It's time to talk more about Gateway to Africa.
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Here's an image focused entirely on the specifics of the planned layout.
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Here I made an attempt to affix the plan over the current zoo map. It doesn't match up perfectly due to the stylization, but it's closer than I expected to. The current Australia yard will roughly match with Mixed Africa Species Flexible Habitat 1, and Mixed Africa Species Flexible Habitat 2 with the north side of the Pachyderm building. "East African Forests", the new hippopotamus and crocodile exhibits, will replace the southern part of the building. It appears an effort will be made to preserve the west mall, but I kind of hope they build into that area so the animals can have more space.
The existing Habitat Africa! The Kopje matches with the master plan enough, although to me it looks like the space for the building might be a little bigger than the current building, so perhaps there will be some modification and expansion here, though it is not labeled for renovation in the plan. Probably a revised giraffe barn and indoor viewing but hopefully a little more than that. There's a lot that could be done there -- multi-level giraffe viewing is always a plus. Something like Omaha or Whipsnade's setups. It looks a lot like the painted dog viewing structure is still there, despite no strong show of the painted dog enclosure. Perhaps the "Expanded Giraffe and Flexible Habitat 4" label is obscuring it.
It's a bit hard to tell but it looks as if the Nyala enclosure, Klipspringer enclosure, and the giraffe enclosure may be combined into a single larger Savanna, possibly preserving the existing 'Savannah Overlook' space as a viewing area for the larger combined exhibit, and allowing the existing painted dog enclosure to remain. (Although making some changes would be welcome.) The Small Antelope House, dik-dik area will be where construction for the new Cheetah enclosure would take place. The grassy area to the east of Australia House and the current Addax enclosure will become parts of Mixed Africa Species Flexible Habitat 3, adjacent to the current Australia/future Mixed Africa Species Flexible Habitat 1 space.
I did notice two interesting things here, so allow me a detour. There appear to be visitor paths leading to a smaller part of the Savannah Passage holding area. The pale rectangle neither matches the 'old building to remain' or 'new building' part of the key; however, the path appears to go 'through it' in a loop with an unlabeled outdoor exhibit, suggesting to me it could be a public space of some kind. I think it would be cool if this represented an indoor viewing barn for Savannah Passage species for winter visits or something to that effect, but it's probably wishful thinking. But also, we have an unlabeled outdoor exhibit, disconnected from Savannah Passage but noticeably small. If meerkats are going to be part of the mixed exhibits as suggested by the Club of Chicago concept art, this could perhaps be an enclosure for a savannah primate, such as baboons, or a smaller mammal, such as Cape porcupine, aardvark, or warthog, or a new enclosure for dik-dik or klipspringer. Warthog and porcupine could be mixed, and dik-diks have been mixed with other species before. It looks larger than the new outdoor pangolin enclosure and smaller than any of the new megafauna exhibits, a little similar in size to the South American monkey habitat.
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Switching back to comparing layouts, things get a little more confusing. The new lion enclosure looks like it will be located just north of and possibly over where the current exit to Habitat Africa the Forest is, adjacent to the current giraffe enclosure, while the addax/zebra enclosures correspond to Elephant/Rhino Flexible Habitat A. The Congo Buffalo enclosure will be near the red river hog and exit section of Habitat Africa! The Forest, where there is currently a lot of educational material. The rest of 'South African Forests', with four additional Flexible Rhino/Elephant habitats will be entirely new developments on unused land - flexible enclosures C and E don't fit on the current map and will begin the process of building around Swan Lake and Salt Creek Wilderness, while C will encircle the existing, renovated Dragonfly Marsh building and B will be on currently unused land east of the last hoofstock building.
Notably, at least three holding buildings appear to be planned for the Elephant/Rhino Flexible Habitats and 'South African Forests', but none of them appear clearly to be open to the public. Flexible Habitat D looks to have a barn that might have a path connection but it's not entirely clear. There is a possible connection to the holding building for Flexible Habitats B and C, but it is not indicated as a visitor path. I would strongly encourage the zoo to ensure both elephants and rhinos will be visible in winter and build world-class barns for them. Omaha provides a great example to follow for elephants.
It looks like the new bongo and pygmy hippopotamus enclosures will replace the winding entrance path to Habitat Africa! The Forest, which does take a few minutes to get going nowadays, and will involve an add-on to the existing building to include indoor holding. I look forward to both of these species joining the zoo. I have indicated before some hope they might include a monkey species alongside the pygmy hippopotamus, like at San Diego and formerly at Tropic World. Two enclosures also means they will be able to breed. This also means they will be one of few zoos to hold both pygmy and river hippopotamus. There will also be some kind of outdoor pangolin enclosure, which I'm very curious what the plan is. There are two more circular shapes, same color as that pale rectangle above, corresponding to the pangolin and pygmy hippo enclosure, with connected path. Perhaps these are viewing structures or small buildings?
The next odd thing is although the existing Habitat Africa building is set to remain, there are no visitor paths towards it, unless they are incorrectly blended into the service paths. Instead, it appears the new pygmy hippo and bongo enclosures create a new path closer to Great Bear Wilderness, bypassing the building and then bringing guests on a path past the existing enclosures from the opposite side[?] with three outdoor enclosures for Okapi, duiker and red river hog, and then a second building[?] with old and new parts, which will lead to the Forest buffalo, which may not be seen from this path, before going past another small, unlabeled habitat (Perhaps the White Storks? Something new?) that leads back to Elephant/Rhinoceros Flexible Habitat D, which will eventually lead past the buffalo on the way to the lions and back out.
This whole section seems a bit more potentially confusing and a bit less clean in planning. Some of this might be me misunderstanding which enclosures correspond to which in the current enclosure, and the integration of the lions and elephants so close to the Forest loop may take away some of what makes the Forest feel unique and special as a standalone exhibit, but with smart planning, it doesn't need to be. The lack of access to the Forest building feels more like an oversight than an intended change and I certainly hope when official plans are unveiled, this is reflected as such. The possible building additions could potentially be exciting here but with new megafauna holding needed they may simply be indoor options for these species. I hope a few additional terrariums could be considered though at least, such as for Gaboon Viper and Chameleon once held in the Forest building but currently in the reptile buildings. Potto would be a fun choice but obviously aren't available.
The wonderful surprise is almost no species seem necessary to leave if these plans proceed. The hoofstock yards will be demolished but it's already been indicated Nyala, Addax, and Zebra will stick around in the mixed savanna setup (though I think it's possible the zoo may change away from Grevy's Zebra) and it looks the zoo intends to stay with Painted Dogs, and their existing enclosure would not need to be demolished too make way for the Savannah alterations. The existing Forest enclosures look basically untouched. The main risk will be for the klipspringer and dik-dik, unfortunately, as well as the capybara and Galapagos tortoises at Pachyderm House. However, the zoo will gain Nile Crocodile, Cheetah and Bongo as new species, and tentative additions will include Congo buffalo, Common eland, Kudu, and Gazelle, based on Dr. Mike's comments, as well as the return of Ostrich, African elephants, Pygmy and river hippopotamus, and Rhinoceros. The unlabeled exhibit could also represent a new enclosure for an existing species (dik-dik, klipspringer, porcupine, meerkat) or a returning or new species (aardvark, warthog, baboon) or a mix.
The other cool thing is that the zoo should have lots of money for the core priorities if some of the primary changes to set up the new mixed savannah enclosures will be more about combining and refreshing some existing habitats.
If all of these ideas go through, the zoo will have an incredible African megafauna collection with almost every major species.
For a few suggestions to improve the plan without deviating, I think I would suggest looking to Denver's 5-acre Predator Ridge when developing the lion enclosure and potentially making it into a rotational exhibit with at least two separate spaces. This could allow for rotating lions with Spotted hyena, allowing the zoo to add another prominent carnivore, or provide options for housing separate groups of lion, as Lincoln Park Zoo is now doing to separate their family groups. Dr. Mike has suggested the zoo may continue with the existing lion brothers currently at the Fragile Hunters/Big Cat walkway, but this will open up options. It would be cool to rotate with Painted Dogs but they wouldn't be able to use their existing enclosure and I'm not sure the space is sufficient for three large carnivores to rotate.
I really hope the zoo takes the opportunity to develop some new buildings - winter elephant and rhinoceros barns are a must, adding on to the Forest is smart, an expanded giraffe barn is worthwhile consideration for the Savannah, and a view of the Savannah Passage holding could allow the rare chance for people to view hoofstock in winter. The winters can be harsh in the midwest and guests will want to be able to see as many animals as possible in the cold, after all. New buildings also always have the chance to include new, smaller species. The Bronx Zoo's giraffe house has an aardvark exhibit, Chester's Okapi House has sengi, Toledo once had an aviary in their elephant barn, and so forth. This would be a great way to bring back aardvark, for example, or hyrax, or just to design a new home for one of the species in Desert's Edge, or to include birds that do not do as well in mixed aviary settings.
We've seen from the concept art they may be looking into using foreground areas and creeps to include (not previously announced) small mammals in the megafauna exhibit, such as meerkat and like their past attempt with Sulcata tortoise. I hope they use this liberally - it would allow for more species to be introduced but also add activity and diversity to the displays beyond the mixed hoofstock. It could be cool to see mongoose, porcupine, monitor lizards, hyrax, ground hornbill, or so forth in these sorts of spaces. Carving out such a space for porcupine and warthog, the latter of which the zoo has mixed with ostrich and waterbuck previously but can be hardy on some hoofstock, could be rewarding on days when the larger species are not as active.
Finally, I hope they include a few more birds and continue mixing birds with hoofstock such as the crowned cranes in the current nyala enclosure. Marabou stork can be mixed in savannah spaces too, as I saw at Binder Park Zoo this year, and large stork and ground hornbill have also been done. A lot of the zoo's bird collection is New World species so the addition of some more African birds would be welcome.
I'm very excited now that this is starting to feel more real.
