Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Heart of Africa Review

[TeamTapir223]

Today was our second visit to Heart of Africa so we thought we better do a review.Our first thoughts upon seeing the savannah was what a shame it is that the recent levy failed.The Columbus Zoo is easily among North Americas elite facilities and no longer a bad exhibit within its grounds as well as boasting an amazing animal collection.

The journey starts with a small holding yard for camels followed by a simple camel ride.a few steps along the path brings you to the Mapori Restaurant and the Main Savannah.You first see the Lions up on a grassy ridge.Its the best Hagenbeck style setup we've ever seen with a grassland filled with huge herds of various hoofstock that seem to go forever behind the lions.Wildebeest,zebras,dama gazelle,greater kudu,thompsons gazelle,giraffes,saddle billed stork,east african crowned crane and guinea fowl roam the plains.A very unique thing about it is the way the hoofstock move about the savannah in herds as they would in the wild.The lion exhibit bends around to a larger grassy area where guests can view the lions up close through glass.The exhibit includes a keeper training area and a abandoned safari aircraft that sits half in the exhibit and half in the public plaza.Kids can climb into the cockpit and cabin to view the lions through glass. the portion in the lion exhibit is air conditioned to encourage the lions to lounge here on hot summer days.Beyond the lion exhibit is the watering hole which is a multi-purpose exhibit.Its center contains a water hole that can be accessed by any of the main savannah animals.At other times its block off from the savannah and used for cheetah runs or used as a exhbit for warthogs and occasionally aardvarks.Across from the watering hole is the main exhibit for the zoos 7 cheetahs.Its a bit on the small side but since the zoo conducts daily runs its certainly adequate.The exhibit is a small grassy area with several trees.Next is the giraffe feeding area which is simply a deck looking out over the plains.The main path continues to wind around behind cheetahs where the trees surrounding the path contain tons of fake weaver nests (great attention to detail) Next up is a unique exhibit for vervet monkeys.Its a netted enclosure thats supposed to be a invaded abandoned base camp. The monkeys are very active and a real joy to watch.Behind the vervets is a event center still under construction.

Well thats the new savannah.I am not the best at doing reviews but give them my best!I hope its informative and if anyone has any questions just ask.

Team Tapir223

 

[kiang]

Aren't there lesser flamingos in the waterhole area too?

 

[Shirokuma]

I saw a picture of a map of Africa on the designing zoos blog I Left My Heart in ‘Heart of Africa’ | Designing Zoos and the borders are incorrect ranging from missing Swaziland and Gambia off completely and showing Sudan and South Sudan as one country. Pretty shoddy.

 

[TeamTapir223]

Aren't there lesser flamingos in the waterhole area too?

They are rotated in.

Team Tapir223

 

[blospz]

I visited this exhibit last week and pretty much agree with everything you said in your review. Although the area is beyond gorgeous, it left me wanting more. I guess I know the potential it could have, but maybe they can add on to it when they get more money. I would have to see the lions in the moated section of their exhibit because to me it looked like odd and unused space. The savanna and rotational watering holes were my favorite sections.

 

[cloudedleopard]

Heart of Africa

I thought Heart of Africa (HoA) was excellent. The camel enclosure was a bit dusty, but it was much better than Santa Ana Zoo's camels. The paddock with the giraffes/guineafowl/ostrich was excellent, much better than Cleveland's. It was nice to see zebras and giraffes at Columbus. They should have taken the elephants from Pittsburgh Zoo (crap for elephants) and moved the rhinos from the Pachyderm Building, ship the Asian elephants out, demolish the Pachyderm, and turn it into either an insect building or add snow leopards or even a seal pool.

 

[TeamTapir223]

I thought Heart of Africa (HoA) was excellent. The camel enclosure was a bit dusty, but it was much better than Santa Ana Zoo's camels. The paddock with the giraffes/guineafowl/ostrich was excellent, much better than Cleveland's. It was nice to see zebras and giraffes at Columbus. They should have taken the elephants from Pittsburgh Zoo (crap for elephants) and moved the rhinos from the Pachyderm Building, ship the Asian elephants out, demolish the Pachyderm, and turn it into either an insect building or add snow leopards or even a seal pool.

You want to turn North Americas largest Elephant Barn into a Insect Exhibit ?

Team Tapir223

 

[tschandler71]

So now that HOA has been open an entire season does anyone know if the Zoo has any "best practices" regarding hoofstock mixes? I know several reviews have mentioned seeing herds of Kudu/Gazelle together. I was curious on the details how they manage Grant's Zebra, 3 species of Gazelle, Kudu, Wildebeest and the birds on the same exhibit space. Everything I've read has said Zebra/Kudu mixed exhibits have been trouble for other zoos.

 

[Chlidonias]

So now that HOA has been open an entire season does anyone know if the Zoo has any "best practices" regarding hoofstock mixes? I know several reviews have mentioned seeing herds of Kudu/Gazelle together. I was curious on the details how they manage Grant's Zebra, 3 species of Gazelle, Kudu, Wildebeest and the birds on the same exhibit space. Everything I've read has said Zebra/Kudu mixed exhibits have been trouble for other zoos.

zebra often seem to cause trouble in mixed hooved-stock exhibits. They generally appear to get on well with giraffes, and probably rhino I expect, but not so much with (some? many? all?) antelope species.

 

[tschandler71]

zebra often seem to cause trouble in mixed hooved-stock exhibits. They generally appear to get on well with giraffes, and probably rhino I expect, but not so much with (some? many? all?) antelope species.

I've ran across many examples that the "Masai Mara" mix (ie Plains Zebra, Grant's/Thomson Gazelle, Wildebeest) have been virtual non-starters for Zoos in the past. It deals with Zebra aggressiveness. Purely anecdotal but you only see it mentioned so many times before you believe it. Also Zebra have a track record of bullying Kudu. Which is weird because Kudu seem to do well with Rhino (Jacksonville, Fossil Rim, Houston) It was one of the reasons cited for Birmingham slow playing expanding the hoofstock portion of Trails of Africa. They cited Zebra bullying Kudu/Gazelle as well as potentially being aggressive toward the Bull Elephants (which would end up bad for the Zebra).

I am curious as to how Columbus is making it work exactly. Maybe exhibit size? Maybe they found the perfect set of mixes on the rotation? Like I said curious.

 

[Zooplantman]

I thought Heart of Africa (HoA) was excellent. The camel enclosure was a bit dusty, but it was much better than Santa Ana Zoo's camels. The paddock with the giraffes/guineafowl/ostrich was excellent, much better than Cleveland's. It was nice to see zebras and giraffes at Columbus. They should have taken the elephants from Pittsburgh Zoo (crap for elephants) and moved the rhinos from the Pachyderm Building, ship the Asian elephants out, demolish the Pachyderm, and turn it into either an insect building or add snow leopards or even a seal pool.

I am sure that your generous donation of $5 - 10million will be much appreciated

 

[blospz]

When I went at the zoo opening last week, in the main savanna were kudu, crowned crane, gazelle, wildebeest and giraffe together. In the watering hole was zebra and ostrich. In the early afternoon, since the watering hole was used for the cheetah run, the zebra and ostrich were put in the main exhibit. But I cannot remember now if the gazelle and wildebeest were still out; I am almost certain the kudu were still there.