Cincinnati Zoo - Giraffe Ridge

July 2008. Very little shade in this new enclosure, and the giraffes spent most of the time hovering around tiny trees for comfort.

Wow, this is a great pen and a peak into the future. The whole parking lot within the zoo grounds are planned to become an African Savannah.

I was hugely disappointed with Giraffe Ridge, as the zoo is promoting this exhibit all over the grounds. There is barely any shade, it's a standard giraffe paddock, and a car park is within touching distance. If an African Savannah is planned for the future then hopefully things improve on this side of the zoo.

Really its not that bad considering the yard was once a parking lot itself less than a year ago. It will just need time to mature.

Thats really a nice exhibit for giraffes, there are any other species in it ? The trees will grow very fast, so they giraffes will get enough shade in seceral month. And they have yet shade in the exhibit, I know a lot of giraffes exhibits in germany ( and other countries of course )where the giraffes have absolutly no shade, or look the giraffe exhibit at Salt Lake,I posted pictures of it a few minutes ago.

@Zebraduiker: the Hogle Zoo's giraffe paddock doesn't look that good in the photo you posted, and I was not a fan of Cincy's brand new giraffe ridge. I think that you are right in that it will look much better a few years from now once the vegetation grows in, but the close proximity to the car park isn't that cool. Actually, parking at the Cincinnati Zoo is completely chaotic...

This is the first enclosure of what will become the zoo's new African Savanna exhibits.

@ okapikpr - where are the giraffes at Cincy from?

Cincinnati got them from the Wilds...they are Masai.

I see a red car to the left of the photo, is that how close the parking lot is?