Just a few odds-and-ends.
- The zoo has very recently added a new meerkat exhibit (I think a keeper said they've been in the new enclosure about two weeks). The new exhibit is massive - the biggest meerkat enclosure I've seen - and currently holds only 3 animals. There's room for many more. Pics of the exhibit will be posted in the next week or so, but to be honest I prefer the smaller and probably cheaper exhibit at Halls Gap.
- Work on the planned expansion from (I think) 8 to 32 hectares has begun, with a perimeter fence up. Development will be done at a pace that allows for the existing zoo to be re-furbished as well - apparently the owner doesn't want there to be an obvious gap between the brand new areas and the older section.
- The lion exhibits will eventually be replaced with new ones as the expansion progresses, and I believe that the lion exhibits will be home to the orang-utans and gibbons when they arrive. If the entire area is given over to exhibits for rotating Asian apes, I think it will be fantastic - the slope of the exhibits and the wide moats will allow for more or less eye level viewing of the apes.
- We did the "Zooventure" tour which I believe is just about the best value for money 'extra' experience in Australia. For $62 on top of your adult entry, you get a 2 hour tour that includes feeding lions, tigers and bears (oh my!), as well as the giraffes, elands, otters and pumas (which weren't interested today unfortunately) as well as handling the dingoes and a boa constrictor. I suspect that these tours are the financial engine of the zoo, as they had two groups of 9-10 people each today.
I'll probably add a few more comments later to this thread, as well as (perhaps self-indulgently) a few things that I'd do with the zoo given the chance. But for now, it's time for bed.
- The zoo has very recently added a new meerkat exhibit (I think a keeper said they've been in the new enclosure about two weeks). The new exhibit is massive - the biggest meerkat enclosure I've seen - and currently holds only 3 animals. There's room for many more. Pics of the exhibit will be posted in the next week or so, but to be honest I prefer the smaller and probably cheaper exhibit at Halls Gap.
- Work on the planned expansion from (I think) 8 to 32 hectares has begun, with a perimeter fence up. Development will be done at a pace that allows for the existing zoo to be re-furbished as well - apparently the owner doesn't want there to be an obvious gap between the brand new areas and the older section.
- The lion exhibits will eventually be replaced with new ones as the expansion progresses, and I believe that the lion exhibits will be home to the orang-utans and gibbons when they arrive. If the entire area is given over to exhibits for rotating Asian apes, I think it will be fantastic - the slope of the exhibits and the wide moats will allow for more or less eye level viewing of the apes.
- We did the "Zooventure" tour which I believe is just about the best value for money 'extra' experience in Australia. For $62 on top of your adult entry, you get a 2 hour tour that includes feeding lions, tigers and bears (oh my!), as well as the giraffes, elands, otters and pumas (which weren't interested today unfortunately) as well as handling the dingoes and a boa constrictor. I suspect that these tours are the financial engine of the zoo, as they had two groups of 9-10 people each today.
I'll probably add a few more comments later to this thread, as well as (perhaps self-indulgently) a few things that I'd do with the zoo given the chance. But for now, it's time for bed.