I saw the photo of the "no waterfalls" sign, and it is quite laughable once one sees this exhibit. How old is the enclosure? Is the sign new or the exhibit? Anyway, while some might disagree, from my perspective this is another piece of junk from Colchester...
His name is Junior and he's my daughter's pride and joy as she seems to be the only person to have adopted him (or any of the geladas).
This exhibit is somewhat ironic as it's just about the only one without any fake rock which might make the exhibit more in keeping with the gelada's natural habitat.
The group does seem to make good use of the wooden structure ... they spend a lot of time on it, climbing up and down, jumping, running along its edges etc .... though Junior always seems least active. I always feel this area is underused though. I've never seen the animals in the front right of the enclosure .... quite probably because it nearly always looks very wet and boggy. When they're on the ground they use the left side near to the windows (and the back of the enclosure) but have more or less picked the grass bare. It's a shame something can't be done to rectify the 'bog' (putting in drains perhaps ?) so they're encouraged to utilise all their space (and so I can get a decent closer photo of them from the bridge end and not through glass !)
It is a dreadful looking enclosure- one of the ugliest at Colchester and they certainly have a few. The wooden planking structure which is somehow supposed to replicate cliff ledges is the worst feature, but the whole thing is just awful-looking and it doesn't do these wonderful animals any justice. They are bound to use the wooden structure a lot as there's nothing else much for them to climb on. If parts of the enclosure are boggy they will avoid that so are limited to parts of the enclosure anyway -these are the areas that are barer from them eating all the grass.
A flatter grass paddock with substantial rock piles(real not fake preferably) in the centre would have been far preferable IMO. Big rock piles would allow the Geladas far more climbing/jumping/resting surfaces than these narrow flat wooden walkways ever can, and look far less artificial and ugly as well. This is one of the WORST enclosures I have ever seen anywhere as far as attractiveness goes.
