Master Plan
Taronga Zoo is now 7 years into its 12 year, $225 million master plan, and the results have certainly transformed the zoo. There used to be lots of debate around Australia, and even on ZooChat in the past year, over whether Melbourne or Taronga was Australia's greatest zoo. However, the massive input of funding has allowed the Sydney zoo to pull ahead and solidify itself as perhaps one of the world's great zoos.
I know that "Backyard to Bush" is around 2 hectares (5 acres) and cost about $11 million, "Wild Asia" is 1.2 hectares (2.6 acres) and cost between $32-40 million, "Great Southern Oceans" is 1.2 hectares (2.6 acres) and cost over $51 million, and on top of those MEGA projects there has been the "Wild Asian Wetlands" (Indian rhino and Asian small-clawed otter) at Taronga Western Plains Zoo plus numerous smaller renovations and expansions at both zoos.
There currently is a massive amount of money being spent on the main entrance restoration and creation of a new entrance plaza, the car park which will significantly add to the number of parking stalls at the zoo, the red panda exhibit, and the male elephant paddock. The zoo pulls in about 1.2 million visitors a year, and 6 hours away the Taronga Western Plains Zoo has about 240,000 visitors every year. The next web-link has the attendance figures and project costs for the past few years, including the fact that the master plan cost has now excalated to $252 million.
http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/publica...zoological_parks_board_of_new_south_wales.pdf
My question is this: what is next for Taronga Zoo? I've heard rumors of an African Savanna and a South American rainforest, but does anyone know for certain what the next mega project will be at the zoo?
Taronga Zoo is now 7 years into its 12 year, $225 million master plan, and the results have certainly transformed the zoo. There used to be lots of debate around Australia, and even on ZooChat in the past year, over whether Melbourne or Taronga was Australia's greatest zoo. However, the massive input of funding has allowed the Sydney zoo to pull ahead and solidify itself as perhaps one of the world's great zoos.
I know that "Backyard to Bush" is around 2 hectares (5 acres) and cost about $11 million, "Wild Asia" is 1.2 hectares (2.6 acres) and cost between $32-40 million, "Great Southern Oceans" is 1.2 hectares (2.6 acres) and cost over $51 million, and on top of those MEGA projects there has been the "Wild Asian Wetlands" (Indian rhino and Asian small-clawed otter) at Taronga Western Plains Zoo plus numerous smaller renovations and expansions at both zoos.
There currently is a massive amount of money being spent on the main entrance restoration and creation of a new entrance plaza, the car park which will significantly add to the number of parking stalls at the zoo, the red panda exhibit, and the male elephant paddock. The zoo pulls in about 1.2 million visitors a year, and 6 hours away the Taronga Western Plains Zoo has about 240,000 visitors every year. The next web-link has the attendance figures and project costs for the past few years, including the fact that the master plan cost has now excalated to $252 million.
http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/publica...zoological_parks_board_of_new_south_wales.pdf
My question is this: what is next for Taronga Zoo? I've heard rumors of an African Savanna and a South American rainforest, but does anyone know for certain what the next mega project will be at the zoo?
