There is a much larger hillside area off to the right of this photo, but from what I recall the gorillas rarely use it and prefer to stay in this small flat area. I wonder if it is because lowland gorillas do not like slopes or if it is just because that is where their night house entrance is or perhaps that is where keepers put snacks?
When the park first opened in 1971 or 72, I believe this was the largest gorilla exhibit in a zoo and also one of the first open natural ones. Now, however, it seems a bit outdated.
The trend these days is to have gorilla exhibits with lush foliage covering half of the enclosure (Dallas, Bronx, Riverbanks, North Carolina, Kansas City, Utah's Hogle, Louisville, Disney's Animal Kingdom, etc) which I fully support but it also makes it a bit tricky actually locating any apes. The San Diego Zoo Safari Park has a gorilla exhibit that is sort of open, "grotto-like" in appearance, and it is very similar to gorilla enclosures in Cincinnati, Rio Grande, etc. In all of those zoos with open enclosures seeing gorillas is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, but the habitats are devoid of much vegetation and aren't as naturalistic as many others. In my opinion the best scenario is to have a lush, green, jungle-like exhibit that is packed with foliage...but also have lots of gorillas so that visitors always see at least one or two of the apes.
