All that I have seen officially confirmed in the form of an article in the Gazet van Antwerpen newspaper is that the sea lions will be getting a renovated outdoor theater/exhibit, perhaps with some expansion in the section that is now behind the scenes. That article also said that the Nocturama in its current form would disappear in the Jubilee Complex renovation. Everything else is unofficial information, mostly from the Laafse Kikkers Belgian/Dutch zoo fan forum, and I don't know where this information comes from and how correct it might be.
I visited Antwerp on September 21st and at the time quite of the few animals that now seem to have left where still present, so things seem to be moving quickly now. At that time the harbor seals had already moved to the slightly modified (new filter and sandy beach) former pelican pool (pelicans went to Planckendael or elsewhere) and the harbor seal pool was in the later stages of being temporarily modified to house the California sea lions. One jaguar and one amur leopard (both pretty old, I believe) and some birds (raptors, owls and keas) were also still present. Presumably those will also be moving fairly soon.
I noticed on September 21st that in some places you can see the Jubilee Complex is definitely in need of renovations - and some of the animal housing also needs major updates. So in that respect I welcome the changes and renovations. The loss of the Nocturama, which I have only recently come to truly fully appreciate, is painful, especially given the talk about an indoor playground. I really hope that does not come to fruition, especially with regards to the cats that will be housed there again in the future. I also find it sad that while the management claims to be paying as much attention to the history of the zoo as possible, that they are giving up on an animal house with quite some history and relevance. But perhaps there are some things we are not aware of that unfortunately make this choice necessary.
My only hope with regards to the nocturnal animals is that a few species will at least still be kept in the small monkey house or perhaps elsewhere in the zoo. Also, by 2029 the zoo is required by updated zoo regulations to provide outdoor access for all larger primates, so the current anachronistic and substandard small monkey house will have to be changed. One can only hope that they will have the guts and reason to give up on keeping monkeys, except maybe one or two species, and to redevelop that house into a new nocturnal animal house. I don't see how they could redevelop the small monkey house into future-ready monkey housing, so preferably they would use the space to bring back their historical nocturnal house.
