According to the press release posted below, the barn in the photo is part of a 1.6 million pound development called "Selous Black Rhino Reserve". Judging by the size of the barn there will eventually be additions in the future and there is a short, informative video contained on the link.
The public can view in here, on the very left of the photo you can see a bit of the low(ish) glass barrier, which is keeping visitors in there part of the house (I was leaning over the barrier to take this photo). Visitor's enter through a small door, making me think this was more of an after thought, or at least not as formal as the rest of the public viewing.
Attached is a (blurry) photo which you can just make out the indoor viewing area. It is taken from the viewing balcony for the paddocks, which also features windows into the house.
You've beaten me to it here Macaw16! I took several photos in here in December and noted the ones to post, but have not got around to it! The entrance door is the same size as it had always been, going back to the late 1960s when what to me is still the new Elephant House was built, and of course more recently when it housed the Chimpanzees and Fruit Bats (plus the Mangabeys for a while). I love the feel in this latest incarnation as it is so much more like the good old days of the Elephant House - the other week when one of the Head Keepers came in whilst I was there I was reminiscing about feeding hay to Hannibal the bull Asian Elephant in April 1971.
You've beaten me to it here Macaw16! I took several photos in here in December and noted the ones to post, but have not got around to it! The entrance door is the same size as it had always been, going back to the late 1960s when what to me is still the new Elephant House was built, and of course more recently when it housed the Chimpanzees and Fruit Bats (plus the Mangabeys for a while). I love the feel in this latest incarnation as it is so much more like the good old days of the Elephant House - the other week when one of the Head Keepers came in whilst I was there I was reminiscing about feeding hay to Hannibal the bull Asian Elephant in April 1971.
I forgot it was the former Chimp house when I posted that (and only just learnt it used to be an elephant house).
It certainly has a functional feel to it, and I imagine if they went down the 'pretending this is natural by adding sticks and mock rock' route it would be quite bad, while this design is quite good.
After the departure of Jangoli in January 1994 it became the Camel House (with the outdoor island being the same as for the Elephants), and then when the Lost Kingdom was "discovered" in 2003 the American Bison moved in - the island was flattened and a larger paddock created that included the area vacated by the evicted Collared Peccaries. An island was then recreated for the Chimpanzees! It has now gone again. I think I have previously posted two photographs (one of them kindly given to me by Peter Bloom) of Elephants inside the house, but I think at the moment I can only manage to attach one of the rear. I do like the current interior, much as I shall always think it is a waste of an Elephant House!
It certainly has a functional feel to it, and I imagine if they went down the 'pretending this is natural by adding sticks and mock rock' route it would be quite bad, while this design is quite good.
