My experience was mostly great, managing to spot almost all of the species and had a memorable time with the lifer and newcomer species. Because of Covid prevention measures, some of the indoor buildings such as the aquarium, the reptile house and the nocturnal house were closed, and many sectors like the main aviary and the parrots and reptiles alley only allowed for quick glimpses of the animals to avoid jams, so I couldn't spend as much time there as I would like.
Buin Zoo is really pleasant to the eyes and most of the habitats are carefully planned and naturalistic-looking. Since the park has experienced continuous growing since its humble beginnings as a wildlife rescue center, the shift in architectural style and exhibit quality is noticeable, as most of the older exhibits of simple wire and mesh are near the entrance while the more modern and immersive exhibits are the most distant. The zoo is pretty aware of this, and I found that many of the older cages at the Americas themed area had phased out their animals or were awaiting a reshuffle. Some of them were even acting as temporary holders for geographically incorrect species such as lemurs or colobus. They haven't disclosed what their current plans for the Americas region are but I'm looking forward for it. The current Chilean zone is set to be restyled into a Patagonia zone according to the zoo director.
Regarding the newer aspects, the red panda exhibit is great. Both the outdoor and indoor halves are visually interesting, with a Himalayan/East Asian flavor, and the pandas themselves were active and pretty easy to see, this made the exhibit really popular. The new group of white-handed gibbons effectively share an enclosure with the male Bornean orangutan, Sandai, who was surprisingly active today and made for a fascinating viewing experience. It also surprised me to see a pair of Southern cassowaries in the Australia zone, since the zoo hadn't properly introduced them through social media or any other source. Though, given that the two birds are juveniles and not instantly recognizable as cassowaries, the park may be waiting for them to mature to do a more worthy presentation.
As always, the worse aspect are the visitors with their simple but recurrent misbehavior such as feeding the free-roaming birds or unchecked children getting too close to the animal ambassadors, but thankfully it seems to be less of a problem each time I visit.
I hope to visit again once things become more stable and the zoo gradually reopens more sectors. Buin Zoo had many welcome surprises for me this time and I hope this trend continues.
