While some might roll their eyes at the presence of a garishly-coloured playground, I love the idea and think that it has a practical benefit. As someone who hopes to visit his 500th different zoo next summer, and also the father of 4 children, seeing this setup makes me smile. I could lean against the large viewing windows and watch the Chimpanzees and when my children became bored (which invariably happens with young kids after about 30 seconds at most exhibits) then they can trundle off and jump around on the playground and keep themselves occupied while I remain glancing at the chimps. Great stuff!
I don't mind this playground area - I think it would be fun for the chimps to watch the humans playing. But I also think it's weird in that there is also a play area at the old Elephant House (now a cafe) which is thirty seconds walk from the above photo, and yet another inside the Australian walk-through a couple of minutes walk further on.