Chester Zoo Islands - Opening and impressions

Visited again today. First visit since the Previews in July, so some observations:

Planting has noticeably matured since July and very attractive.

Coral Sands. Very pretty, but not quite sure what it's for ... other than an opportunity to sell us more stuff! The lady handing out logbooks at the Permit Office glanced at me, then glanced away. Perhaps she'd been warned. :eek:

Panay. The warty pigs were active and attractive and strolling down to be admired by passing boat passengers.

Papua. One Cassowary showing. Magnificently. Is there a better view of a cassowary to be had anywhere? Superb.

BUT not sure the public are as into pigs and cassowaries as I am.

Bali. The freeflight area was open and very impressive. Except no birds. Which rather defeats the purpose. Looks as though it'll be good though. Reminds me of Tsavo, which I also like (even though I'm not really a birdy person).

Banteng enclosure is good though views a bit distant and again not really a species to excite the casual visitor.

Sumatra. Tigers weren't showing, work still in progress. Not sure yet what to make of it. Will be interesting to view it again in a few weeks.

rest of visit to follow ...
 
And so to Monsoon Forest.

Which again is very impressive. And will be even more so when the animals arrive ... :)

The macaques look excellent in their indoor enclosure.

Unfortunate that the signs for the birds are in place, but no birds. Not sure why they can't have covered them with a notice saying "the birds are not yet ready to move in but will be here shortly" or similar.

And finally Sulawesi and really good views of babirusa!

Just as a final provocative observation, I liked Monsoon Forest but have to note that 51 years ago the Tropical House opened - and that it offered gorilla, pygmy hippo, a monotreme, a splendid reptile collection, and birds both in aviaries and free flight.

Such is progress! ;)
 
Are the tigers on show yet? I'm planning a visit to see islands for the first time, been putting it off for a while to let the animals settle and wait for more species to be added. If the tigers aren't on show are they still visible from the boat ride?

Also someone on one of the Chester threads mentioned that the gibbon species being added has been named... Which species are they?
 
Campbell89 said:
Are the tigers on show yet? I'm planning a visit to see islands for the first time, been putting it off for a while to let the animals settle and wait for more species to be added. If the tigers aren't on show are they still visible from the boat ride?
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When are you going? As they still not added everything and if you can only make the journey once in a blue moon I would wait for the full experience.
 
Saturday probably. I live fairly local (25 miles away) and we're renewing our membership so we'll be going quite often.
 
Having seen the new exhibit yesterday, and now all the Islands pathways are fully open, it is now clear to see the scale of Islands and just how incredible the WHOLE experience will be once the birds and orangs go into Monsoon Forest.

Tiger enclosure is amazing!!! They are making full use of the space and I probably saw more of them yesterday than I have seen in the last 2 years!!! There are heated rocks, lush bamboo thickets, a beautiful babbling stream and underwater viewing, steep hills and rocks to climb - all of which are in full view of the visitor. once the bamboo establishes and grows more the chain link fence will be obscured more, but the design of the enclosure means that to my surprise this isnt actually very noticeable. The Tigers seemes very very content and relaxed exploring and resting. I even saw the 2 male Cubs playing in the water - amazing!

It is now also possible to see the large outdoor orang enclosure. This is also absolutely stunning in design. A large oak tree is the centre piece which they will have full access to climb (fingers crosses they make a nest/bed in there!). Additional trees and planting plus the obligatory fake tree and poles complete what is a very impressive space. What I loved most was that the natural backdrop of large trees behind the enclosure has been kept in full view, so from certain angles all you see is an expanse of lush 'forest' which will be a photographers dream if the orangs are visible in the same sightline.

There is some great interpretation around here (think they have called it Hutan research centre) and the hornbill outdoor aviary is nicely planted and will also offer great views of the birds choose to go outside.

The large grassed area that will be the tapir and hornbill exhibit is just begging to be completed - I hope after the sun bear and aye aye exhibits are done that this will be the next priority to start work on! The area in between the orangs and tigers is also screened off but one can see this is a huge additional volume of land that has the potential to house either another enormous exhibit or several smaller exciting enclosures! Very excited about the longer term plans for Islands and great that the zoo has room for it to expand into in the coming years.

To summarise. The best has definitely been saved for last and if the crowds yesterday were anything to go by the Tigers are the crowning glory for Islands , and a game changer that will silence any of the previous criticism and attract visitors from far and wide. I expect they will far exceed the increase in visitor numbers predicted, and expect membership wil reach the 100k mark quite soon such is the appeal . Now (almost) complete I do now believe that Islands has now catapulted Chester to an even higher world class status.
 
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ChesterZooFan said:
The best has definitely been saved for last and if the crowds yesterday were anything to go by the Tigers are the crowning glory for Islands , and a game changer that will silence any of the previous criticism and attract visitors from far and wide.
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I beg to differ.

Having seen the tiger exhibit for the first time today, it's hard to express how disappointed I was with it. This is far, far removed from a word-class exhibit, it's an eye-sore and hardly a "game-changer".

There are hastily erected angle-iron barriers, a large obscured inclined area, fake rock everywhere, cramped viewing windows (when will Chester ever learn how stupid this approach is), and horrible curved chain-link fences in every eye-line. The planting is sparse and already dying (as is the case throughout Islands), the "stream" is as unnatural as I've seen in many a year, the underwater viewing quite poor and there's a great place to commit suicide if you're that way inclined - or just a really naughty child with a death-wish.

If that's not enough, with all the empty land around it it's remarkably small and the viewing from the boat terrible (or dangerous, depending on your point of view, as everyone stands to try to see the tiger making the craft even more perilous).

No doubt the off-show areas are much improved over the old exhibit, but what a huge let-down.

I've uploaded photos into the gallery.
 
GeorgeMcCormick said:
When are the Orangs being added it mustn't be long now surely ��
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They will be moved when the enclosure is finished and when the keepers deem it safe to move a mother and baby,so it could be next year before it happens but as with every move that has been done so far,the animals will come first and not this website urge for everything to be finished!!!!!!!
 
zoogiraffe said:
They will be moved when the enclosure is finished and when the keepers deem it safe to move a mother and baby,so it could be next year before it happens but as with every move that has been done so far,the animals will come first and not this website urge for everything to be finished!!!!!!!
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Should they not have waited till everything was finished before opening Islands.
 
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adrian1963 said:
Should they not have waited till everything was finished before opening Islands.
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Can you imagine the comments that there would have been if the warty pigs, cassowaries, banteng, anoa, crested macaques, babirusa and tigers had disappeared off-show as the summer progressed?
Everyone would have preferred a tighter timetable, but as that proved to be impossible, I don't think there was any real alternative to the overall strategy.

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
Can you imagine the comments that there would have been if the warty pigs, cassowaries, banteng, anoa, crested macaques, babirusa and tigers had disappeared off-show as the summer progressed?
Everyone would have preferred a tighter timetable, but as that proved to be impossible, I don't think there was any real alternative to the overall strategy.

Alan
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Keep them in their old enclosures until they were all completed, there is the real alternative.
 
taun said:
Keep them in their old enclosures until they were all completed, there is the real alternative.
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Not really, because of all the manpower required at one time and all the other moves being delayed in consequence. It's one of those big tasks that have to be done step by step.

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
Not really, because of all the manpower required at one time and all the other moves being delayed in consequence. It's one of those big tasks that have to be done step by step.

Alan
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Not only that but all the animals would need a settling in period before going on show to the public.
 
gentle lemur said:
Not really, because of all the manpower required at one time and all the other moves being delayed in consequence. It's one of those big tasks that have to be done step by step.

Alan
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Yes, it still could have be done step by step. They did this anyway and had animals off show. They could have done when it was all finished.

The only animals that would have been missed is tigers but they were replaced quickly with sun bears.

I really don't think this is a valid argument as how were they going to do it if was all finished on time? :rolleyes:
 
taun said:
Yes, it still could have be done step by step. They did this anyway and had animals off show. They could have done when it was all finished.

The only animals that would have been missed is tigers but they were replaced quickly with sun bears.

I really don't think this is a valid argument as how were they going to do it if was all finished on time? :rolleyes:
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The only reason the Tigers were replaced so quickly is because RSCC closed and the Sun Bears needed moving quick,if it hadn't been for that happening it would more than likely been early next year before Sun Bears arrived.

For the record yes Chester could have done things differently,but they did what they had to do.The zoo should actually be praised for doing Islands instead all they seem to be getting is a bloody good kicking from the people the zoo thought cared the most about the zoo!!!Yes it wasn't all finished when it opened but has any other zoo in the UK ever built anything of this scale? SIMPLE ANSWER IS NO. The fact remains at present there is only one zoo in the UK that could,even try and do any project on this scale,and yes I would have loved it to have all been done on time,but I think they made the right call in opening in stages,given the fact certain parts were so far behind schedule.

Finally people should be saying what a great year the zoo has had,with all the Giraffes and Onagers born this year,plus all the other success they have had this year within the zoo,but it would seem all people can do is moan and knock it for Islands,no wonder there has been no hint of this site getting a Walk and Talk round Islands given some of the comments that have been made,by members on this site I think we can safely say you have kissed it goodbye!!!!!!!!
 
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Islands will be a great attraction in the future I agree and it should have been dealt with better but to say it's getting a good Kicking is only the same as certain collections get on here when they do something wrong.

So why is Chester different it made a massive mistake and people/members on here are entitled to express their views whether in favour or against the Islands Project.
 
None of the collections that have got a kicking before on zoochat,have ever built something on this scale,or could EVER BUILD SOMETHING on this scale!I just feel that yes Chester could have done things different,but they didn't!So people need to get over its not going to change things,its happened and now we need to look to the future and what will be the UK only truely world class zoo exhibit!!
 
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