Monarto Safari Park Monarto Expansion.

This is huge news for South Australia, which already has the giant pandas heading to Adelaide Zoo later this year. Monarto Zoo is already an absolutely enormous establishment, and expanding to 1,450 hectares (over 3,000 acres) is astonishing and worthy of a #1 ranking for sheer size. The talk of having a 80 hectare (200 acre) African Savanna is kind of mind-boggling, although when I visited in 2007 there were already countless huge enclosures. I hope the zoo gets all the funding for such an endeavour, and with the giant pandas at the urban zoo many animal fans will hopefully also drive out to Monarto for the open range experience.
 
Fantastic - I was impressed with what I saw happening there during my visit last September. I really look forward to what else they manage to achieve in the coming years.
 
Well done for Australian Zoos! Look out Netherlands:D
 
The issue with Australian zoos is the strict import laws that prohibit the import of many species of animals and birds. An open range zoo in Australia will most likely never have the diversity of species of animals that a zoo like the SDWAP or Disney's Animal Kingdom has....



Note the near absence of antelopes
 
Monarto to expand by half - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Here is another, very similar article on the expansion plans, and I was intrigued to read that the additional land was purchased via private donors. There must be some rich people down in Adelaide, and I'm still in shock at the proposed 200 acre (80 hectare) African Savanna. That would be unbelievable!
 
Electus Parrot said:
In the first URL i read about planning for an expansion for Adelaide. Is this true?
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I think that was a bit of a typo - they should have said "Monarto Zoo planning expansion", or "ZoosSA planning expansion".

The only plans I'm aware of for Adelaide Zoo are the new Panda enclosures and entrance precinct on the southern edge of the zoo.
 
What's the point of planning an expansion if no new species can be imported...waste of time I think...

An exhibit featuring a vast diversity of species would be greatly more interesting and fascinating than one with just 5 species. At the moment Monarto Zoo's African Savannah exhibit has only zebras, giraffes, eland, water buck, oryx, ostrich, rhino and addax. Commonly found species in American zoos such as duikers, wildebeest, springbok, sable antelopes and grenenuk are non existent in Australia.

So no matter how big an African exhibit is in Australia, it will always lack that wow factor.
 
aw101 said:
What's the point of planning an expansion if no new species can be imported...waste of time I think...

An exhibit featuring a vast diversity of species would be greatly more interesting and fascinating than one with just 5 species. At the moment Monarto Zoo's African Savannah exhibit has only zebras, giraffes, eland, water buck, oryx, ostrich, rhino and addax. Commonly found species in American zoos such as duikers, wildebeest, springbok, sable antelopes and grenenuk are non existent in Australia.

So no matter how big an African exhibit is in Australia, it will always lack that wow factor.
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Waste of time?

That's a rather narrow-minded point of view.

If Monarto is expanding, then they can build large enclosures for species they don't have yet - like elephants, hippos, pygmy hippos, onager, bongo, blackbuck, chimpanzee, and carnivores. Maybe more enclosures for their cheetahs or rhinos. Or maybe a conservation facility for hairy-nosed wombats, bilbies, mala or other rare and endangered species of marsupials. There are lots of possibilities.

:)

Hix
 
How is the Rock wallaby surrogate program going at Monarto. I saw a tv program about it a year or two ago but I don't know if it is still going on.
 
More news coverage:

ABC NewsRadio: Feel like a photo safari? But can't afford Africa? South Australia may soon provide the answer ... Monarto Zoo's Senior Curator Peter Clarke explains, to Anna Hipsley

[ame]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/newsradio/audio/20090127-monarto.mp3[/ame]

...

SA zoo to be world's largest open-range

Proposals for the acquired land include safari-like tours and five-star tented accommodation similar to that found in African game parks.

Ms Caddick said a joint feasibility study was being conducted with the South Australian Tourism Commission to ascertain what groups they will pitch the experience to and how many people the accommodation should cater for.

“We tend to think we will pitch it to the upper end of the market,” she said.

“All of these things are under discussion of course.

“But I don’t think we’re going to have much problem filling beds.

“At night you (will) lay under the stars and just watch the animals saunter by and that’s the experience we’ll be providing and you won’t have to fly to Africa for it,” Ms Caddick told AAP.

“The purchase of this land takes us a significant way towards our concept of what Monarto should be: an authentic African wildlife experience accessible to and attracting South Australians and also national and international tourists,” Ms Caddick said.

Plans include an 80-hectare African habitat, securely fenced, with free roaming Serengeti animals such as lions, rhinoceros, zebras and elephants.
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What I want to know is whya re the proposals for accomodation tours etc aimed at the high end of the market with 5 star accomodation. That would effectively cut out the majority of people who might like to stay there.
 
Because if the majority of people wanted to stay there, you would probably need to book two years in advance.

:)

Hix
 
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