construction people will vacate the site in October 2024, after which animals will move in and be acclimatised to their new homes.
The new savannah area will house Rothschild's Giraffe, Grevy's Zebra, Roan Antelope, Ostrich and Blesbok. Mixing of zebras with some of the other species has begun in the offshow zoo.
At the entrance to Heart of Africa will be a new Meerkat enclosure, loosly where the monorail station used to be.
Next will be the Flamingo Aviary and Cranes. Around 150 Greater Flamingos will live here. The Aviary will be rebuilt. 40 years of silt was removed from the lake which was too deep for flamingos. The new pond is shallower and the nesting island will hve water flow controlled by sluices so that the islkand cn be drained or floodes as the birds require. The feeding pool is roofed to protect the area from the droppings of wild birds potentially infected by avian influenza per DEFRA instructions.
Aardvarks will move to a larger exhibit now taking shape at the western end of the zoo, the old Aardvark enclosure will house Mongooses. No species was mentioned but I think the Dwarf Mongoose will move there. Porcupines, Dik-Dik, Owls (the zoo has Verreaux's or Milky Eagle Owls (if anyone has not seen this species they have amazing pink eyelids), Lovebirds (Peach-faced I think), Warthogs and Bat-eared Foxes will also be on show.
The zoo is built on clay soil going down to a depth of 3 metres, so it gets very wet. A large amount of money has been spent on the Savannah Enclosure to improve drainage so the animals may be more visible outside. Feeding poles similar to those in the elephant paddock will hopefully make the animals more visible. The giraffe House is 10 metres tall,
It was hoped that the silt removed during the summer would dry out and could be used to make the mounds in the savannah enclosure. The wet summer weather put paid to this idea, and also caused problems for the builders. However construction seems to be on time.
The new Vulture Aviary has nest boxes positioned to face the early morning sun and shelter the birds from the winds that blow across the zoo. It will be nice to have Vulture chicks for the first time in 80 years.
All the species from Tsavo Aviary will return.
There willl be no fish in the first phase, the zoo cannot afford any aquaria at the moment.
The hotel area will have 51 lodges each sleeping from 2 to 6 people. It should be finished sometime between April and May 2025.
Before Heart of Africa opens in Spring 2025 the zoo intends to hold a members preview just as they did for Islands.
The zoo also intends to have a members preview of the Snow Leopard enclosure. The Snow Leopards will go on show shortly after arrival. No date was given which makes me think there is no date yet for their arrival. They will be quarantined on show. The standoff will have to be moved back 2 metres from the fence during the quarantine period.
Chester Zoo will shortly begin preliminary planning for African Forest zone. No plans exist for Western Lowland Gorillas for the forseeable future. Nothing has been decided about the use of the old Giraffe House yet although several options exist. In fact the speaker is due to attend a meeting about that very subject tomorrow.
