It would have been really great if they could have made an invisible wall under the water and let tigers go into water on boat side with no visible barriers.
I think a good idea would have been to have viewed the tigers from the boat through glass, as with the jaguars at Singapore's River Safari - but with the enclosure also viewable from the walking trails (unlike the jaguars at the River Safari!)
I don't think England has glare, you need sun for that...
But seriously, I agree that tigers "sharing" the water with the boat would be impressive. Glass would be the most "invisible" barrier, and best suited for this boat ride, unless they used some form of piano wire or developed forcefields.
Why can't someone make it work with water? Make the pool deep enough that tigers cannot stand on the bottom. Then use a metal barrier that slopes slightly inward (under the water) towards the tigers. In other words, on their side it slopes away from them underwater (perhaps flat slick metal) so there is no way for them to get a grip on anything to climb over. The barrier will only extends a few inches above the waterline. It will be metal shaped to look like thorn branches or something so it appears completely natural.
I think compared to the rest of Islands this view is pretty ugly - looking through an expanse of chain link.... However by far the best views of the tigers will be on foot. This area is not open so there are no photographs yet....but there is a large moat giving I obstructed views across one half of the enclosure, then an underground tunnel with viewing windows on both sides. The other side of the tunnel from the chain link is another area with waterfall and large underwater viewing windows.
Why can't someone make it work with water? Make the pool deep enough that tigers cannot stand on the bottom. Then use a metal barrier that slopes slightly inward (under the water) towards the tigers. In other words, on their side it slopes away from them underwater (perhaps flat slick metal) so there is no way for them to get a grip on anything to climb over. The barrier will only extends a few inches above the waterline. It will be metal shaped to look like thorn branches or something so it appears completely natural.
Tigers are really athletic even in water, the type of barrier you've suggested doesn't seem robust enough to contain a tiger. An effective barrier of that sort for a tiger would need to extend several feet above deep water with an overhang and hotwire.
I don't think glass with underwater viewing would work well here due to the murkiness of the “rivers" earthen bottom. Maybe paint the structural poles like bamboo in colour and use a flat black colour on the mesh to reduce glare. Having the enclosure come into the water behind a myriad of mangrove looking structure where the cats could enter. This way the visitors can catch a glimpse and hear them tussling and splashing behind the mangrove. There may have to some additional mesh to keep things safe for both cats and visitors, but that would be a much more natural approach to viewing than what is existing now.
