I don’t see any source given for this so for all we know he could have gotten it from here. If you really want to know ask in the comments section but I don’t think you will find anything reliable.
I imagine they would have to make sure the infrastructure is up to code for having a tram going over the path/hillside of where the hillside Asian Savanna habitats are at. While yes it’s not like they have to build a rail system for their trams, they still need to make sure they can actually drive along the designated path. As for if they have been working on it, I am HIGHLY DOUBTFUL if they have since there isn’t any obvious signs of construction leading near that path or by the Asian Savanna road that the Cart Safari takes. IIRC, there is an electronic gate by the Przewalski’s Horses exhibit that was recently installed over the past 2 years and it would certainly have to go to allow such tram system to pass through.
Visited the park today for a couple hours and managed to do everything but the tram, the line was extremely long and my dad wasn't willing to wait, unfortunately. Anyways, here are some updates from my visit:
-The coatimundi habitat was empty today and signage was taken down.
-Looks like Newman, the sand cat, will be leaving the park soon. There was a crate in his habitat which I'm assuming is to crate train him.
-There is a Malagasy Tree Boa in one of the previously empty terrariums in Nairobi Village.
-The nursery was filled with a bunch of baby hoofstock today. Only springbok, Nile lechwe, gerenuk, and impala were signed but it looked like there were others as well, including a bontebok calf.
-The entirety of Mombassa Lagoon (but the flamingo pool) was drained of water so all the waterfowl were off habitat, it was definitely interesting to see the area without any water.
-The "BATS" house is still closed. I don't think it's been open consistently since before COVID as it was closed for a very long time, then reopened for a month or two, and has been closed ever since.
-Got a chance to see Hidden Jungle today, I have never been to this section before and I was very impressed. It is a beautiful set of walkthrough aviaries with numerous birds including some rarities.
-One of the nearby smaller aviaries holds Silver-beaked Tanager now, in replacement of Snowy-crowned Robin-chat. This aviary is definitely a rather random mix now with Vietnam Pheasant and White-breasted Woodswallow from Asia, Green Woodhoopoe from Africa, the tanagers from South America, and Laysan Duck from Hawaii
-The aviary right next to the previously mentioned one has Marbled teal now, in replacement of Superb starling.
-There was an unsigned Red-flanked duiker in the gerenuk yard, though it stayed in the back the entire time and was pacing a lot. Red-flanked duikers seem to be popping up everywhere around the park all of a sudden! There's this one, a few in the sitatunga/steenbok yard, plus another one in the former tufted deer habitat.
-Got to see the park's pair of red river hogs for the first time today. Their habitat is surprisingly very tiny but both girls were interacting with the okapi next door through the mesh door and their interactions looked positive to me. So I'm wondering if the park is hoping to mix their hogs with their okapi soon then.
-The kori bustard were nowhere to be seen and signage was taken down at their former habitat which they shared with secretary bird and white stork.
-A pair of Ruppell's vulture have moved in with the Lappet-faced vulture. I do not know if they still have any individuals in the African Marsh habitat since I wasn't able to go on the tram.
-A small group of unsigned ocellated turkeys were present in the Toco toucan habitat.
-The Desert Tortoise were no longer in the Burrowing Owl habitat and signage was taken down.
-A trio of California condors have arrived at the park and are now on habitat with long-time residents Tecuya and Molloko. The male is named Cal, and the girls are Aasch and Eva (who hatched in the wild).
-A number of grey kangaroo joeys have been born recently and all are doing well.
-The park's new tree kangaroo, Arona, was finally on habitat. She arrived in mid-2021 iirc but it took her a very long time to get used to her habitat. One of the other tree kangaroos, Polly, recently left the park and moved to the Columbus Zoo. This leaves just Arona and male Bek who will be introduced for breeding in the future.
-Stay tuned for some pictures in the gallery, I'll get them posted later today or tomorrow night at the latest.
That was a typo, sorry! Polly did indeed move to Bronx quite a while ago, I meant to say her daughter Luka was sent to Columbus.
Actually Elephant Valley opening before the tram is what will most likely happen. One major problem why they haven’t installed the Asia tram is because of major flow issues on that side of the park. Before the Australian area opening in the mornings the path behind Tiger trail sometimes would back up with people trying to get to condor ridge. Also there is currently only one path to get to that side of the park. Elephant Valley needs to open first because the current plans are going to make access into that side of the park easier. Instead of the one small bridge there will be two entrances and exits allowing for much better flow. Once there is better flow in the area the Asia tram ride can open with no congestion issues. I also bet they want to use the bridge that goes over the dhole exhibit (used to be Lion and Tiger) but to do that they need paths next to elephant valley which they can’t do right now because that’s behind the scenes area.
If you are referring to the pair of animals at 1:24, that would be a male Greater Kudu (they've been there for a while now) and a female Sitatunga.
The bachelor herd had been kept in a separate pen/boma to the side between Central Africa and South Africa so it would make sense that they've moved them into Central Africa for more space. It looks like they're slowly turning Central Africa into a bachelor holding section with the Uganda Kob being phased out and the Greater Kudu, Roan, and Grevy's Zebra already being kept as bachelor groups in there. That would make sense especially if they want to keep and breed their black rhino pair in that enclosure.
The sole male Kob at the Safari Park is indeed being kept so far in the East Africa field exhibit, I posted a photo of the male from earlier this month and was told at that time that the females were being kept in the South Africa field exhibit so they wouldn’t breed.
My guess would that they rather maximize their space/resources for species they do intend to breed at the Safari Park. As much as it pains us to see their collection being downsized, they still have a solid number of hoofstock species. I think they’re the only zoo in the states that publicly displays them while there are some in the private sector too.
Well I mean it gets hard to breed them when there is little to no fresh blood coming in. They probably don't want to continue breeding from a small founder base and since no other AZA zoo seems to be interested in taking on the species, it would just be much easier to send them to the private sector than to single-handedly manage the SSP for the species. It's very unfortunate that the park is phasing out a lot of its hoofstock species but we have to remember that these decisions aren't easy for them either and they were only made (for the most part) after much thought and consideration.
That's odd. They were there as usual when I visited a few weeks back. They have around 5-6 okapi atm but it's usually only 1, maybe 2, animals on habitat at a time. Perhaps they just didn't have animals on habitat when you walked by.
