Bactrian Deer
Well-Known Member
I refuse
Mr Gharial's zoo design
- Thread starter Mr Gharial
- Start date
I refuse
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Van Beal
Well-Known Member
I'm with you on this one @Bactrian DeerI refuse
I refuse
Well the both of you better read it again now that I'm finished editing. Not much has changed but it's a little more readable.
AND WITH DRAMATIC MUSIC THIS TIME
it's genuinely kind of better
Van Beal
Well-Known Member
I always read with dramatic music in my head
Also it was perfectly readable (for me at least) the first time.
True, but I did use the word area three times in one sentence, and I misspelled boardwalk as boarwalk. Small things, but it's still an improvement for me.
Also I forget to mention key details quite often so I have to proof-read things. Like me forgetting to mention about the hidden perching spots in the reeds that have now been edited in
Platypusboy
Well-Known Member
I really think this is one of your best works yet! I especially loved the inclusion of all the animal species in the tour itself. It really made it easier to visualize what it would be like to walk through this giant aviary.Only a few days ago I said "oh, it'll take another week or two" and then I finished it really quick after that. I feel like that's happened before...
Oh well...
I present to you; the biggest aviary within the Netted Gardens... Welcome to De Savanne!
View attachment 651469
Based on the Wetlands and Bushlands of the great East African lakes, the giant Savanna aviary is over slightly over 1.7 hectares in size, meaning the entirety of Burgers' Bush could fit comfortably inside it. It also means you could fit Antwerp's Buffalo aviary, Beauval's Hippopotamus aviary, Artis' Polder aviary AND Amersfoort's Snavelrijk aviary inside De Savanne without them touching, and still having enough room to fit in every Meerkat enclosure in the Benelux... Well, at least I think. I haven't specifically measured that last bit...
Before we start with the tour of the aviary I'm going to start with some general information. Let's start us off with the plant life...
Now, you might not think of great bushland areas when you think of the Netherlands, but we certainly have some regions in our country that look almost identical to the African bushland. One of which I practically grew up in: The Loonsche dunes!
Let's compare...
This is the landscape of the Kilimanjaro mountain in Tanzania near the Kenyan border.
This is the landscape of the Loonsche dunes in Brabant near the Belgian border.
Now, a big part of the reason that the Dutch dunes look so similar to the African bushland is because of two plants. Two plants that are, of course, going to be used a lot in De Savanne aviary. The first is common heather, which was shown in the comparison. The second, which wasn't shown in the google maps spot I picked, is my favourite tree: the Scots pine!
The Scots pine is usually a rather dull tree, growing as any basic pine tree, though a little taller than most. However, when not surrounded by other trees, the Scots pine grows to be wonderfully wide, delightfully shaped, amazingly grandiose, and I'm running out of ways to describe them but here's another photo. In general, they look a lot like the typical trees of Africa, and when combined with the heather, it makes for a wonderful African landscape outside of Africa because of the Scots pine's similarity to the rough-barked and dried-out trees of Africa. Beekse Bergen, the main Safaripark of the Netherlands (which is also located near the Loonsche dunes) knows this all too well, as they also use a lot of Scots pines in their park to simulate the African landscape.
Essentially, all the dark green spots on the layout are either large, singular scots pines, small groupings of Scots pines. The larger dark green areas are denser forest, with some more different tree types mixed in there, and a lot of dense shrubbery. The yellow ground area is the Bushland region, with sandy areas, heather bushes and general herb-level plants. The light green ground area is more grassy and has some taller shrubbery. Based more on the savanna during or right after the rainy season. The foliage throughout the aviary is comparable to the landscaping on top of Burgers' Zoo's kopje. Also mixed in with the shrubbery are some dead trees and branches placed specifically for all sorts of birds to perch on.
You may also be able to notice the large rocky areas present in De Savanne. The giant rock area is split in style. Most of it is a typical Kopje type mountain with large rounded rocks (though with a lot more foliage than shown in the example photo), while the smaller area on the top region of the layout is a sharp rocky outcrop. There are some other rocky areas further along the path, you can tell by the shape what type they are. The areas with rounded rocks are more Kopjes, and the rocky area with a plateau-style are more sharp rocky areas.
You can also see there's a lot of cyan-coloured areas in and around the water, these are swamps and marshy areas, of course. Filled with reeds and a lot of horsetails, which are similar to and meant to represent Elephant grass and Papyrus. There are also a lot of fallen logs and hidden perching spots for the wading birds, as they usually have a little trouble getting through thick reeds.
Typical stork nesting plateaus are also hidden in the reed areas.
On to the tour!
Now, I've noticed myself that I haven't exactly included the free-roaming animals into the description. So I'll try to have some of the free-roaming birds dotted around the description of the aviary.
You enter the aviary after having gone through the Delta aviary, where you end up in a rocky tunnel. The rocky theme continues as you find yourself in a near the cliff of De Savanne's great rocky outcrop. Among the rocks and bushes of the cliff you may find one of the many rock hyraxes that are free-roaming in this first area of the aviary. On the ground area (and perhaps also on the lower rock plateau) you can also find Cape porcupines and, at least during summer, Leopard tortoises. Someone with a good eye (or a set of binoculars) may also be able to spot Laughing doves or Golden-breasted starlings among the rocks. In a few of the dead shrubs between the rocks you can also see some of the many weavers building their nests.
You walk over a bridge which signifies the end of the Hyrax walkthrough, and brings you past one of the reed areas and over a part of the large central lake of the aviary. In the reeds you may be able to spot some of the Pond-herons or Crakes that free-roam the aviary. In the big lake area you can also see the African pygmy-geese and Maccoa ducks, two of nine species of free-roaming waterfowl. Also from the bridge, you can also view the separation for the big Savanna paddock on the left side of the layout, which we'll get to later.
Before we go back to the dry path, we get a good view of the large mud bank, which provides a nesting spot for the not-quite-a-hundred-but-almost-a-hundred bee-eaters.
Continuing on the path, we come across another, smaller Kopje. You might see the Francolins in between the great round rocks. With some luck you can see the Great blue turacos or Pygmy-falcons peeking from on top of the rocks.
Past the Kopje, the larger path continues onto the central island. However, as we are zoo nerds and in-the-know about the best route, we continue through the rocky area and toward the large waterfall at a rocky ledge. Following from the waterfall is a fast-flowing river over smaller rocky ledges with multiple mini-waterfalls (this but smaller). On the rock ledges surrounding the waterfall you might find Hamerkops or Abdim's storks and with some luck, a V.D.Decken's hornbill. You might also see Sacred ibises in the rocky stream.
You cross a metal bridge onto a more forested island, to the side you can see a larger waterfall, which connects the upper water area on the right side of the islands to the main water area. There's multiple small rocky ledges on the island turning it into a sort-of hillside. I drew it with dark grey instead of the rocky orange I used in the rest of the layout because the orange looked very strange here for some reason... These two islands are home to free-roaming Colobus monkeys. A small stream flows between the islands. Again, connecting the upper basin to the lower lake. With some luck you could also see one of the Duikers on the islands. Free-roaming birds can also get to the islands, of course. This forested area would be more popular with the Green pigeons, Olive pigeons, Mousebirds and Turacos.
From the islands, you walk into a building themed to be more modern, and decorative theming and signage point to it being a primate research centre. Inside the building is the indoor holding of the Duikers and Colobus monkeys. Part of the Monkey's indoor holding is visible, a second indoor holding is behind the scenes to the visitors, and holds the Duikers. The primates can choose which indoor area they go to.
Also in the building is a small terrarium for Acacia rats, and a very large enclosure with Lizards, Birds and Elephant shrews. These enclosures are also vaguely kopje-themed, with more Heath plants and other shrubbery, though I haven't drawn these in. There's also a small, lowered area where you can walk down to have underwater viewing into the lake. In the lake, there are multiple fish species. The fish present are all European, but are chosen specifically because they look quite similar to African fish species.
Usually, I show the species cards at the end of the tour. But we're only halfway there and already we have a colossal wall of text that is in desperate need of being broken up by an image. So I'll include the fish card here instead of at the end:
View attachment 651470
The fish species with a blue background are the European fish present in the lake, and the ones with a purple background are the fish that they represent. It's a little unlikely that you'll see many fish from this smaller underwater viewing area, as the fish have a whole lake they can get to, and you'll probably see them more often from the bridges and boardwalks.
Also: in case you're getting tired of having to scroll back up to the layout constantly, here's another one:
View attachment 651469
After exiting the indoor area, you get into a more heavily forested area, where you should be able to see the birds that prefer denser foliage. You might see the Trumpeter hornbills, Myer's parrots, Hoopoes. And, if you have a lot of luck, the pin-tailed whydahs.
From here, we continue into the village area formed by typical mud huts with straw roofs (how original, I know). In the village are three separate enclosures. A larger yard for Somali sheep in the corner, an aviary in front of the sheep yard, which you can look through into the sheep yard (a similar concept to BZ's Snake/Pekari setup, though not as well-hidden). This aviary holds Thick-knees, Canaries, Woodhoopoes and Buffalo weavers. A smaller, grassy enclosure in the middle of the village also holds Dutch rabbits.
Near the docks of the village there is also a small boating house, with one large boat and multiple smaller boats sticking out of it. On the side of the building it says
"Babu Dhakiya’s safari boat rides". Wooden planks with "Out of business" painted on it partially obscures the sign. This is a bit of an inside joke between me, myself and I. And hopefully you when the Boardwalk pages come out...
The roofs of the houses may provide seating spots for the Collared doves, Barbets and, if you're very lucky, maybe even some of the vultures. The goat paddock and generally dirt-based area in and around the village might attract the more ground-based birds, like the Lapwings or Blue-winged geese. The boats of Baba Dhakiya especially provide seating for Hamerkops, Spoonbills, Whistling-ducks and African openbills. When you walk onto the first boardwalk area you should be able to get a great view of some of the birds here. Ducks and Ibises may also sit on the railings of the boardwalk.
We take the central path of the boardwalk to walk into the middle of a rounded bay, this bay is very shallow and especially designed for the resident flamingo colony at De Savanne. Over 200 Lesser flamingos can be found in the aviary, which would make it the biggest colony in Europe. The flamingos can also go into any other part of the aviary, of course. This is just where I assume they'd hang out. This area may also provide a nice spot for the Saddlebill storks and African pochards.
From this boardwalk area you walk further onto the central island. In the bushland shrubbery we can see more weaver nests. As this aviary has a giant mixed colony of weavers. Both village weavers and Red-billed queleas live in the aviary, and together they make up a colony of around 150 birds. We go over the bridge to the left, where we get a first good look at one of the reed mazes, made up of small strips of water breaking up the large reed beds. With some luck you can see one of the Goliath herons, or maybe even a Shoebill stork!
From here, you have a choice between two paths.
You can go further on the island area, with more bushland foliage and birds like Namaqua doves, Starlings and more Weavers. Or you can go onto the boardwalk area, and get a good view of the big Savannah paddock underneath the giant Kopje of the aviary. And also a good view of the Kopje itself, of course.
Speaking of the Savannah paddock; let's get to that!
The Savannah paddock is the main flat area of the aviary, it functions as a separation yard for the Nile lechwes and Cape buffaloes of the African boardwalk area in the main zoo area. Holding only between 1-3 Buffaloes, and either a bachelor or a spinster group of Lechwes. However, the flat and away-from-the-visitors area are also great spots for the Black-crowned cranes, Guineafowl, Blue-winged geese and probably also some Turtle doves. The Savannah area is partially forested as well, and visitors who were clever enough to bring some binoculars may see Hornbills, Starlings or Turacos in the branches here.
From this boardwalk area you can also get a great view of the giant Kopje. Which, apart from being pretty, also functions as a high point for the multiple vulture species in the aviary, and any other birds that may want to be high up. In between the big Kopje boulders, nesting boxes for the vultures are hidden. Of course, we all hope to see the vultures flying around more than we see them sitting on the rocks. The tall and imposing form of the aviary should provide plenty of flying space for the vultures to really soar.
Also in the middle of the Savannah paddock, there are a few smaller kopjes, though these are much taller, thinner stacks than the big kopje in the background. You may also notice the large grey area in the middle of the rock area, these are the indoor holdings for the African birds, Chinese birds, Cape buffaloes, Nile lechwes, Chinese gorals and even the Reeve's muntjacs, as the mountain area of the Oriental garden is placed directly on the other side of the Kopje.
We continue down the boardwalk to see more of the reed maze area, where you can see more swamp-dwelling birds and Knob-billed ducks floating between the little waterways. We briefly re-enter the island. One boardwalk path brings us back to the flamingos, and the other past another mud bank before going back into the village. This is another nesting spot for the Bee-eaters, where you can get a good look at their nests. During breeding season, this part of the boardwalk can be blocked off to allow the birds some rest, of course.
We walk through the village for only a short bit before hitting the final stretch toward the exit. This final region is another bushland area, where you might be able to see the free-roaming Dikdik or a sunbathing vulture with some luck.
Before we go for the exit there is another boardwalk area. Over a huge swamp region. With shorter aquatic grasses, a lot of Horsetails and a whole lot of other swamp plants. This "Papyrus swamp" is where you'll probably find the most Ibises, Ducks and Storks. You can also just about see the Buffaloes and Antelopes through the reeds.
In the back of the aviary, there is another strip of Savanna landscape, where you could find more ground-dwelling birds, before heading to the exit of the aviary.
If that description seemed cut short that's because it is, I've been typing this pretty much all day now
Species list De Savanne:
Waterbirds:
View attachment 651483 View attachment 651484
Other birds (and dikdik):
View attachment 651479 View attachment 651480
Enclosure species:
View attachment 651495 View attachment 651482
Noteable numbers:
Some of the birds in De Savanne are held in particularly large numbers, some would be the largest colonies of Europe.
The Lesser flamingos would live in a huge group of over 200 animals. This would be the largest Lesser flamingo colony, but not the largest flamingo colony in general. As this currently goes to GaiaZOO, which has 450 Greater flamingos. The Flamingo "bay" area is the same size as one of GaiaZOO's "bays" (they have 2, so the group size seemed appropriate).
The Village weavers and Red-billed queleas live in a combined group of roughly 150 animals, Village weavers making up the majority of them, as these live in the largest colonies in the wild.
The European and Northern Carmine bee-eaters can also be found in large groups. As there are around 50 Carmine bee-eaters and 20 European bee-eaters.
Most of the Vultures can be found in groups of 5-10, except for the Rüppel's vultures, of which there are 30.
Finally, the wading birds. The Abdim's storks and African openbills are both kept in large groups of 20, and the Yellow-billed storks in a group of 40, which can probably be found most in the trees in and around the monkey islands. The Black crakes, Spoonbills, Sacred ibises and Hadada ibises, as well as both Guineafowl species are all kept in groups of around 20-30 animals.
The rest of the birds are still numerous, but kept essentially unspecified. Except for the birds that have to be kept in pairs, like the Lapwings, Shoebills and Hornbills.
I'm really happy with how this aviary turned out, and would really love this to be real, but oh well.
Still, it's nice to imagine the Vultures flying overhead and the Weavers whizzing past in colossal groups. Man, I love being a visual thinker.
Anyway, I'm tired and this is getting dangerously close to rambling...
I hope you've all enjoyed De Savanne, and I would love to hear what you think!
Alright then. I'm back with another little update.
I mentioned earlier in the thread that I would be translating some of the Dutch projects I made. And though I'm still planning on revising and uploading a few of them, I will also be reworking some of them into Wetlands park. Half of the Wetlands aquarium will actually be an older aquarium I shifted around.
Along with that, I will also be uploading things other than Wetlands park. Right now I'm taking a little break from Wetlands park and working on a little Avifauna project. People who followed my previous fantasy zoo thread will know I did a few small Avifauna things before, but this project will be mostly separate from the previous one.
Thanks! I'm glad it helped. I could do more walkthroughs like this one for some of the other projects I already finished here, so we can all get a proper idea of what the life inside the aviary might actually look like
I mentioned earlier in the thread that I would be translating some of the Dutch projects I made. And though I'm still planning on revising and uploading a few of them, I will also be reworking some of them into Wetlands park. Half of the Wetlands aquarium will actually be an older aquarium I shifted around.
Along with that, I will also be uploading things other than Wetlands park. Right now I'm taking a little break from Wetlands park and working on a little Avifauna project. People who followed my previous fantasy zoo thread will know I did a few small Avifauna things before, but this project will be mostly separate from the previous one.
Thanks! I'm glad it helped. I could do more walkthroughs like this one for some of the other projects I already finished here, so we can all get a proper idea of what the life inside the aviary might actually look like
Welp, I'm gonna go off likes here and take it that you guys would like to see some re-walkthroughs. I'm definitely doing The Oriental Garden, as I think this one is in need of it the most. I feel like The Meadow and The Tundra aren't in as much need as the East-Asian aviary, as these are less intricately designed. But if you guys want it I could still do both the other ones.
Pretty much the exact same situation is also true about the Wetlands house, with the Rio Dourado definitely needing it, and the Tierra del Fuego and Lundaeya halls being less in need of it.
I'm finishing up a few added species to The Oriental Garden, and then I'm going to spend a few hours writing the updated walkthrough
Pretty much the exact same situation is also true about the Wetlands house, with the Rio Dourado definitely needing it, and the Tierra del Fuego and Lundaeya halls being less in need of it.
I'm finishing up a few added species to The Oriental Garden, and then I'm going to spend a few hours writing the updated walkthrough
Suddenly got hit with a lot of inspiration so I started designing the North American region and just went through it like a runaway train. I was originally expecting Australian region "The Billabong" to be out first but I'm not 100% happy with it yet. So I now think the North American region may be out earlier.
I'll spoil a few aspects of the design.
The North American region will be divided into four biome-based regions:
- The Forests and Tundras of Eastern Canada
- The Plains and conifer hills of the Great Plains valley
- The Swamps and Wetlands of the Mississippi delta and the everglades.
And the main region of the North American section will of course be the temperate forests of the Appalachian mountains. This section will be called:
Meyer's creek
Meyer's creek will include:
- A hunter's cabin and underground tunnel with Aquariums and nocturnal animals.
- A large walkthrough area with Groundhogs.
- A central riverside town with a dam and a lumbermill.
- A large aviary with wading birds and ducks.
- A small bird-of-prey show area with a comedic-but-educational character actor.
In general, Meyer's creek will include quite some animals imported from North America, as most of these aren’t present in European collections, including Pronghorns, American badgers, and multiple fish and amphibian species.
I have a sketch on paper (it's easier to work with a pencil sometimes) that I'm going to draw over in PowerPoint and tweak it till it’s just right, then I’ll upload it as soon as I can!
I'll spoil a few aspects of the design.
The North American region will be divided into four biome-based regions:
- The Forests and Tundras of Eastern Canada
- The Plains and conifer hills of the Great Plains valley
- The Swamps and Wetlands of the Mississippi delta and the everglades.
And the main region of the North American section will of course be the temperate forests of the Appalachian mountains. This section will be called:
Meyer's creek
Meyer's creek will include:
- A hunter's cabin and underground tunnel with Aquariums and nocturnal animals.
- A large walkthrough area with Groundhogs.
- A central riverside town with a dam and a lumbermill.
- A large aviary with wading birds and ducks.
- A small bird-of-prey show area with a comedic-but-educational character actor.
In general, Meyer's creek will include quite some animals imported from North America, as most of these aren’t present in European collections, including Pronghorns, American badgers, and multiple fish and amphibian species.
I have a sketch on paper (it's easier to work with a pencil sometimes) that I'm going to draw over in PowerPoint and tweak it till it’s just right, then I’ll upload it as soon as I can!
Van Beal
Well-Known Member
I hope you return to this @Mr Gharial. It's been nearly a month and I'm still waiting for your North American area
Don't worry! Meyer's Creek is being worked on!
This is the first region of the Great Boardwalk ring that makes up the majority of Wetlands Park Europe, and it consists of a lot more exhibits and semi-regions than the Rio Dourado, for example.
We're coming up on roughly 100 species in the North American region, and the design for the main area is as good as finished. I think I'm going to upload Meyer's Creek first and upload the rest of the North America area on a later date. I hope to finish it this month
This is the first region of the Great Boardwalk ring that makes up the majority of Wetlands Park Europe, and it consists of a lot more exhibits and semi-regions than the Rio Dourado, for example.
We're coming up on roughly 100 species in the North American region, and the design for the main area is as good as finished. I think I'm going to upload Meyer's Creek first and upload the rest of the North America area on a later date. I hope to finish it this month
Right then, now that we’ve seen a few singular areas like aviaries and greenhouses it’s about time we saw a part of the outside area of Wetlands Park Europe:
Welcome to the North American region of the Great Boardwalk.
North America, and temperate/Colder regions in general, are criminally underrepresented in European zoos. In the Netherlands, Burgers’ Zoo and Blijdorp are the only ones with real North American regions. Aquazoo Leeuwarden started building a new North American region only a week ago. On top of that, only Blijdorp, GaiaZOO and Wildlands have regions dedicated to a colder climate (again, with Aquazoo currently busy with a new one). For this reason I tried to flesh out this region as much as possible.
The North American boardwalk will be separated into four main regions, the one we’ll be seeing today being the biggest one.
After going from the European region to the North American area, we first come past the taiga area that I’ll descibe at a later date. But now we enter the main North American region:
Meyer’s Creek!
This area is based on the Temperate forests from South/Eastern Canada to the Appalachian mountains. With a Canadian in the audience I certainly hope it lives up to the ol’ Canadian standards.
As I mentioned, we’ve already been walking through a bit of mixed tundra and taiga based on the islands of Nunavut and Newfoundland. From the entrance of Meyer’s creek state park, we enter a raised path above the forest ground (A), almost immediately we come across a large aviary to our right. This large aviary holds a pair of Bald eagle, along with a pair of Sandhill cranes and a group of North Eurasian ravens (the only animal that isn't region-specific, only because it's the only subspecies available in Europe). We walk past the aviary for a little bit before a large, hillside log cabin (B) comes into view.
From inside the cabin you can either continue the route outside, or enter a long hallway with aquariums and nocturnal enclosures. For now we’ll continue the outside route, and come back to the hallway later. The walkways slowly go down, with wooden platforms connected by slopes (C). From the last platform we can get a good view of the next habitat (2). This rocky enclosure holds Canadian lynx, it is filled with multiple rocky ledges, live trees and a small stream flowing through it. The enclosure is built with large wooden logs and mesh, with metal climb-proof rigging along the top to prevent escapes. This should give the area a rustic, sort of temporary feel. The same vibes you might get with older wooden bridges or railways found around logging towns.
After the lynx habitat you continue on to a ground path past a small beach and a wooden bridge (D) over a stream (essentially a smaller version of the bridge shown above). On the following island there’s a well-hidden barrier to the first enclosure for a small group of Woodchucks and a pair of North American tree porcupines (4). You enter a covered wooden walkway (E) that slopes up to a small viewing platform to the larger beach enclosure on the side of the not-quite-an-island-but-I’m-gonna-keep-calling-it-an-island. From here you can see a herd of White-tailed deer (3).
The covered walkway slopes up slowly so you’re amongst the trees. From here, you can see the Tree porcupines on eye level. Below the path, there’s a small stream that flows from a small lake in a separated enclosure. The wooden walkway settles to be about 4 meters off the ground at a second viewing platform above the pond of the American black bear habitat (5). This habitat is similar to the Lynx habitat, though a lot bigger. With rocky ledges, small waterfalls and streams, live trees and a pool right below the viewing area. The enclosure is almost exactly the same size as Burgers’ Zoo’s tiger habitat and can hold 4 or 5 bears at a time.
The covered walkway slopes back down again and you walk over a rusty wooden grate. This grate is electrified to avoid the free-roaming animals of the next area to get into the walkway. You enter a second enclosure for Woodchucks and a second pair of Tree porcupines, the stream in the middle of the island being the separation between the two enclosures. With more hidden barriers you continue to walk past the White-tailed deer enclosure. The barriers being similar to the ones Beekse Bergen uses often (I’d show you a picture, but you wouldn’t see the barrier… That’s the point.)
(
<-- That's the basic concept, this being the result of what's actually visible of the barrier)
Continuing through the walkthrough area there’s a small side aviary (6) partially hidden in the foliage. This aviary holds Short-eared owls. Behind the aviary you can see another wooden walkway, this one being much thinner. This adventure path starts at an area of the raised and covered pathway between the bears and deer. Built with large logs, planks and ropes, the adventure path is meant more for kids, though it’s not covered so an adult wouldn’t have to crouch. I can best compare it to the adventure path in Ouwehands’ bear forest, though with a stable walkway rather than a shaky rope bridge.
A tall log hut (F) marks the end of the adventure path, which also provides a good view into the next enclosure, for a group of North American river otters (7). You walk past a small final loop in the path (G), you continue through a typical American covered bridge (H), from which you can get another good view into the River otter lake. There’s multiple small waterfalls and cliffs surrounding the lake, which the otters can play on.
There’s a hidden waterfall under the bridge that flows into a large stream into the big central lake. The deer actually also have access to the beach and small islands, as theres a rock wall on the other side of the river that prevents them from getting into the next habitat. Entering the next land area we there’s a few more path loops in the forest. On one side there’s another medium-sized aviary (8), this time for Arctic long-eared owls. Through the trees you can also get a sneak preview into the central enclosure of the Great Plains area of the North America region. We’ll visit this properly when I showcase the next area of course.
As we continue into another covered bridge we can actually see two enclosures on two sides. To the right, the River otter enclosure, and to the left a creek enclosure for Northern raccoons and Striped skunks (9). This enclosure was also visible from the land area, of course. There’s actually a small path and a bridge going through the enclosure, but this is only for the animals and the zookeepers. You exit the bridge into the middle of the town. To the left, there’s a relatively low glass barrier looking into the River otter enclosure. After this, we come across another log cabin, which is actually one of the exits to the large aquarium hallway. Next to this is a habitat for American badgers (10), which can also be viewed from inside the hallway.
On the opposite side of the Badger enclosure, there’s another small cabin (J) with an aviary, this aviary holds Northern bobwhite quails, along with a group of colour-coded passerines: The Northern cardinal, The Blue jay, and the Baltimore oriole. The passerines in this aviary are also used in the bird show we’ll come across later. Inside the small cabin (J), there’s some education about American songbirds, as well as the indoor holding. After the cabin, you come across a small lake, which holds a lot of different fish species. This lake also acts as the main tank of the aquarium tunnel.
On the side of the lake, there’s a small, wooden dam. Some water flows over the dam and into the start of the stream below, and some of it flows through a small, wooden aqueduct which directs it toward a waterwheel on the side of the main building of Meyer’s Creek: A large lumbermill (L). The waterwheel actually isn’t just decorational. It actually turns and wins back some of the energy that is being put into pumping the water to the fish pond. This is paired with an educational sign about the good and the bad of dams (good being environmentally friendly power, bad being blocking migratory fish from spawning grounds). Between the dam and the mill there’s a small watertower-themed playground. Kids can also play in the start of the creek here.
In the middle of the town, you can see an area of light grey (I). This is the seating area of the restaurant (the large building also near I). This restaurant is “The Survivalist’s lodge” and serves alternate meat dishes, stews in large wooden bowls and whatever this “gumbo” stuff is. Most dishes are made with edible mushrooms and other foraging items. This is partially environmentalism/education on the needed reduction of the meat industry, and partially also a bit of theming.
We’re now well over halfway through the route, so here’s the layout again:
Before we exit the town and go to the next area of Meyer’s Creek, let’s first visit location K. Surrounded by show seating, this is the place of the Meyer’s Creek bird show!
The Bird show is given by an eccentric character actor. The show itself is mostly educational, of course, but also includes a lot of humour. The character actor (charactor?) looks like the world’s most extreme American stereotype: Rockstar cowboy look, heavy Southern drawl, weird sayings and phrases, etc. So what’s the joke? Throughout the show it becomes increasingly obvious that the character lives in Canada and has never been to the USA.
Multiple jokes come from this, as he refers to his home as being in “The United States… of Canada!”. He’s also twisted the classic phrase “Everything’s bigger in Texas!” into “Everything’s bigger in Montreal!”. He also says “Here in the South… Of Canada”, etc.
So what’s this character’s name?…
(Drumroll please…)
John Canada!
The birds in the show are usually also introduced with little jokes. A quick run-through of the show:
- The first birds we see in the show are the Red-tailed hawk and the Bald eagle, these are introduced with a little fun fact about how, in movies, footage of the Bald eagle is usually paired with a very typical screech, but this is actually the screech of the Red-tailed hawk.
- Next it the Turkey vulture, introduced with a little joke about how even birds don’t always eat everything off their plate, and their mommas aren’t gonna clean it up for them. This is, of course, paired with education about the importance of Vultures as clean-up crew.
- After that come the American kestrel and the Gyrfalcon, with one of my favourite jokes:
“Now, the three birds we’ve seen so far are all from the same family… The Johnson’s down the creek, they let me burrow them for the show.”
(Laughing at his own joke)
“All kidding aside, the hawk, the eagle and the vulture are all birds of prey, which includes most predatory birds. But there’s also some birds which certainly seem similar, despite being in a completely different group.”
This is followed up by some education about convergent evolution.
- After that is the Great horned owl, which we also saw earlier on the route.
- Then we have the passerines from the town aviary: Northern cardinal, Blue jay and Baltimore oriole, partially chosen because they’re colour-coded and easily recognisable from the back of the crowd, partially because they all have different diets: Cardinals eat seeds, Jays eat nuts and Orioles eat insects.
- As a final part of the show, there’s a final Birdy, referred to as John’s favourite. This actually isn’t a bird at all, but a Virginia opossum named “Birdy”.
Education in the show also includes the importance of these predators in their ecosystems, and the different ways they hunt. The show is held three times a day: the morning show in 11:30, and two afternoon shows in 13:30 and 15:30. The morning show (when it’s probably calmer in the park) is shorter, and doesn’t include the Passerines, Owls or Birdy. The other shows include all animals.
After the show we walk over another small bridge (this time not a covered one), where we are greeted by a log wall connected to the lumbermill. The other side of the log wall is the inside of a large aviary. First we continue on the path to the left, we walk past wall and slowly goes downward with the creek. Eventually the log wall changes into a tall dam, the Meyer’s Dam. Inside this dam there’s large glass viewing windows, this is the underwater viewing to the beaver enclosure (12) inside the aviary. Along with the occasional beaver, we can see multiple fish species. Including Sturgeons, Paddlefish, Gars and Trout.
But before we continue, let’s first go backwards for a bit and back to the lumbermill, we can enter this building from the side. Inside, there’s education about environmentally friendly lumber chopping and of course about beavers. The lumbermill is also where the other exit of the aquarium hallway is. From the lumbermill you can enter the large walkthrough aviary (11), which is inhabited by a number of different birds. There’s yet another covered bridge (I’m sorry, they’re just so thematically pleasing!) from which we can see the creek on both sides, this is probably a good spot to see the wading birds such as the Wood storks, Snowy egrets or Glossy ibises. We continue into a small, forested section where we’ll see the Mourning doves and Red-winged blackbirds in the trees, as well as the Wild turkeys between the foliage. There’s a small boardwalk area where we can see the top of the lake, the calmer water is home to the many species of waterfowl, such as Ruddy ducks, Hooded mergansers and Cinnamon teals. On the edge of the dam there’s a small building (M) with the beaver dam, we can see the beavers in their indoor enclosure here, and we continue to the outside of the aviary.
After the Beaver aviary there’s only one little area left. A sign before the small path loop says “Johnson’s family home for injured birds”. This is a payoff to the joke in the bird show, and also where some of the show birds are being held. Johnson’s family home for injured birds includes four aviaries (13). 3 small aviaries for the birds of prey: A single Bald eagle, two Turkey vultures and two Red-tailed hawks. A smaller side aviary includes more passerines which aren’t included in the show: American robin, American goldfinch, Mexican house finch and Eastern bluebird.
After this we would continue towards the Great plains themed region, which I still want to find a proper name for. Through the foliage we can also see a large barn (O), this is the indoor holding for the animals in the Great Plains enclosure.
Phew! That’s the full tour of the outdoor area, and I’m tired.
I will also give a walkthrough of the Aquarium hall, of course. But that will come at a later date.
For now some final little facts that I couldn’t fit into the tour:
- From the first bridge over a creek (bridge D) all the way to the Beaver aviary, there’s a lot of mixes trees. These trees would be specifically chosen to let Meyer’s Creek stay in the fall season for as long as it can. The Bald Eagle/Lynx area still includes a lot of Coniferous trees, and the area near the Johnson’s has a lot of Conifers (which are also coniferous, I suppose). This way, the route seems to slowly go from the far North to the Great Plains. Meyer’s Creek’s seasonal theme is fall, as it fits the aesthetic best. Most of the represented continents are actually seasonally themed, with Asia being spring and including a lot of flowering plants, and Europe being Winter and Australia and Africa being Summer.
Along with the trees, the ground is also given special care to increase mushroom growth. This is actually a strategy also used by Dutch theme park “The Efteling”. The whole North American region gets a Halloween makeover during fall.
- The main two creeks actually end in the Otter enclosure. The waterfall under the bridge is a fully separate water system. This is to make absolutely sure there are no fish escapes. With multiple fish species being imported from North America, and including specifically animals that can survive the Dutch climate, the chance for these animals to become invasive is high, and some of them already are.
Adding to that:
- Some of the animals in Meyer’s Creek won’t come from other zoos or breeders, Wetlands Park Europe actually tries to catch as many invasive animals from the wild and does a large sweep of the country’s nature reserves and other wild areas every few years to catch stray invasives such as Raccoons, Crawfish and Rainbow trout. The Meyer’s Creek raccoons are also captured invasives.
With that I’ve finished the outdoor area of Meyer’s Creek. I hope you all enjoyed and let me know what you think. I’ll try to have the hallway out as soon as I can.
Also I put a damn lot of work into that logo so here’s a bigger version:
Welcome to the North American region of the Great Boardwalk.
North America, and temperate/Colder regions in general, are criminally underrepresented in European zoos. In the Netherlands, Burgers’ Zoo and Blijdorp are the only ones with real North American regions. Aquazoo Leeuwarden started building a new North American region only a week ago. On top of that, only Blijdorp, GaiaZOO and Wildlands have regions dedicated to a colder climate (again, with Aquazoo currently busy with a new one). For this reason I tried to flesh out this region as much as possible.
The North American boardwalk will be separated into four main regions, the one we’ll be seeing today being the biggest one.
After going from the European region to the North American area, we first come past the taiga area that I’ll descibe at a later date. But now we enter the main North American region:
Meyer’s Creek!
This area is based on the Temperate forests from South/Eastern Canada to the Appalachian mountains. With a Canadian in the audience I certainly hope it lives up to the ol’ Canadian standards.
As I mentioned, we’ve already been walking through a bit of mixed tundra and taiga based on the islands of Nunavut and Newfoundland. From the entrance of Meyer’s creek state park, we enter a raised path above the forest ground (A), almost immediately we come across a large aviary to our right. This large aviary holds a pair of Bald eagle, along with a pair of Sandhill cranes and a group of North Eurasian ravens (the only animal that isn't region-specific, only because it's the only subspecies available in Europe). We walk past the aviary for a little bit before a large, hillside log cabin (B) comes into view.
From inside the cabin you can either continue the route outside, or enter a long hallway with aquariums and nocturnal enclosures. For now we’ll continue the outside route, and come back to the hallway later. The walkways slowly go down, with wooden platforms connected by slopes (C). From the last platform we can get a good view of the next habitat (2). This rocky enclosure holds Canadian lynx, it is filled with multiple rocky ledges, live trees and a small stream flowing through it. The enclosure is built with large wooden logs and mesh, with metal climb-proof rigging along the top to prevent escapes. This should give the area a rustic, sort of temporary feel. The same vibes you might get with older wooden bridges or railways found around logging towns.
After the lynx habitat you continue on to a ground path past a small beach and a wooden bridge (D) over a stream (essentially a smaller version of the bridge shown above). On the following island there’s a well-hidden barrier to the first enclosure for a small group of Woodchucks and a pair of North American tree porcupines (4). You enter a covered wooden walkway (E) that slopes up to a small viewing platform to the larger beach enclosure on the side of the not-quite-an-island-but-I’m-gonna-keep-calling-it-an-island. From here you can see a herd of White-tailed deer (3).
The covered walkway slopes up slowly so you’re amongst the trees. From here, you can see the Tree porcupines on eye level. Below the path, there’s a small stream that flows from a small lake in a separated enclosure. The wooden walkway settles to be about 4 meters off the ground at a second viewing platform above the pond of the American black bear habitat (5). This habitat is similar to the Lynx habitat, though a lot bigger. With rocky ledges, small waterfalls and streams, live trees and a pool right below the viewing area. The enclosure is almost exactly the same size as Burgers’ Zoo’s tiger habitat and can hold 4 or 5 bears at a time.
The covered walkway slopes back down again and you walk over a rusty wooden grate. This grate is electrified to avoid the free-roaming animals of the next area to get into the walkway. You enter a second enclosure for Woodchucks and a second pair of Tree porcupines, the stream in the middle of the island being the separation between the two enclosures. With more hidden barriers you continue to walk past the White-tailed deer enclosure. The barriers being similar to the ones Beekse Bergen uses often (I’d show you a picture, but you wouldn’t see the barrier… That’s the point.)
(
<-- That's the basic concept, this being the result of what's actually visible of the barrier)Continuing through the walkthrough area there’s a small side aviary (6) partially hidden in the foliage. This aviary holds Short-eared owls. Behind the aviary you can see another wooden walkway, this one being much thinner. This adventure path starts at an area of the raised and covered pathway between the bears and deer. Built with large logs, planks and ropes, the adventure path is meant more for kids, though it’s not covered so an adult wouldn’t have to crouch. I can best compare it to the adventure path in Ouwehands’ bear forest, though with a stable walkway rather than a shaky rope bridge.
A tall log hut (F) marks the end of the adventure path, which also provides a good view into the next enclosure, for a group of North American river otters (7). You walk past a small final loop in the path (G), you continue through a typical American covered bridge (H), from which you can get another good view into the River otter lake. There’s multiple small waterfalls and cliffs surrounding the lake, which the otters can play on.
There’s a hidden waterfall under the bridge that flows into a large stream into the big central lake. The deer actually also have access to the beach and small islands, as theres a rock wall on the other side of the river that prevents them from getting into the next habitat. Entering the next land area we there’s a few more path loops in the forest. On one side there’s another medium-sized aviary (8), this time for Arctic long-eared owls. Through the trees you can also get a sneak preview into the central enclosure of the Great Plains area of the North America region. We’ll visit this properly when I showcase the next area of course.
As we continue into another covered bridge we can actually see two enclosures on two sides. To the right, the River otter enclosure, and to the left a creek enclosure for Northern raccoons and Striped skunks (9). This enclosure was also visible from the land area, of course. There’s actually a small path and a bridge going through the enclosure, but this is only for the animals and the zookeepers. You exit the bridge into the middle of the town. To the left, there’s a relatively low glass barrier looking into the River otter enclosure. After this, we come across another log cabin, which is actually one of the exits to the large aquarium hallway. Next to this is a habitat for American badgers (10), which can also be viewed from inside the hallway.
On the opposite side of the Badger enclosure, there’s another small cabin (J) with an aviary, this aviary holds Northern bobwhite quails, along with a group of colour-coded passerines: The Northern cardinal, The Blue jay, and the Baltimore oriole. The passerines in this aviary are also used in the bird show we’ll come across later. Inside the small cabin (J), there’s some education about American songbirds, as well as the indoor holding. After the cabin, you come across a small lake, which holds a lot of different fish species. This lake also acts as the main tank of the aquarium tunnel.
On the side of the lake, there’s a small, wooden dam. Some water flows over the dam and into the start of the stream below, and some of it flows through a small, wooden aqueduct which directs it toward a waterwheel on the side of the main building of Meyer’s Creek: A large lumbermill (L). The waterwheel actually isn’t just decorational. It actually turns and wins back some of the energy that is being put into pumping the water to the fish pond. This is paired with an educational sign about the good and the bad of dams (good being environmentally friendly power, bad being blocking migratory fish from spawning grounds). Between the dam and the mill there’s a small watertower-themed playground. Kids can also play in the start of the creek here.
In the middle of the town, you can see an area of light grey (I). This is the seating area of the restaurant (the large building also near I). This restaurant is “The Survivalist’s lodge” and serves alternate meat dishes, stews in large wooden bowls and whatever this “gumbo” stuff is. Most dishes are made with edible mushrooms and other foraging items. This is partially environmentalism/education on the needed reduction of the meat industry, and partially also a bit of theming.
We’re now well over halfway through the route, so here’s the layout again:
Before we exit the town and go to the next area of Meyer’s Creek, let’s first visit location K. Surrounded by show seating, this is the place of the Meyer’s Creek bird show!
The Bird show is given by an eccentric character actor. The show itself is mostly educational, of course, but also includes a lot of humour. The character actor (charactor?) looks like the world’s most extreme American stereotype: Rockstar cowboy look, heavy Southern drawl, weird sayings and phrases, etc. So what’s the joke? Throughout the show it becomes increasingly obvious that the character lives in Canada and has never been to the USA.
Multiple jokes come from this, as he refers to his home as being in “The United States… of Canada!”. He’s also twisted the classic phrase “Everything’s bigger in Texas!” into “Everything’s bigger in Montreal!”. He also says “Here in the South… Of Canada”, etc.
So what’s this character’s name?…
(Drumroll please…)
John Canada!
The birds in the show are usually also introduced with little jokes. A quick run-through of the show:
- The first birds we see in the show are the Red-tailed hawk and the Bald eagle, these are introduced with a little fun fact about how, in movies, footage of the Bald eagle is usually paired with a very typical screech, but this is actually the screech of the Red-tailed hawk.
- Next it the Turkey vulture, introduced with a little joke about how even birds don’t always eat everything off their plate, and their mommas aren’t gonna clean it up for them. This is, of course, paired with education about the importance of Vultures as clean-up crew.
- After that come the American kestrel and the Gyrfalcon, with one of my favourite jokes:
“Now, the three birds we’ve seen so far are all from the same family… The Johnson’s down the creek, they let me burrow them for the show.”
(Laughing at his own joke)
“All kidding aside, the hawk, the eagle and the vulture are all birds of prey, which includes most predatory birds. But there’s also some birds which certainly seem similar, despite being in a completely different group.”
This is followed up by some education about convergent evolution.
- After that is the Great horned owl, which we also saw earlier on the route.
- Then we have the passerines from the town aviary: Northern cardinal, Blue jay and Baltimore oriole, partially chosen because they’re colour-coded and easily recognisable from the back of the crowd, partially because they all have different diets: Cardinals eat seeds, Jays eat nuts and Orioles eat insects.
- As a final part of the show, there’s a final Birdy, referred to as John’s favourite. This actually isn’t a bird at all, but a Virginia opossum named “Birdy”.
Education in the show also includes the importance of these predators in their ecosystems, and the different ways they hunt. The show is held three times a day: the morning show in 11:30, and two afternoon shows in 13:30 and 15:30. The morning show (when it’s probably calmer in the park) is shorter, and doesn’t include the Passerines, Owls or Birdy. The other shows include all animals.
After the show we walk over another small bridge (this time not a covered one), where we are greeted by a log wall connected to the lumbermill. The other side of the log wall is the inside of a large aviary. First we continue on the path to the left, we walk past wall and slowly goes downward with the creek. Eventually the log wall changes into a tall dam, the Meyer’s Dam. Inside this dam there’s large glass viewing windows, this is the underwater viewing to the beaver enclosure (12) inside the aviary. Along with the occasional beaver, we can see multiple fish species. Including Sturgeons, Paddlefish, Gars and Trout.
But before we continue, let’s first go backwards for a bit and back to the lumbermill, we can enter this building from the side. Inside, there’s education about environmentally friendly lumber chopping and of course about beavers. The lumbermill is also where the other exit of the aquarium hallway is. From the lumbermill you can enter the large walkthrough aviary (11), which is inhabited by a number of different birds. There’s yet another covered bridge (I’m sorry, they’re just so thematically pleasing!) from which we can see the creek on both sides, this is probably a good spot to see the wading birds such as the Wood storks, Snowy egrets or Glossy ibises. We continue into a small, forested section where we’ll see the Mourning doves and Red-winged blackbirds in the trees, as well as the Wild turkeys between the foliage. There’s a small boardwalk area where we can see the top of the lake, the calmer water is home to the many species of waterfowl, such as Ruddy ducks, Hooded mergansers and Cinnamon teals. On the edge of the dam there’s a small building (M) with the beaver dam, we can see the beavers in their indoor enclosure here, and we continue to the outside of the aviary.
After the Beaver aviary there’s only one little area left. A sign before the small path loop says “Johnson’s family home for injured birds”. This is a payoff to the joke in the bird show, and also where some of the show birds are being held. Johnson’s family home for injured birds includes four aviaries (13). 3 small aviaries for the birds of prey: A single Bald eagle, two Turkey vultures and two Red-tailed hawks. A smaller side aviary includes more passerines which aren’t included in the show: American robin, American goldfinch, Mexican house finch and Eastern bluebird.
After this we would continue towards the Great plains themed region, which I still want to find a proper name for. Through the foliage we can also see a large barn (O), this is the indoor holding for the animals in the Great Plains enclosure.
Phew! That’s the full tour of the outdoor area, and I’m tired.
I will also give a walkthrough of the Aquarium hall, of course. But that will come at a later date.
For now some final little facts that I couldn’t fit into the tour:
- From the first bridge over a creek (bridge D) all the way to the Beaver aviary, there’s a lot of mixes trees. These trees would be specifically chosen to let Meyer’s Creek stay in the fall season for as long as it can. The Bald Eagle/Lynx area still includes a lot of Coniferous trees, and the area near the Johnson’s has a lot of Conifers (which are also coniferous, I suppose). This way, the route seems to slowly go from the far North to the Great Plains. Meyer’s Creek’s seasonal theme is fall, as it fits the aesthetic best. Most of the represented continents are actually seasonally themed, with Asia being spring and including a lot of flowering plants, and Europe being Winter and Australia and Africa being Summer.
Along with the trees, the ground is also given special care to increase mushroom growth. This is actually a strategy also used by Dutch theme park “The Efteling”. The whole North American region gets a Halloween makeover during fall.
- The main two creeks actually end in the Otter enclosure. The waterfall under the bridge is a fully separate water system. This is to make absolutely sure there are no fish escapes. With multiple fish species being imported from North America, and including specifically animals that can survive the Dutch climate, the chance for these animals to become invasive is high, and some of them already are.
Adding to that:
- Some of the animals in Meyer’s Creek won’t come from other zoos or breeders, Wetlands Park Europe actually tries to catch as many invasive animals from the wild and does a large sweep of the country’s nature reserves and other wild areas every few years to catch stray invasives such as Raccoons, Crawfish and Rainbow trout. The Meyer’s Creek raccoons are also captured invasives.
With that I’ve finished the outdoor area of Meyer’s Creek. I hope you all enjoyed and let me know what you think. I’ll try to have the hallway out as soon as I can.
Also I put a damn lot of work into that logo so here’s a bigger version:
Attachments
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Species Meyer's Creek:
Beaver aviary:
Smaller aviaries:
Bird show animals:
Species with a star* are not held in European collections (as far as I know) and would have to be imported either from the United States of America, or the United States of Canada
Beaver aviary:
Smaller aviaries:
Bird show animals:
Species with a star* are not held in European collections (as far as I know) and would have to be imported either from the United States of America, or the United States of Canada
Attachments
Last edited:
And because it apparently it takes me exactly an hour and one minute to edit this stuff I wasn't able to fit in the last of the fun facts: The signage in the whole North American region will actually have American spelling, while the rest of the zoo has English spelling (Gray vs Grey, Color vs Colour, etc)
Platypusboy
Well-Known Member
Amazing as always! I’m glad to see you continue this thread and I can’t wait for what’s to come! 
Amazing as always! I’m glad to see you continue this thread and I can’t wait for what’s to come!
Glad to hear it! This thread will hopefully continue for a long, long while. Every new addition from here on out, however, will take a while. The projects I've put out so far were already partially planned, some of them already finished, even. However, we've come to a point where I have no clue what most of the new regions will look like. So any hiatus is just temporary! And I hope to start working on the Caribbean hall of the Wetlands house after I do a walkthrough of the Meyer's Creek aquarium tunnel
Van Beal
Well-Known Member
I noticed I was used in your little meme there this complex is absolutely stunning, and you have indeed done Canada proud, coming from one myself. Well done.
Side note: John Canada is a great character. So glad I was able to be (somewhat) helpful to you in providing species.
this complex is absolutely stunning, and you have indeed done Canada proud, coming from one myself. Well done.Side note: John Canada is a great character. So glad I was able to be (somewhat) helpful to you in providing species.
I noticed I was used in your little meme there
Side note: John Canada is a great character. So glad I was able to be (somewhat) helpful to you in providing species.
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! And especially happy John Canada is being enjoyed, as I was quite proud of coming up with him. Your help with finding species was more used in the hallway, which I hope to have out next week. "The North Lake Outpost", the North American region that you go through before coming to Meyer's Creek state park, should also be out soon. I'm planning on bringing out the North Lake Outpost (Newfoundland-based) and Black Pine Valley (Great Plains-based) at the same time, as both of these don't have that many species (a combined 12 species so far).
The Wetlands Trail (based on the Mississippi delta and the Everglades) (I'm not 100% sure about the name yet...) will be out at a later date, I have the species list finalized but I'm nowhere near having a design ready