It seems as if the patches of grass were just laid this week. Hopefully the combination of London's drizzly weather and the patter of hippo hooves do not churn up the grass into a mud pit (although the hippos wouldn't mind) and the only major flaw in the exhibit besides the ridiculous stairway to heaven is the fact that there is not underwater viewing.
P.S. Shirokuma, thanks for taking at least 40 photos of this brand-new exhibit. It is something that I'd do myself!
You're welcome! Unfortunately I couldn't get a decent overall view of the inside area as it was consistantly full of visitors. Which is of course a good thing. They seemed to be casual visitors too and I know the hippos never got that much attention in the Casson or in the old sea lion pool enclosure.
I'm not sure if it's fair to describe the lack of underwater viewing as a major flaw, especially as it's a fairly low budget revamp of an exisiting area rather than an enclosure designed from scratch. I think the lack of serious long term sustainable grazing area is much more problematic.
