Mr Gharial's zoo design
- Thread starter Mr Gharial
- Start date
AmazonianHippo
Well-Known Member
You've held on for this long.... you can hold on for 7 more days....
I can't wait!
Thank you @Platypusboy, @AmazonianHippo and @MClaeys for helping me make sure this post goes on the next page so you don't have to scroll all the way down the page
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Well, I’m back! I’d love to say I took some time to do absolutely nothing but I have, in fact, beenworking on a different project that’s about just as gruelling struggling through executive dysfunction and writer's block. But I’m back! I did try to make it work narratively to get to part 7 without going through the cave and such, but that didn’t quite work unfortunately, so we will actually be doing part of the cavern route before heading to part 7, even if that unfortunately means the full cavern page won’t work as well later on.
Through parts 3-6 we’ve seen the full main route of O Rio Dourado, but that’s not all there is. As we saw in the full overview of the Greenhouse at the end of part 6, there’s still a decent chunk of greenhouse in the top area of the map that is missing.
Let’s head back in time for a bit. All the way to part 3 of O Rio Dourado back in… Oh god, February?! Man, this has taken a while… Anyway, we’re back under the Jaguar archway where, instead of heading right into the jungle, we head left towards the large cavern mouth.
Well… That was certainly… Strange…
Anyway, we exit the cave, and are greeted by the sight of the jungle again:
With the cave having taken us downward, we can see that our current path is in a bit of a dip. On the right hand side of our path there’s a rock ledge with dense planting on top, blocking our view to the other side. This rock ledge is quickly followed up by a large glass panel, providing underwater viewing to the small river, right next to the Monkey and Porcupine island.
This section of the river mostly has smaller fish species, as they’d have to make it up the small rapids area next to the monkey island. The stingrays, larger cichlids and slower catfish aren’t able to navigate the fish staircase, creating a bit of a sanctuary for the smaller tetras and dwarf cichlids of the small river area. Among the Amazon sword plants filling this shallow river section, we can see Emperor tetras, Jewel tetras and a few Corydoras. There’s also a group of Altum angelfish, which have been purposely released into the upper section of the small river to keep them away from the more aggressive fish in the lower section.
From the back of the river, we can see a large species of suckermouth catfish swim to the glass. The Green phantom pleco, appropriately named for its hauntingly green colour with white spots, sticks itself to the glass to clean up some of the green residue. We do try to clean the windows in Rio Dourado as often as we can, but the last scheduled cleanup seems to have been a bit ago…
As we follow the turn back towards the cliff face and look upward, we can see the large structures that make the signature piece of this part of O Rio Dourado. We’ve seen these wooden behemoths before, as we also came across them in parts 4 and 6 of the Amazon project. A total of 9 grand watchtowers can be found in the middle section of the greenhouse, interconnected by multiple bridges and boardwalks. Made with a combination of wooden panels, logs and some clay walls, the Pikin Meti towers give off a bit of a dishevelled vibe. As if they started collapsing years ago, and have been patched up over time. They’re also heavily inspired by the climbing course in Wildlands, Emmen:
They differ in the fact that they have an open top for viewing the canopy, and are rounded instead of fully square. Some extra references:
We’ve been teasing this for long enough now… Let’s head in and finally see the Pikin Meti towers for ourselves…
Stepping inside, we are immediately greeted by a tall terrarium. A very, very tall terrarium, in fact. The middle of the climbing tower, from top to bottom, is occupied by a gigantic, cylindrical terrarium surrounded by a staircase to the top floor. The inside of the terrarium is decorated like an ancient tree trunk, full of gaps, rough patches and loose bark, filled to the brim with epiphytes and climbing plants. Walking up the spiral staircase, the banisters are covered in repeating signage. 12 invertebrates and 5 small frog species call this terrarium home.
At the bottom layer, which is planted with some ferns and mosses, we can see a pair of Splashback poison frogs, which we’ve also seen free-roaming in the greenhouse. Going further up, we can discover more and more species over time. A South American giant snail can be seen climbing the glass heading upwards. Hidden between the tree and a piece of loose bark, we can just barely make out the carapace of a Chestnut-backed Hercules beetle.
We head further and further up the spiral staircase, spotting more of the small inhabitants of the giant terrarium, including some grasshoppers, stick insects and some Blue poison dart frogs. Eventually, we come across a gateway to outside, a small sign above it says “kwattapassi”. As we look through we can see that this is part of the hanging route, made mostly for children but also big enough for adults to climb through with ease, the Kwattapassi (path of the spider monkey) consists of hanging bridges, ropes and nets, suspended tens of meters into the air. All secured, of course. With netting small enough to hold phones and shoes, should anything drop (you should still be careful of your keys and coins).
We decide that we would prefer to see the top of the tower first, so instead of going the adventure route we head further and further up the spiral staircase all the way to the tippy top of the grand looking tower.
Coming up to the top we are greeted with a gorgeous, panoramic view of the canopy of the rainforest. We take a short moment to just sit back and enjoy the sounds of the rainforest. We can hear the muffled sound of the waterfall, just on the other side of the table mountain. Some parrots screeching in the distance. And the recogniseable call of the Screaming piha. At a safe distance, this time.
Since I can't find any examples of terrariums or towers done the way I've made them here, I made my own reference photo. Here's an overview of the inside of the towers:
Turning our backs to the canopy panorama, we can see that the giant terrarium does indeed reach all the way to the thatch roof of the tower. We can also see that the back of the looking tower has an opening, allowing us to walk onto the table mountain that the tower is built into.
We walk off the wooden platform and onto the forest path. The foliage on top of the mountain is a bit different from the foliage on the ground floor. Although we’re not exactly pressed against the roof of the greenhouse, there isn’t a lot of room for any large trees. So the landscape of the top of the table mountain is dominated by ground foliage, bushes and short trees.
To the left of our exit, a wall with an overhang and a large viewing window catches our attention. This finally gives us a good viewing point into the upper indoor Jaguar enclosure. As we could see in the beginning of our trip to the giant greenhouse, which is either 6 months or a few hours ago depending on how much you’re willing to play along here, the Jaguar that calls this exhibit home headed inside over the arch. Looking into the viewing window, we can see him lazily hanging about on a broken log, facing away from us. From here, we can also get a better look of the table mountain on the Jaguar’s side.
The foliage on the other side of the glass is scarce. A few slow-growing plants, and mostly herbs beyond that. It’s a lot harder to trim the plants on the inside of the Jaguar enclosure, so there’s been some very deliberate plants choices inside the exhibit. Besides some small, Amazonian conifers and ground-covering plants, there’s also a large section of the steel netting of the Jaguar’s enclosure that’s been taken over by climbing plants. These are removed once every few months to make sure they don’t shroud the entire enclosure in darkness, but also provide some nice cover for the Jaguars, as compensation for the lack of plants in comparison to the other indoor habitat. Right now, there’s quite a lot of light shining into the enclosure, as the climbing plants were removed only a few weeks ago.
Suddenly, some tweets to our right pull us away from the viewing window. We can see the small group of Yellow orioles again, chirping happily as they chase each other through the bushes. Some of them disappear into the backmost foliage. Since this section of O Rio Dourado is much calmer than the main path, it actually functions as nesting grounds for a few species, although they still nest further away from the path than we can currently see.
Heading back on track, we continue on our path on top of the table mountain. The path we walk on isn’t quite an adventure path, at least not to the same degree as the one heading up the mountain next to the river, but it definitely isn’t as well-kept as the main path. Partially because it’s practically impossible to get a path-cleaning machine up the towers, and partially because we want this path to just feel a bit more adventurous. It will probably cause strollers to shake if you move them too fast, but it’s not rough enough to be called inaccessible for wheelchair users.
Wait, wheelchair users? Up the table mountain? That’s right, despite us getting here via a long staircase, the Pikin Meti climbing route is partially wheelchair accessible, as the tower from part 6, the shortest tower in the bunch, actually has a slope leading upward, without a terrarium in the middle. It only goes up one floor, but from that tower, the bridges connecting them (the stable ones, not the hanging ones) actually lead all the way to the table mountain without having a staircase in them. Of course, that also means you'd have to do the same route backwards, as that’s the only tower with a slope in the interior. Still, the tops of the cylinder terrariums are all visible, and you can also get to the proper Jaguar viewing point without the use of legs.
As we continue we come across a large cliff to our left. A broken down bridge, boarded off at the start, hangs over a large sinkhole. The walls overgrown with vines, mosses and bushes, and the bottom filled with water, this sinkhole is quite similar to a Mexican cenote. A sign before the broken bridge blocks our path and says we can't cross. Which seems a bit obvious... We can see that the entire middle section of the rickety bridge has collapsed and presumably fallen into the water below.
As we try to walk onward, we notice a rather large and slimy free-roamer blocking our path. A Giant waxy monkey frog, the biggest free-roaming frog of the greenhouse, bravely makes the journey over the visitor path to the other side. Something you’d usually never see, but with today’s private tour of O Rio Dourado, rarely seen species like this may actually be visible for once…
We pass another sinkhole, smaller this time, as we walk along the table mountain. Admiring the foliage, which seems to stop rather abruptly just behind the bushes… It seems the table mountain is a bit thinner than it seems. Although it’s not easy to see through the dense foliage, if we look past it a bit we can see that the table mountain stops just a few meters to our left, with no foliage coming out of the hole, it seems… I wonder what that’s about, I guess we’ll have to wait and see
Suddenly we’re startled by a rush of movement in the leaves of the underbrush. Following the movement, we can see a Common monkey lizard sitting on a high branch, watching us intently, breathing heavily. This species is one of the larger lizards free-roaming the greenhouse. Sporting a rather long tail and a rounded head, it reminds us more of a chameleon than an anole…
We come to a final loop in the path where, in the middle, we can see one of O Rio Dourado’s most beautiful species; the Spangled cotinga, a beautiful, cyan-coloured bird with a magenta throat. We admire him for a little bit before he flies off, and we walk onto the wooden bridge leading to Pikin Meti tower number two.
Once again we can see a large terrarium in the middle of the tower’s upper platform. This time holding a similar lineup of creepy crawlies, although there are a few species changed in comparison to the first tower. Speaking of Creepy crawlies, maybe now’s a good time to explain the name of the Pikin meti towers.
Incorporating Sranan Tongo into O Rio Dourado is certainly fun, but it’s not always too easy. It’s a Creole language, meaning it’s comprised of multiple languages. Sometimes I have the perfect name in English, but it either doesn’t have a word in Sranan tongo, or it sounds absolutely silly. There is no word for watchtower in Sranan, and the word for Squirrel monkey is simply “Monkimonki”, Cane toad is Bigitodo (big toad), etc. Sometimes when I think I’ve figured something out, it turns out the name doesn’t mean what I think it means at all… With Kras’mira (“itching ant”) and Kras’todo (another name for the Cane toad) I thought I would be able to add Kras’ to Meti (animal) to make Kras’meti as a crude translation of Creepy crawly, and have Kras’meti towers (the creepy crawly towers). But unfortunately, Kras’meti already refers to any feral animal. Such as biting dogs, peccaries, or pretty much anything that originates from the jungle. With help from the Surinamese subreddit, I’ve decided to go for Pikin Meti towers (the little animal towers). It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, but at least it sort of makes sense.
Looking over the edge on the left side, we can see a rather large clearing in the canopy. Down on the ground floor there’s a creek, with sandy beaches and a few small islands in the middle. From this height, we can’t get any proper view, so we’ll have to wait until we’re back on the ground to see this exhibit. Walking out of the top viewing point and onto the bridge, we immediately notice something odd about the bridge… Instead of having regular wooden railings, there’s actually glass tubes along the top. Inside, we can see a large parade of… leaves? No. Leafcutter ants! Interchangeably allowed into all of the giant terrariums, a colossal colony of Hairy-headed leafcutter ants marches through these tunnels from one of the towers to their fungus nest, hidden elsewhere in the greenhouse. They’re not allowed in all towers at once, because they might devour all plant life in one terrarium before moving on to the next. Small openings, only large enough for the ants and two other species, are opened and closed every now and then to allow plants to recover when needed. Along with this, they also have permanent access to a plant dump all the way on the other side of the towers.
We continue to walk along the canopy path. Surrounded by leaves and treetops, we can hear a bird call in a rather peculiar pattern. Looking to our right, we can see a beautiful little black bird, with a maroon crest under its chin. No wonder this bird is called the Purple-throated fruitcrow. Well, the first part of the name is accurate at least. It’s not a crow at all, it’s actually a type of Cotinga. The Rio Dourado greenhouse is home to a pair of free-roaming fruitcrows. We take one last look at the pretty bird before heading into the third of the Pikin Meti towers.
The view of the great, middle terrarium is roughly the same as it was for the first two. From the top, the first four Pikin meti terrariums look practically identical, although with some changes to the species lineup. On ground level though, tower three and four differ wildly from the first two. I’ll have to keep you in suspense for now, but we’ll see these towers soon enough.
We all look up as we hear a sudden rustling through the thatch roof of the looking tower. Shining a flashlight up, we can barely see a dash of movement as a small, nocturnal gecko crawls to a more secluded spot. This was either the Wiegmann’s striped gecko or the White-throated gecko, but with its speed it was practically impossible to tell…
Back on the treetop path, we can once again see a clearing in the canopy. A small creek, with a boardwalk heading over it, runs right under our bridge on high. Now, it might seem like the creek is lined with rocks, but this creek is actually home to a large group of Yellow-spotted amazon river turtles, among others. We can also see a small, brown animal walking along the waterline. We haven’t seen this enclosure up close yet but as your guide I can tell you with confidence that this is one of our resident Spotted pacas, a species of water-dwelling rodent, similar to (but smaller than) the Capybara.
Before we head into the fourth tower, we can see a small group of beautiful pigeons sitting in a tree to our right. With rusty-brown wings and a bedazzled neck, these are Scaled pigeons, one of my personal favourites.
Inside the fourth tower we again see the big terrarium in the middle of the viewing platform. This one differs a bit from the rest as it has a lot more loose branches from the other three we’ve seen so far. Which were all mainly filled with a single overgrown tree trunk. Getting a closer look, we can see why that is. Tucked between one of the branches and the main tree is a glistening ball of orange and black, a Brazilian rainbow boa. The giant terrarium actually holds three of these animals along with stick insects and poison frogs. Oh, look at that. We can actually see a Trinidad dead twig insect, a smaller, greyish stick insect that blends nearly perfectly with the surrounding branches.
From the fourth tower we can head in two directions. Straight ahead, with the bridge heading directly over the giant Sula of part 6. Or to the left, heading over the Paca and turtle habitat. Since we’re planning on getting to all towers eventually anyway, we’ll head left for now. We once again walk past the flock of Scaled pigeons, this time from a different angle, before looking to our right to see another bridge overlooking the sula. On top of the railing are a group of four rather large and imposing birds; Lesser yellow-headed vultures. Our second vulture species in the greenhouse, and with it, the largest of the free-roaming birds. We watch in awe as they spread their wings and drop off the bridge, soaring majestically over the river of gold to a different perching spot, away from prying eyes.
Looking down below we get another view of the Spotted paca river enclosure. There is actually a path down there, but because of the angle and some strategically placed trees, you just about can’t see it. Entering the fifth tower, we’re surprised to see a very different-looking terrarium. Instead of being filled with a epiphytes or climbing branches, this terrarium is filled from top to bottom with white fluff… Or at least, that’s how it seems… Taking a closer look, this is actually a second, much larger enclosure for Brazilian red-headed social spiders. This 15-meter tall cotton candy cathedral is filled with a colossal colony of the tiniest, red spiders. We saw this species earlier on our route, of course. But it’s still fascinating to see…
The bridge between the next two towers is perhaps the most magnificent of all, giving us the best possible view of O Rio Dourado’s grand sula. I’ve already shown identical photos of Tapawatra in parts 4 and 6, so I you’re already familiar with our view. But the top-down look truly can’t be beat. We’re in a gorgeous panorama above the river, with the lake of giants, with dark shadows just under the surface, on one side. And the dangerous rushing of the sula on the other. And of course, spider monkey islands on both. Enawed by the view, we slowly move toward the next tower on our route.
We have, by now, left the map of part 7… And entered back into part 6. So just a quick reminder, there’s one tower in the middle of the Sula, with the Spider monkey ropes going right through it, and one tower on the other side of the Sula…
Wait, why am I explaining this, I can just show the part 6 map again:
Right then, entering the tower we actually have a terrarium without a staircase heading down. This time, the terrarium isn’t filled with plants at all. Instead, there’s only a pole going up with some crude “branches” (just more poles, not really branches) stuck to the sides. This isn’t actually a terrarium at all, but a small climbing structure that the Red-faced spider monkeys can use if they so please. Below our feet is one of two indoor enclosures for the Spider monkeys, which can also be used as a separation enclosure along with the two islands on the monster fish lake. It’s not in use now (nor is it often…) but if a spider monkey wanted to, it could climb into this lighthouse-lamp-like capsule and people-watch on the tower.
A final bridge, over a small side branch of the Sula, takes us to the ninth and final tower. This tower is the shortest of the bunch, as mentioned earlier, being only roughly 6 meters tall the roof. The bridge actually enters the building directly, unlike the others that entered a the viewing platform at the top. Inside is no terrarium, but a curved slope heading down to make the canopy trail accessible to wheelchairs and strollers. This isn’t to say that it fully lacks an animal space though. If we look over the little balcony at the top of the slope, we can see a large, glass-covered hole in the floor. Underneath is a giant heap of banana leaves, cut-off branches and other “junk” that the botanical department has cut off from the various trees, palms and shrubs in the greenhouse. They say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and the Leafcutter ants certainly agree. The long conga line of leaf-carrying ants starts here, at their main source of mold-feed. If you were to zoom in with your camera or just look really closely, you might also discover some brave Bumblebee millipedes and Miniature awlsnails in the mix, the only two invertebrates small enough to share the ant tunnels.
We’ve already seen part 6 of course, so we’ll be heading back over the sula and back to part 7. Since I am now 8 word pages into this description (and part 5 was 14 pages), I’ll put down another map of part 7:
Walking all the way back to the Social spider tower, we take the bridge heading toward the final two towers we haven’t seen yet. On the bridge to tower #6 we meet a trio of Bare-eyed pigeons, a rather peculiar, soft grey pigeon with white wingtips and a black ring around the eye. We have a bit of a standoff, with us dead in our tracks and the pigeons staring us down to see if we’re a threat. They decide to fly off, giving us clear way to the next tower.
This tower, too, houses an indoor exhibit for Red-faced spider monkeys. Meaning there’s no spiral staircase to the forest floor. Instead of a people-watching primate peephole (I swear I’m not doing alliterations on purpose…), there are two smaller terrariums, “only” one floor tall. On one side, the horned conehead, and on the other, the Rainbow katydid. Two predatory katydid species that can't be held together with the grasshoppers and stick insects in the main terrariums. The two terrariums in the tower are made to look more like a hillside than a treetrunk, with mosses and ferns filling the habitat.
After taking a closer look at the cleverly-camouflaged carnivores (ok, that one was on purpose) we take the very last bridge to tower #7. This bridge does give one of the greatest views of the spider monkey islands, bringing us right to eye level of the climbing ropes, but we have seen this species a lot on our journey, so we’re fine to move on to the tower. Inside… there is no terrarium? Shocking, I know… There’s also no further bridges to take us along the canopy. So down the staircase we go. In the middle of the staircase, instead of a tree-filled terrarium, is a terrarium-filled tree!
As we head down the staircase, one by one we come across 6 different terrariums, roughly one per “story” (6 story building, 20-meter tall tower, that roughly matches up, right? I don’t know how tall buildings get…). In this terrarium tree we see 6 beautiful arachnids. Starting with the Orange tree spider, a long-furred, pink/orange tarantula native to Suriname and French Guiana. Next up is the Guyanan pinktoe tarantula, a species I’ve actually “seen” in Suriname (or at least, the shed exoskeleton of one). After that is the Amazon black scorpion, a highly venomous scorpion species that prefers to live on tree trunks and in the canopy. Two beautiful species follow, the Trinidad dwarf tiger tarantula, and the Brazilian redhead tarantula. Two species with red heads and blue legs, and generally beautiful colours. Our final species, right before we reach the bottom floor, is the Colombian giant redleg tarantula, the biggest of the bunch in this tower. After that, our tower journey is over. We have a choice of exiting the tower in the doorway right in front of us, which would put us out right into the middle of part 4 of O Rio Dourado, or we could take a secret exit… Slightly hidden under the staircase, and around the tree, is an alternate exit that brings us to a…
Wait a second...
One second, guys. I’m just gonna use my phone flashlight and… Oh, look at that! In the dark corner under the staircase sits an Orange-legged leaf frog. Just like the gecko earlier, this nocturnal amphibian uses the dark nooks and crannies of the towers as a hiding spot during the day. The spots under the towers' staircases are especially common finding places.
Anyways, heading out of the tower through the secret door, we come into an adventure path. To our right is a raggedy-looking wooden fence protecting us from falling into the dangerous sula. It’s made to look unstable and run-down, but in truth the little wooden fence is reinforced with metal poles in the wood.
We follow the small, curvy path to a boardwalk. To our right, in dense bushes, we can hear some busy tweeting and chirping. At a special nectar feeder, two Purple honeycreepers are fighting for the perching spot. O Rio Dourado holds a group of males in the greenhouse, with a small breeding group behind the scenes. On the other side of the boardwalk we are reunited with the small river section of O Rio Dourado. What seems to be a decently fast-flowing creek with rocks, is actually a well-decorated fish staircase, allowing tetras and smaller cichlids to switch between the upper and lower basins. We look to see if perhaps we can see a fish attempting the climb, but the creek is empty right now…
Wait a second, wasn’t this creek right next to the monkey island? We look up to meet a little spike ball sitting on a Y between two branches, a Brazilian porcupine napping the day away… Which is surprising considering the group of Violacious euphonias chirping in the branches above it.
We follow the boardwalk next to the monkey island, hearing but not seeing the tamarins playing on the island. On the other side of the boardwalk there’s another adventure path leading to one of the towers, we don't want to head back up the tower right now, but as I mentioned earlier, tower #4 looks quite a bit different on the bottom.
Heading into the tower we can see that unlike the other towers, this one holds a water pool on the bottom, with small fish and even an Amazonian river prawn. It also doubles as a pool for the boas to soak in. Instead of a single large tree trunk, the bottom of the tree in this terrarium ends more like a Mangrove, splitting up in multiple air roots that keep the water free for the Endler guppies, tetras and Pygmy corydoras. This terrarium also purposely holds less ground-dwelling species, and more frogs and stick insects.
Since we don't want to do another long climb to the top, we head back to the boardwalk. A little further along, can see the signage of five species on the railing. In the dense foliage, we couldn’t see the wall of the exhibit that presumably started right after the path to the fourth tower. Listed are the Lowland paca, the Red-footed tortoise and three turtle species. We look into the exhibit, but don’t see anything. Don’t worry, this enclosure is much larger than it may appear…
Boardwalk over the forest floor:
As we come up to the end of the boardwalk we look up to see the canopy path towering above us. Almost immediately after the end of the boardwalk, the short bit of adventure path immediately swaps to another boardwalk which bridges over a creek. With signage on both sides, this is Kron-Neki Kriki.
To our left there are three species signed; the critically endangered Pied tamarin, the vulnerable Pygmy marmoset and the non-endangered Southern tamandua. Looking onto the island, we can see the pair of Pied tamarins climbing across a rope spun between a climbing structure and a live tree. In a marshy area on the floor of the island, we can see one of the turtles we saw signed earlier, a Common toad-headed turtle. Its shell is pitch black and covered in some algae, if we couldn’t see the sun reflecting on its back we probably never would have spotted it.
Turning around to the right side of the boardwalk, there’s a small adventure path heading to the edge of the water. As we step down we can suddenly see a few frogs jumping away and into the marshy side of the creek. These are Guiana rocket frogs, the only frog species in the greenhouse that isn’t a poison dart frog or a tree frog. Also one of the species that, under normal circumstances, you would truly never see.
This side of Kron-Neki Kriki, next to the path, is protected with fake reeds. Well-camouflaged between real marsh plants, there’s small metal poles along the path to prevent the Pacas and turtles from simply walking out of this enclosure. Speaking of, we can actually see a few of the pacas on the other side of the creek. Moving like a herd, Rio Dourado’s five pacas walk together along the sandy beach, before actually heading into the water and swimming underneath the bridge to the other side.
In the back of the enclosure, we can also see two large Red-footed tortoises lazily munching on their shared salad bowl. As well as… well, the vague shapes of some more turtles that are sleeping in the shade.
Heading back to the boardwalk, we can see that the Pacas have made it onto the monkey islands, where they’re now grazing on some of the lower branches and leaves in the exhibit. We hear some commotion between the squeaking of one of the pacas and a loud hiss. From out of the foliage emerges a large Brown basilisk. It calmly walks to the other side of the island before heading to rest in another densely-planted area next to the water. These lizards do very well in water, and are actually free-roaming. So it must’ve swam to the island at some point. This calm, marshy area is one of its favourite spots and if not here, it can usually be found near the other monkey islands. It’s also been spotted a few times in the Tortoise and Tinamou habitat.
As we continue down the boardwalk we quickly come across a wooden sign with the words “Yu no man psa, Broko broki
” crudely painted onto it. The boardwalk behind the sign is practically shattered, with loose planks hanging into the creek. We’ll have to diverge onto the adventure path heading around it.
We wait for a second for two White-tipped doves, which are foraging on the ground, to pass before stepping onto the dirt path. It makes a bend through dense foliage before it opens up to a small beach overlooking the lake. We can see a small island in the lake with bridges heading in both directions. The island is currently inhabited by a group of White-faced whistling ducks, which stand on the edge of the island. We’ll see this island up close soon enough, first we follow the curve in the path leading us back to the broken boardwalk.
As we step back onto the boardwalk we can see that the broken part has been boarded off on this side too. Although it doesn’t include a sign here. Looking down, we can see the broken planks forming a bit of a barrier between water and the shore, similar to the fake reeds earlier. This allows small free-roamers access to the water, while preventing the turtles and pacas from simply walking out. Between the planks, we can actually see one of the free-roamers heading up after having a soak. Possibly the most famous of the Poison dart frogs, we see a Blue poison dart frog climbing up one of the planks that line the shore. For something so brightly coloured, it’s actually quite difficult to see when it’s in a bit of a dark corner.
Looking up to the island of Kron-Neki kriki, we can see another one of its inhabitants. The Southern tamandua, represented by a small, black-and-cream coloured ball sleeping in a barrel on a climbing structure. We can also see some ropes heading from the climbing structures into the towering rock wall that lines the right side of the area. Just like the Bearded sakis of part 5 and the Red-faced black spider monkeys, the inhabitants of this island have a backstage “indoor” enclosure to their disposal. The Rio Dourado greenhouse is already indoor, of course. But a secluded spot in the caves is used for introducing new animals and medical checkups. The BTS cave can be closed off too, to make it easier to catch animals when needed.
As we turn around at this last little part of the Boardwalk, we can see a beautiful little bird chirping in the bushes; a Yellow-green grosbeak! This little bird with its thick bill and black mask is barely held in the zoo world, but can be found semi-regularly in the private trade. It hops between branches to get a little higher in the bush and avoid the ogling birders in our group.
Again, the adventure path through dense foliage is short-lived. As just a short walk ahead we come across a bridge over the Amazon giants lake. Crossing the bridge, we can look into a shallower part of the lake, but even here we can see some of the giant fish inhabiting the lake. In the water we can see multiple large cichlids, including two large Tiger Oscars and a lone Eartheater at the bottom. A little further in the distance we can see the red colourations of a huge Redtail catfish. This beast is well over a meter long and not even the biggest inhabitant of this lake.
The bridge leads us to a small island, which looks into a much larger island. The Spider monkey separation island, as we know. We can see two of the red-faced spider monkeys out and about. Currently, the island holds three brothers separated from the rest of the group. To prevent inbreeding, these three are going to be moving to a different zoo soon, where they will be held in a bachelor group. On the ground of the island, we can actually see the group of White-faced whistling ducks, which we saw before on the island we’re currently standing on.
As we leave the island, we get yet another imposing view of the Rio Dourado looking towers spanning above the sula. Wetlands park really is quite proud of the giant artificial rapids, and similar to Burgers’ Zoo’s waterfall or Rotterdam zoo’s shark tunnel, this Sula is Wetlands Park’s main promotional picture, and is often photographed by visitors.
Stepping back onto dry land, it’s only a short, curvy adventure path back to one of the looking towers. There is a way out of this adventure path loop without climbing the stairs, as you can simply walk across the bottom of the Tarantula tower to get back to O Rio Dourado part 4. But for now, we take the Social spider tower back up to the canopy tour. Walking in a spiral along the web-filled tower terrarium really is an experience, and seeing the thousands of teeny-tiny spiders crawling around can be both cute and truly terrifying. Makes you really glad they’re behind glass.
We’ve already seen the top of the Canopy tour of course, so instead of climbing all the way back to the top of the tower, we instead take the Kwattapassi, the hanging bridges between the towers. From halfway up the tower, this adventurous dangling bridge, surrounded by nets, takes us to the halfway point of tower number four. From there, we have to do part of the spiral staircase up to the next Kwattapassi, which does give us another opportunity to see the middle of this terrarium.
On the leaves of an epiphyte fern, we can see a Crested amazon grasshopper, which looks more like a Katydid to me... We also find Pleasing poison frog, and a Manaus elephant beetle on its climb upward. We don't find any more Rainbow boas as we step onto the Kwattapassi to the third Pikin Meti tower.
This tower, just like the fourth one, doesn’t have many ground-dwelling species. Although this time not because of a water pool at the bottom. No, tower number three, along with snails, cockroaches and beetles, also holds a rather fat frog, the Surinamese horned frog. The bottom of the terrarium is kept purposely swampy and, just like the fourth one, has a more mangrove-like tree trunk. This time to provide more ground space for the frog. Since this exhibit is easy to miss the average zoo visitor, the Surinam Horned frogs are also visible in a later point in O Rio Dourado, and are sometimes used in the SPS talks in part 5.
We exit tower #3 and are immediately greeted by a small, panorama viewing point to Kron-neki kriki. Specifically two of the side islands, where we can see the Pied tamarins again, happily jumping between branches. On a peninsula to our left, behind one of the Pikin meti towers, we can also see a group of Scarlet ibises wading at the edge of the water. The waters of Kron-Neki kriki hold various small species. Due to this stream being much more shallow to allow the Pacas and tortoises easy access between the areas, it mostly holds smaller cichlids and tetras. They’re not very visible from above, but we’ll come across an underwater viewing point later down our route, when we’re in the cavern tour part 3.
With our last viewing point viewed, we can make our way back to the cavern tour. We look up at the giant stone wall in front of us as the path leads us into the dark cavern mouth in front of us. Sure hope I don̸’̷t̴ ̷b̵l̷a̸c̸k̷ ô̷͙ǘ̴̬t̵͈̊ ̸̠̎a̷̱͆g̴̗̓â̶͚ȋ̴ͅṇ̶̓!̶̮͝
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Well, I’m back! I’d love to say I took some time to do absolutely nothing but I have, in fact, been
Through parts 3-6 we’ve seen the full main route of O Rio Dourado, but that’s not all there is. As we saw in the full overview of the Greenhouse at the end of part 6, there’s still a decent chunk of greenhouse in the top area of the map that is missing.
Let’s head back in time for a bit. All the way to part 3 of O Rio Dourado back in… Oh god, February?! Man, this has taken a while… Anyway, we’re back under the Jaguar archway where, instead of heading right into the jungle, we head left towards the large cavern mouth.
Well… That was certainly… Strange…
Anyway, we exit the cave, and are greeted by the sight of the jungle again:
With the cave having taken us downward, we can see that our current path is in a bit of a dip. On the right hand side of our path there’s a rock ledge with dense planting on top, blocking our view to the other side. This rock ledge is quickly followed up by a large glass panel, providing underwater viewing to the small river, right next to the Monkey and Porcupine island.
This section of the river mostly has smaller fish species, as they’d have to make it up the small rapids area next to the monkey island. The stingrays, larger cichlids and slower catfish aren’t able to navigate the fish staircase, creating a bit of a sanctuary for the smaller tetras and dwarf cichlids of the small river area. Among the Amazon sword plants filling this shallow river section, we can see Emperor tetras, Jewel tetras and a few Corydoras. There’s also a group of Altum angelfish, which have been purposely released into the upper section of the small river to keep them away from the more aggressive fish in the lower section.
From the back of the river, we can see a large species of suckermouth catfish swim to the glass. The Green phantom pleco, appropriately named for its hauntingly green colour with white spots, sticks itself to the glass to clean up some of the green residue. We do try to clean the windows in Rio Dourado as often as we can, but the last scheduled cleanup seems to have been a bit ago…
As we follow the turn back towards the cliff face and look upward, we can see the large structures that make the signature piece of this part of O Rio Dourado. We’ve seen these wooden behemoths before, as we also came across them in parts 4 and 6 of the Amazon project. A total of 9 grand watchtowers can be found in the middle section of the greenhouse, interconnected by multiple bridges and boardwalks. Made with a combination of wooden panels, logs and some clay walls, the Pikin Meti towers give off a bit of a dishevelled vibe. As if they started collapsing years ago, and have been patched up over time. They’re also heavily inspired by the climbing course in Wildlands, Emmen:
They differ in the fact that they have an open top for viewing the canopy, and are rounded instead of fully square. Some extra references:
We’ve been teasing this for long enough now… Let’s head in and finally see the Pikin Meti towers for ourselves…
Stepping inside, we are immediately greeted by a tall terrarium. A very, very tall terrarium, in fact. The middle of the climbing tower, from top to bottom, is occupied by a gigantic, cylindrical terrarium surrounded by a staircase to the top floor. The inside of the terrarium is decorated like an ancient tree trunk, full of gaps, rough patches and loose bark, filled to the brim with epiphytes and climbing plants. Walking up the spiral staircase, the banisters are covered in repeating signage. 12 invertebrates and 5 small frog species call this terrarium home.
At the bottom layer, which is planted with some ferns and mosses, we can see a pair of Splashback poison frogs, which we’ve also seen free-roaming in the greenhouse. Going further up, we can discover more and more species over time. A South American giant snail can be seen climbing the glass heading upwards. Hidden between the tree and a piece of loose bark, we can just barely make out the carapace of a Chestnut-backed Hercules beetle.
We head further and further up the spiral staircase, spotting more of the small inhabitants of the giant terrarium, including some grasshoppers, stick insects and some Blue poison dart frogs. Eventually, we come across a gateway to outside, a small sign above it says “kwattapassi”. As we look through we can see that this is part of the hanging route, made mostly for children but also big enough for adults to climb through with ease, the Kwattapassi (path of the spider monkey) consists of hanging bridges, ropes and nets, suspended tens of meters into the air. All secured, of course. With netting small enough to hold phones and shoes, should anything drop (you should still be careful of your keys and coins).
We decide that we would prefer to see the top of the tower first, so instead of going the adventure route we head further and further up the spiral staircase all the way to the tippy top of the grand looking tower.
Coming up to the top we are greeted with a gorgeous, panoramic view of the canopy of the rainforest. We take a short moment to just sit back and enjoy the sounds of the rainforest. We can hear the muffled sound of the waterfall, just on the other side of the table mountain. Some parrots screeching in the distance. And the recogniseable call of the Screaming piha. At a safe distance, this time.
Since I can't find any examples of terrariums or towers done the way I've made them here, I made my own reference photo. Here's an overview of the inside of the towers:
Turning our backs to the canopy panorama, we can see that the giant terrarium does indeed reach all the way to the thatch roof of the tower. We can also see that the back of the looking tower has an opening, allowing us to walk onto the table mountain that the tower is built into.
We walk off the wooden platform and onto the forest path. The foliage on top of the mountain is a bit different from the foliage on the ground floor. Although we’re not exactly pressed against the roof of the greenhouse, there isn’t a lot of room for any large trees. So the landscape of the top of the table mountain is dominated by ground foliage, bushes and short trees.
To the left of our exit, a wall with an overhang and a large viewing window catches our attention. This finally gives us a good viewing point into the upper indoor Jaguar enclosure. As we could see in the beginning of our trip to the giant greenhouse, which is either 6 months or a few hours ago depending on how much you’re willing to play along here, the Jaguar that calls this exhibit home headed inside over the arch. Looking into the viewing window, we can see him lazily hanging about on a broken log, facing away from us. From here, we can also get a better look of the table mountain on the Jaguar’s side.
The foliage on the other side of the glass is scarce. A few slow-growing plants, and mostly herbs beyond that. It’s a lot harder to trim the plants on the inside of the Jaguar enclosure, so there’s been some very deliberate plants choices inside the exhibit. Besides some small, Amazonian conifers and ground-covering plants, there’s also a large section of the steel netting of the Jaguar’s enclosure that’s been taken over by climbing plants. These are removed once every few months to make sure they don’t shroud the entire enclosure in darkness, but also provide some nice cover for the Jaguars, as compensation for the lack of plants in comparison to the other indoor habitat. Right now, there’s quite a lot of light shining into the enclosure, as the climbing plants were removed only a few weeks ago.
Suddenly, some tweets to our right pull us away from the viewing window. We can see the small group of Yellow orioles again, chirping happily as they chase each other through the bushes. Some of them disappear into the backmost foliage. Since this section of O Rio Dourado is much calmer than the main path, it actually functions as nesting grounds for a few species, although they still nest further away from the path than we can currently see.
Heading back on track, we continue on our path on top of the table mountain. The path we walk on isn’t quite an adventure path, at least not to the same degree as the one heading up the mountain next to the river, but it definitely isn’t as well-kept as the main path. Partially because it’s practically impossible to get a path-cleaning machine up the towers, and partially because we want this path to just feel a bit more adventurous. It will probably cause strollers to shake if you move them too fast, but it’s not rough enough to be called inaccessible for wheelchair users.
Wait, wheelchair users? Up the table mountain? That’s right, despite us getting here via a long staircase, the Pikin Meti climbing route is partially wheelchair accessible, as the tower from part 6, the shortest tower in the bunch, actually has a slope leading upward, without a terrarium in the middle. It only goes up one floor, but from that tower, the bridges connecting them (the stable ones, not the hanging ones) actually lead all the way to the table mountain without having a staircase in them. Of course, that also means you'd have to do the same route backwards, as that’s the only tower with a slope in the interior. Still, the tops of the cylinder terrariums are all visible, and you can also get to the proper Jaguar viewing point without the use of legs.
As we continue we come across a large cliff to our left. A broken down bridge, boarded off at the start, hangs over a large sinkhole. The walls overgrown with vines, mosses and bushes, and the bottom filled with water, this sinkhole is quite similar to a Mexican cenote. A sign before the broken bridge blocks our path and says we can't cross. Which seems a bit obvious... We can see that the entire middle section of the rickety bridge has collapsed and presumably fallen into the water below.
As we try to walk onward, we notice a rather large and slimy free-roamer blocking our path. A Giant waxy monkey frog, the biggest free-roaming frog of the greenhouse, bravely makes the journey over the visitor path to the other side. Something you’d usually never see, but with today’s private tour of O Rio Dourado, rarely seen species like this may actually be visible for once…
We pass another sinkhole, smaller this time, as we walk along the table mountain. Admiring the foliage, which seems to stop rather abruptly just behind the bushes… It seems the table mountain is a bit thinner than it seems. Although it’s not easy to see through the dense foliage, if we look past it a bit we can see that the table mountain stops just a few meters to our left, with no foliage coming out of the hole, it seems… I wonder what that’s about, I guess we’ll have to wait and see
Suddenly we’re startled by a rush of movement in the leaves of the underbrush. Following the movement, we can see a Common monkey lizard sitting on a high branch, watching us intently, breathing heavily. This species is one of the larger lizards free-roaming the greenhouse. Sporting a rather long tail and a rounded head, it reminds us more of a chameleon than an anole…
We come to a final loop in the path where, in the middle, we can see one of O Rio Dourado’s most beautiful species; the Spangled cotinga, a beautiful, cyan-coloured bird with a magenta throat. We admire him for a little bit before he flies off, and we walk onto the wooden bridge leading to Pikin Meti tower number two.
Once again we can see a large terrarium in the middle of the tower’s upper platform. This time holding a similar lineup of creepy crawlies, although there are a few species changed in comparison to the first tower. Speaking of Creepy crawlies, maybe now’s a good time to explain the name of the Pikin meti towers.
Incorporating Sranan Tongo into O Rio Dourado is certainly fun, but it’s not always too easy. It’s a Creole language, meaning it’s comprised of multiple languages. Sometimes I have the perfect name in English, but it either doesn’t have a word in Sranan tongo, or it sounds absolutely silly. There is no word for watchtower in Sranan, and the word for Squirrel monkey is simply “Monkimonki”, Cane toad is Bigitodo (big toad), etc. Sometimes when I think I’ve figured something out, it turns out the name doesn’t mean what I think it means at all… With Kras’mira (“itching ant”) and Kras’todo (another name for the Cane toad) I thought I would be able to add Kras’ to Meti (animal) to make Kras’meti as a crude translation of Creepy crawly, and have Kras’meti towers (the creepy crawly towers). But unfortunately, Kras’meti already refers to any feral animal. Such as biting dogs, peccaries, or pretty much anything that originates from the jungle. With help from the Surinamese subreddit, I’ve decided to go for Pikin Meti towers (the little animal towers). It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, but at least it sort of makes sense.
Looking over the edge on the left side, we can see a rather large clearing in the canopy. Down on the ground floor there’s a creek, with sandy beaches and a few small islands in the middle. From this height, we can’t get any proper view, so we’ll have to wait until we’re back on the ground to see this exhibit. Walking out of the top viewing point and onto the bridge, we immediately notice something odd about the bridge… Instead of having regular wooden railings, there’s actually glass tubes along the top. Inside, we can see a large parade of… leaves? No. Leafcutter ants! Interchangeably allowed into all of the giant terrariums, a colossal colony of Hairy-headed leafcutter ants marches through these tunnels from one of the towers to their fungus nest, hidden elsewhere in the greenhouse. They’re not allowed in all towers at once, because they might devour all plant life in one terrarium before moving on to the next. Small openings, only large enough for the ants and two other species, are opened and closed every now and then to allow plants to recover when needed. Along with this, they also have permanent access to a plant dump all the way on the other side of the towers.
We continue to walk along the canopy path. Surrounded by leaves and treetops, we can hear a bird call in a rather peculiar pattern. Looking to our right, we can see a beautiful little black bird, with a maroon crest under its chin. No wonder this bird is called the Purple-throated fruitcrow. Well, the first part of the name is accurate at least. It’s not a crow at all, it’s actually a type of Cotinga. The Rio Dourado greenhouse is home to a pair of free-roaming fruitcrows. We take one last look at the pretty bird before heading into the third of the Pikin Meti towers.
The view of the great, middle terrarium is roughly the same as it was for the first two. From the top, the first four Pikin meti terrariums look practically identical, although with some changes to the species lineup. On ground level though, tower three and four differ wildly from the first two. I’ll have to keep you in suspense for now, but we’ll see these towers soon enough
.We all look up as we hear a sudden rustling through the thatch roof of the looking tower. Shining a flashlight up, we can barely see a dash of movement as a small, nocturnal gecko crawls to a more secluded spot. This was either the Wiegmann’s striped gecko or the White-throated gecko, but with its speed it was practically impossible to tell…
Back on the treetop path, we can once again see a clearing in the canopy. A small creek, with a boardwalk heading over it, runs right under our bridge on high. Now, it might seem like the creek is lined with rocks, but this creek is actually home to a large group of Yellow-spotted amazon river turtles, among others. We can also see a small, brown animal walking along the waterline. We haven’t seen this enclosure up close yet but as your guide I can tell you with confidence that this is one of our resident Spotted pacas, a species of water-dwelling rodent, similar to (but smaller than) the Capybara.
Before we head into the fourth tower, we can see a small group of beautiful pigeons sitting in a tree to our right. With rusty-brown wings and a bedazzled neck, these are Scaled pigeons, one of my personal favourites.
Inside the fourth tower we again see the big terrarium in the middle of the viewing platform. This one differs a bit from the rest as it has a lot more loose branches from the other three we’ve seen so far. Which were all mainly filled with a single overgrown tree trunk. Getting a closer look, we can see why that is. Tucked between one of the branches and the main tree is a glistening ball of orange and black, a Brazilian rainbow boa. The giant terrarium actually holds three of these animals along with stick insects and poison frogs. Oh, look at that. We can actually see a Trinidad dead twig insect, a smaller, greyish stick insect that blends nearly perfectly with the surrounding branches.
From the fourth tower we can head in two directions. Straight ahead, with the bridge heading directly over the giant Sula of part 6. Or to the left, heading over the Paca and turtle habitat. Since we’re planning on getting to all towers eventually anyway, we’ll head left for now. We once again walk past the flock of Scaled pigeons, this time from a different angle, before looking to our right to see another bridge overlooking the sula. On top of the railing are a group of four rather large and imposing birds; Lesser yellow-headed vultures. Our second vulture species in the greenhouse, and with it, the largest of the free-roaming birds. We watch in awe as they spread their wings and drop off the bridge, soaring majestically over the river of gold to a different perching spot, away from prying eyes.
Looking down below we get another view of the Spotted paca river enclosure. There is actually a path down there, but because of the angle and some strategically placed trees, you just about can’t see it. Entering the fifth tower, we’re surprised to see a very different-looking terrarium. Instead of being filled with a epiphytes or climbing branches, this terrarium is filled from top to bottom with white fluff… Or at least, that’s how it seems… Taking a closer look, this is actually a second, much larger enclosure for Brazilian red-headed social spiders. This 15-meter tall cotton candy cathedral is filled with a colossal colony of the tiniest, red spiders. We saw this species earlier on our route, of course. But it’s still fascinating to see…
The bridge between the next two towers is perhaps the most magnificent of all, giving us the best possible view of O Rio Dourado’s grand sula. I’ve already shown identical photos of Tapawatra in parts 4 and 6, so I you’re already familiar with our view. But the top-down look truly can’t be beat. We’re in a gorgeous panorama above the river, with the lake of giants, with dark shadows just under the surface, on one side. And the dangerous rushing of the sula on the other. And of course, spider monkey islands on both. Enawed by the view, we slowly move toward the next tower on our route.
We have, by now, left the map of part 7… And entered back into part 6. So just a quick reminder, there’s one tower in the middle of the Sula, with the Spider monkey ropes going right through it, and one tower on the other side of the Sula…
Wait, why am I explaining this, I can just show the part 6 map again:
Right then, entering the tower we actually have a terrarium without a staircase heading down. This time, the terrarium isn’t filled with plants at all. Instead, there’s only a pole going up with some crude “branches” (just more poles, not really branches) stuck to the sides. This isn’t actually a terrarium at all, but a small climbing structure that the Red-faced spider monkeys can use if they so please. Below our feet is one of two indoor enclosures for the Spider monkeys, which can also be used as a separation enclosure along with the two islands on the monster fish lake. It’s not in use now (nor is it often…) but if a spider monkey wanted to, it could climb into this lighthouse-lamp-like capsule and people-watch on the tower.
A final bridge, over a small side branch of the Sula, takes us to the ninth and final tower. This tower is the shortest of the bunch, as mentioned earlier, being only roughly 6 meters tall the roof. The bridge actually enters the building directly, unlike the others that entered a the viewing platform at the top. Inside is no terrarium, but a curved slope heading down to make the canopy trail accessible to wheelchairs and strollers. This isn’t to say that it fully lacks an animal space though. If we look over the little balcony at the top of the slope, we can see a large, glass-covered hole in the floor. Underneath is a giant heap of banana leaves, cut-off branches and other “junk” that the botanical department has cut off from the various trees, palms and shrubs in the greenhouse. They say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and the Leafcutter ants certainly agree. The long conga line of leaf-carrying ants starts here, at their main source of mold-feed. If you were to zoom in with your camera or just look really closely, you might also discover some brave Bumblebee millipedes and Miniature awlsnails in the mix, the only two invertebrates small enough to share the ant tunnels.
We’ve already seen part 6 of course, so we’ll be heading back over the sula and back to part 7. Since I am now 8 word pages into this description (and part 5 was 14 pages), I’ll put down another map of part 7:
Walking all the way back to the Social spider tower, we take the bridge heading toward the final two towers we haven’t seen yet. On the bridge to tower #6 we meet a trio of Bare-eyed pigeons, a rather peculiar, soft grey pigeon with white wingtips and a black ring around the eye. We have a bit of a standoff, with us dead in our tracks and the pigeons staring us down to see if we’re a threat. They decide to fly off, giving us clear way to the next tower.
This tower, too, houses an indoor exhibit for Red-faced spider monkeys. Meaning there’s no spiral staircase to the forest floor. Instead of a people-watching primate peephole (I swear I’m not doing alliterations on purpose…), there are two smaller terrariums, “only” one floor tall. On one side, the horned conehead, and on the other, the Rainbow katydid. Two predatory katydid species that can't be held together with the grasshoppers and stick insects in the main terrariums. The two terrariums in the tower are made to look more like a hillside than a treetrunk, with mosses and ferns filling the habitat.
After taking a closer look at the cleverly-camouflaged carnivores (ok, that one was on purpose) we take the very last bridge to tower #7. This bridge does give one of the greatest views of the spider monkey islands, bringing us right to eye level of the climbing ropes, but we have seen this species a lot on our journey, so we’re fine to move on to the tower. Inside… there is no terrarium? Shocking, I know… There’s also no further bridges to take us along the canopy. So down the staircase we go. In the middle of the staircase, instead of a tree-filled terrarium, is a terrarium-filled tree!
As we head down the staircase, one by one we come across 6 different terrariums, roughly one per “story” (6 story building, 20-meter tall tower, that roughly matches up, right? I don’t know how tall buildings get…). In this terrarium tree we see 6 beautiful arachnids. Starting with the Orange tree spider, a long-furred, pink/orange tarantula native to Suriname and French Guiana. Next up is the Guyanan pinktoe tarantula, a species I’ve actually “seen” in Suriname (or at least, the shed exoskeleton of one). After that is the Amazon black scorpion, a highly venomous scorpion species that prefers to live on tree trunks and in the canopy. Two beautiful species follow, the Trinidad dwarf tiger tarantula, and the Brazilian redhead tarantula. Two species with red heads and blue legs, and generally beautiful colours. Our final species, right before we reach the bottom floor, is the Colombian giant redleg tarantula, the biggest of the bunch in this tower. After that, our tower journey is over. We have a choice of exiting the tower in the doorway right in front of us, which would put us out right into the middle of part 4 of O Rio Dourado, or we could take a secret exit… Slightly hidden under the staircase, and around the tree, is an alternate exit that brings us to a…
Wait a second...
One second, guys. I’m just gonna use my phone flashlight and… Oh, look at that! In the dark corner under the staircase sits an Orange-legged leaf frog. Just like the gecko earlier, this nocturnal amphibian uses the dark nooks and crannies of the towers as a hiding spot during the day. The spots under the towers' staircases are especially common finding places.
Anyways, heading out of the tower through the secret door, we come into an adventure path. To our right is a raggedy-looking wooden fence protecting us from falling into the dangerous sula. It’s made to look unstable and run-down, but in truth the little wooden fence is reinforced with metal poles in the wood.
We follow the small, curvy path to a boardwalk. To our right, in dense bushes, we can hear some busy tweeting and chirping. At a special nectar feeder, two Purple honeycreepers are fighting for the perching spot. O Rio Dourado holds a group of males in the greenhouse, with a small breeding group behind the scenes. On the other side of the boardwalk we are reunited with the small river section of O Rio Dourado. What seems to be a decently fast-flowing creek with rocks, is actually a well-decorated fish staircase, allowing tetras and smaller cichlids to switch between the upper and lower basins. We look to see if perhaps we can see a fish attempting the climb, but the creek is empty right now…
Wait a second, wasn’t this creek right next to the monkey island? We look up to meet a little spike ball sitting on a Y between two branches, a Brazilian porcupine napping the day away… Which is surprising considering the group of Violacious euphonias chirping in the branches above it.
We follow the boardwalk next to the monkey island, hearing but not seeing the tamarins playing on the island. On the other side of the boardwalk there’s another adventure path leading to one of the towers, we don't want to head back up the tower right now, but as I mentioned earlier, tower #4 looks quite a bit different on the bottom.
Heading into the tower we can see that unlike the other towers, this one holds a water pool on the bottom, with small fish and even an Amazonian river prawn. It also doubles as a pool for the boas to soak in. Instead of a single large tree trunk, the bottom of the tree in this terrarium ends more like a Mangrove, splitting up in multiple air roots that keep the water free for the Endler guppies, tetras and Pygmy corydoras. This terrarium also purposely holds less ground-dwelling species, and more frogs and stick insects.
Since we don't want to do another long climb to the top, we head back to the boardwalk. A little further along, can see the signage of five species on the railing. In the dense foliage, we couldn’t see the wall of the exhibit that presumably started right after the path to the fourth tower. Listed are the Lowland paca, the Red-footed tortoise and three turtle species. We look into the exhibit, but don’t see anything. Don’t worry, this enclosure is much larger than it may appear…
Boardwalk over the forest floor:
As we come up to the end of the boardwalk we look up to see the canopy path towering above us. Almost immediately after the end of the boardwalk, the short bit of adventure path immediately swaps to another boardwalk which bridges over a creek. With signage on both sides, this is Kron-Neki Kriki.
To our left there are three species signed; the critically endangered Pied tamarin, the vulnerable Pygmy marmoset and the non-endangered Southern tamandua. Looking onto the island, we can see the pair of Pied tamarins climbing across a rope spun between a climbing structure and a live tree. In a marshy area on the floor of the island, we can see one of the turtles we saw signed earlier, a Common toad-headed turtle. Its shell is pitch black and covered in some algae, if we couldn’t see the sun reflecting on its back we probably never would have spotted it.
Turning around to the right side of the boardwalk, there’s a small adventure path heading to the edge of the water. As we step down we can suddenly see a few frogs jumping away and into the marshy side of the creek. These are Guiana rocket frogs, the only frog species in the greenhouse that isn’t a poison dart frog or a tree frog. Also one of the species that, under normal circumstances, you would truly never see.
This side of Kron-Neki Kriki, next to the path, is protected with fake reeds. Well-camouflaged between real marsh plants, there’s small metal poles along the path to prevent the Pacas and turtles from simply walking out of this enclosure. Speaking of, we can actually see a few of the pacas on the other side of the creek. Moving like a herd, Rio Dourado’s five pacas walk together along the sandy beach, before actually heading into the water and swimming underneath the bridge to the other side.
In the back of the enclosure, we can also see two large Red-footed tortoises lazily munching on their shared salad bowl. As well as… well, the vague shapes of some more turtles that are sleeping in the shade.
Heading back to the boardwalk, we can see that the Pacas have made it onto the monkey islands, where they’re now grazing on some of the lower branches and leaves in the exhibit. We hear some commotion between the squeaking of one of the pacas and a loud hiss. From out of the foliage emerges a large Brown basilisk. It calmly walks to the other side of the island before heading to rest in another densely-planted area next to the water. These lizards do very well in water, and are actually free-roaming. So it must’ve swam to the island at some point. This calm, marshy area is one of its favourite spots and if not here, it can usually be found near the other monkey islands. It’s also been spotted a few times in the Tortoise and Tinamou habitat.
As we continue down the boardwalk we quickly come across a wooden sign with the words “Yu no man psa, Broko broki
” crudely painted onto it. The boardwalk behind the sign is practically shattered, with loose planks hanging into the creek. We’ll have to diverge onto the adventure path heading around it.We wait for a second for two White-tipped doves, which are foraging on the ground, to pass before stepping onto the dirt path. It makes a bend through dense foliage before it opens up to a small beach overlooking the lake. We can see a small island in the lake with bridges heading in both directions. The island is currently inhabited by a group of White-faced whistling ducks, which stand on the edge of the island. We’ll see this island up close soon enough, first we follow the curve in the path leading us back to the broken boardwalk.
As we step back onto the boardwalk we can see that the broken part has been boarded off on this side too. Although it doesn’t include a sign here. Looking down, we can see the broken planks forming a bit of a barrier between water and the shore, similar to the fake reeds earlier. This allows small free-roamers access to the water, while preventing the turtles and pacas from simply walking out. Between the planks, we can actually see one of the free-roamers heading up after having a soak. Possibly the most famous of the Poison dart frogs, we see a Blue poison dart frog climbing up one of the planks that line the shore. For something so brightly coloured, it’s actually quite difficult to see when it’s in a bit of a dark corner.
Looking up to the island of Kron-Neki kriki, we can see another one of its inhabitants. The Southern tamandua, represented by a small, black-and-cream coloured ball sleeping in a barrel on a climbing structure. We can also see some ropes heading from the climbing structures into the towering rock wall that lines the right side of the area. Just like the Bearded sakis of part 5 and the Red-faced black spider monkeys, the inhabitants of this island have a backstage “indoor” enclosure to their disposal. The Rio Dourado greenhouse is already indoor, of course. But a secluded spot in the caves is used for introducing new animals and medical checkups. The BTS cave can be closed off too, to make it easier to catch animals when needed.
As we turn around at this last little part of the Boardwalk, we can see a beautiful little bird chirping in the bushes; a Yellow-green grosbeak! This little bird with its thick bill and black mask is barely held in the zoo world, but can be found semi-regularly in the private trade. It hops between branches to get a little higher in the bush and avoid the ogling birders in our group.
Again, the adventure path through dense foliage is short-lived. As just a short walk ahead we come across a bridge over the Amazon giants lake. Crossing the bridge, we can look into a shallower part of the lake, but even here we can see some of the giant fish inhabiting the lake. In the water we can see multiple large cichlids, including two large Tiger Oscars and a lone Eartheater at the bottom. A little further in the distance we can see the red colourations of a huge Redtail catfish. This beast is well over a meter long and not even the biggest inhabitant of this lake.
The bridge leads us to a small island, which looks into a much larger island. The Spider monkey separation island, as we know. We can see two of the red-faced spider monkeys out and about. Currently, the island holds three brothers separated from the rest of the group. To prevent inbreeding, these three are going to be moving to a different zoo soon, where they will be held in a bachelor group. On the ground of the island, we can actually see the group of White-faced whistling ducks, which we saw before on the island we’re currently standing on.
As we leave the island, we get yet another imposing view of the Rio Dourado looking towers spanning above the sula. Wetlands park really is quite proud of the giant artificial rapids, and similar to Burgers’ Zoo’s waterfall or Rotterdam zoo’s shark tunnel, this Sula is Wetlands Park’s main promotional picture, and is often photographed by visitors.
Stepping back onto dry land, it’s only a short, curvy adventure path back to one of the looking towers. There is a way out of this adventure path loop without climbing the stairs, as you can simply walk across the bottom of the Tarantula tower to get back to O Rio Dourado part 4. But for now, we take the Social spider tower back up to the canopy tour. Walking in a spiral along the web-filled tower terrarium really is an experience, and seeing the thousands of teeny-tiny spiders crawling around can be both cute and truly terrifying. Makes you really glad they’re behind glass.
We’ve already seen the top of the Canopy tour of course, so instead of climbing all the way back to the top of the tower, we instead take the Kwattapassi, the hanging bridges between the towers. From halfway up the tower, this adventurous dangling bridge, surrounded by nets, takes us to the halfway point of tower number four. From there, we have to do part of the spiral staircase up to the next Kwattapassi, which does give us another opportunity to see the middle of this terrarium.
On the leaves of an epiphyte fern, we can see a Crested amazon grasshopper, which looks more like a Katydid to me... We also find Pleasing poison frog, and a Manaus elephant beetle on its climb upward. We don't find any more Rainbow boas as we step onto the Kwattapassi to the third Pikin Meti tower.
This tower, just like the fourth one, doesn’t have many ground-dwelling species. Although this time not because of a water pool at the bottom. No, tower number three, along with snails, cockroaches and beetles, also holds a rather fat frog, the Surinamese horned frog. The bottom of the terrarium is kept purposely swampy and, just like the fourth one, has a more mangrove-like tree trunk. This time to provide more ground space for the frog. Since this exhibit is easy to miss the average zoo visitor, the Surinam Horned frogs are also visible in a later point in O Rio Dourado, and are sometimes used in the SPS talks in part 5.
We exit tower #3 and are immediately greeted by a small, panorama viewing point to Kron-neki kriki. Specifically two of the side islands, where we can see the Pied tamarins again, happily jumping between branches. On a peninsula to our left, behind one of the Pikin meti towers, we can also see a group of Scarlet ibises wading at the edge of the water. The waters of Kron-Neki kriki hold various small species. Due to this stream being much more shallow to allow the Pacas and tortoises easy access between the areas, it mostly holds smaller cichlids and tetras. They’re not very visible from above, but we’ll come across an underwater viewing point later down our route, when we’re in the cavern tour part 3.
With our last viewing point viewed, we can make our way back to the cavern tour. We look up at the giant stone wall in front of us as the path leads us into the dark cavern mouth in front of us. Sure hope I don̸’̷t̴ ̷b̵l̷a̸c̸k̷ ô̷͙ǘ̴̬t̵͈̊ ̸̠̎a̷̱͆g̴̗̓â̶͚ȋ̴ͅṇ̶̓!̶̮͝
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Paul.Haerle
Well-Known Member
That’s ….. incredible.
Can’t wait to see the final part especially the complete free-roaming species list
Can’t wait to see the final part especially the complete free-roaming species list
What a post, it certainly was worth the wait… As for the nex-, oh wait, hold up, we’re not supposed to mention this?? Oh well, at least I’m excited for what’s to c-, darn, it must be those roaches, they’re everywhere!
Well, well, that one other gruelling project sounds kinda familiar.
Wasn't referring to Dion, don't worry
. I actually sorted all my animal pictures which, as you can tell by the amount of animals in this post alone, took quite a long timeWe have, by now, actually seen pretty much all the free-roamers. Due to the c̶̨͝ȁ̵̡v̵̻͗ẽ̷̲r̴͠ͅṅ̴͇ ̵̛͕t̷̤̽ơ̶͙ù̴̼ṛ̷̆ and the
Jokes on you, I'm not spoiling the name of the next region
I was also thinking about maybe doing the River species cards now, since we've seen the last of those, but I'll save those for part 10 too, along with the free-roamers species list
There are no c̷̤̑à̵̹ṿ̶͆ē̵̩s̶̢̓ in Ba Sing Se.
MClaeys
Well-Known Member
Was joking hahah. And I can confirm that there are a lot.Wasn't referring to Dion, don't worry
Must have been taking hours, correction: days.
Correction: months.Was joking hahah. And I can confirm that there are a lot.
Van Beal
Well-Known Member
Naturally I open your spoiler.Wasn't referring to Dion, don't worry
We have, by now, actually seen pretty much all the free-roamers. Due to the c̶̨͝ȁ̵̡v̵̻͗ẽ̷̲r̴͠ͅṅ̴͇ ̵̛͕t̷̤̽ơ̶͙ù̴̼ṛ̷̆ and the
being separated from the main hall, we've seen all the bird species that free-roam. In the last 2 parts of O Rio Dourado's greenhouse we'll only see 5 more free-roamers in total.Jokes on you, I'm not spoiling the name of the next region
I was also thinking about maybe doing the River species cards now, since we've seen the last of those, but I'll save those for part 10 too, along with the free-roamers species list
There are no c̷̤̑à̵̹ṿ̶͆ē̵̩s̶̢̓ in Ba Sing Se.
In all seriousness, this post was incredible. My ADHD tried multiple times to say "stop reading and go do something" but I told it to zip it for a few minutes (ten, to be exact). Unreal detail. And I love that you tell it as if it's a true tour and not just an exhibit-by-exhibit masterplan.
Also... how did you do that weird text thing when writing "cavern tour" and "caves?"
I̵̡͉̹̽͒̒͌͒̄ͅ ̶͔̑͆͒̓͌̕͝d̴̤͖͈͕̯͈͆̍͑̌́͜͝ȏ̵̤̹͕̭̉͝ͅñ̷̢̹̈́͘̚̚'̶̣̙̠̈́̐͋t̴̙̆̉̋ ̶̡̢̝͚͚̬͈̊̽͌͊̄̃͝k̷̢̯̙͇͓͎̒̑̐̎͗n̶̡̟͊̌̍̌͂̇͝ơ̶̭͔͇͆̐ẘ̷̹̠̱͇̙͎̽̄͘̚ ̷̡̝̜̲̺̦͈̚w̴̙͈̯̥͌͂̈́̄͌͂͝ḥ̷̬̳̩̿̂̋͛͝a̵͈̮̭͂̈́̀̃̑̌͊t̴͙͕̼̑̀̄ ̴̡̠͖̘̪̮͋̇̋̂͘y̵̛͖̯̪̠̤̹̲̅̆̒̐̒͝ö̷̼̝͉͖̩́ͅư̷̦̰̥̽́́'̵̧̧͎͖͔̤̎̑̎̑r̵̦͍̜͐ẹ̵̫̯͋̌̅̍͝ ̸̼̈́̌͒͐͐͘͠r̴̡͈̼̮͔̋͗̃̾̇̋̈́ȩ̴̻̝̾f̷̰̯̦͗̽f̸̨̜̺̆͌͐̕e̶̗̲̩͗̀͊͐͊r̶͈̗̰̼̥̝͕͛͂͝͝i̶̢͖̤̟̿̊̍͝ǹ̵̩̺͖͔̌g̵̛̰̟̦͖͓̳̾̎̎̈͆̑ ̷̡̱̳͕̐̌̎͂̅̕ť̶̡̻̬̤͜o̵͙͉̰̻̭̽̎̂͆.̶̯͒̋.̶̬̻̻̣̤̘͔̊̽̊͛̓̍̓.̶̙̼̖͝ͅ
(̵̧̣̎̚T̵̩͕͂͗h̷̘̺̏͋e̵̡̛ř̶̜̘̑ẹ̸̻͌'̶̝͜͠s̵̬̠̊ ̸͙̳̃͝a̷̖̋ ̵̨̐̎w̸̢͝ȩ̵̾b̷̯͉̃̐ṣ̴̼̈́͛ỉ̵͈̥̈́t̶̬̠͊̚e̸̢͔͋ ̴̜͗̑t̷͈̃h̴̹̟̄̃a̵̪͚̋t̴͙͛ ̷̞́c̵̣̹̕á̴̻͈͠n̵͙̙̋ ̷̹͓͊c̶͕͙̈o̸̬̚r̴̭̀̔r̸̜̈́ȗ̶̬͇̕p̶̙̹̽͝t̶̪̔ ̵̢̻̈́̕y̶̙̜̿ȏ̴̪̣̊u̵͕͒̓r̶̻̍ ̷̳̇͌t̸̼̂è̵̼x̴̡̡̉̋t̸͕̥̾ ̸̭̗̇̀b̵͖̬̑y̷̰͗ ̶̺̀̚a̶͑ͅd̸̈͛ͅd̴͇̤̕͠i̶̺̪͊̉ń̴̝̦͂g̴̤͂ ̵̯͑̈́ã̴̼l̷͇̽l̷̡̯̀̕ ̸̡̽͊ș̶̻̚ó̸̮̘̏r̸̢͛ț̶͐s̶͎̭͆͆ ̵͕̽o̶̟̾͘f̶͈̤̾͒ ̸̢̛̤̅ḝ̷̮f̶̤͑f̵̙͇͂e̸̘̅̈c̶͚͂̓t̵͗ͅs̷̤̖̾ ̵̼͗̓ẗ̶̮̣́͛o̶̳͝ ̶̪̤̃ï̵͇̲̊t̴̥͖̓)̸̳̈́̅
Wholeheartedly agree with both of these complaints
I'm about halfway done with the description of part 9, but it's a bit of slow progress. It'll definitely be out this year though, hopefully this month but I can't say that for sure
Paul.Haerle
Well-Known Member
Is it already Christmas?