toothlessjaws
Well-Known Member
I thought it might be wise to start a new thread, seperate from the news thread, where we can dissect the the trickle of blueprints and statements on Werribee's expansion and discuss the progress as it happens over the next couple of years.
To get things going, I found the plans linked below, which might be of interest to those who have been searching for some nice hi-resolution images of the proposed development:
Werribee Open Range Zoo Redevelopment / ARM Architecture
I've also added these two images that have been circulating on news sites:
A)
B)
Usually these things change a bit along the way, but these various blueprints/maps largely match up and with some of the timelines being stated by the zoo, I'm feeling like this might be very close to the final product.
After studying it closely, here are some of the things I noted of interest:
- Overall, the zoos is set to more than double in size from a visitor perspective. And it's going to be a lot more accessible by foot, which is going to be a huge improvement and something the zoo badly needs.
- The Sky Safari gondola looks like it will carry visitors between three stations: One located across the river at the zoos "lower savanna", one at nearby the main entrance/hub and another in the new elephant area. I like the look of the stations designs and think a gondola is a great idea for the zoo. It has some impressive topography.
- The lower savanna station appears to have walking trails around it, suggesting visitors can disembark and get an overlook of the existing African animals in the floodplain and I'm going to guess a more up-close look at some the zoos rhinos, given the Rhino Retreat is marked as being adjacent to this area. Likely this "retreat" is a way for displaying some of the animals such as bulls otherwise not on display in the savanna or animals being paired for breeding. A new bridge over the river appear to make this area accessible by foot also.
- The lion exhibit is to extended at the rear in what looks to take advantage of the road that runs behind in the nyala paddock for safari bus viewing. This is a good idea as I personally have never liked Werribee's lion exhibit. From the outset its always felt small and awkward with the rear exhibit essentially off-display. This would correct what it a pretty flawed design.
- The hyena exhibit looks like its next to the wild dogs, which is ideal since 90% of zoo visitors still thing the wild dogs ARE hyena's. By placing them adjacent it offers an opportunity to draw comparison and educate on the differences between these totally unrelated animals.
- You can see that they are planning a new larger Safari station slightly northwest of the existing one.
- The 22 hectare Elephant Sanctuary looks like its going to be located on land that currently is entirely unused by the zoo. By the plans it looks pretty terrific, I'm particularly fond of the large riverbank and bridges going over it. its looking like five or six seperate paddocks. And whilst I assume it's not all going to open at once, thats plenty of room for growing the herd, both naturally and with further transfers from zoos elsewhere.
- Bison Plains from the map marked A) appears to be just simple paddocks lining the opposite side of the road that runs along the river. These already exist and are seen the safari tour and currently house odd and ends: a few bachelor antelope groups and domestic (longhorn) cattle. its probable that some adjustments will be made to these paddocks to enlarge them and make for better viewing and perhaps even revised to become drive through (although the maps doesn't seem to indicate this). In any event, its clear why the "Bison Plains" are the first stage of development and its because they currently reside on the site of the future "Waterhole" zone.
- The Waterhole appears to be a large walk-through area similar in scale to the existing African trail, that adjoins the elephants and links back to the Safari station. This area appears to be a total redevelopment of the paddocks that currently houses bison, wild horses, camels and oryx. This is the area that intrigues me most because despite the word "waterhole" evoking African connotations, nothing explicitly says this is the case. My hope is that this area is earmarked for Asian animals as I think doing so will allow the zoo to take advantage of all the asian ungulates that are available in an otherwise limited pool of hoofstock, as well as to include some other mammals types for interest sake. In my mind the Terai of northeastern India rivals the African savanna for diversity and its going to provide a nice compliment to the Asian elephants who are going to seem a little out of place in an otherwise African-themed zoo. However, as much as i'd love to see tigers, leopards, otters, macaques, deer, banteng, buffalo and indian rhinos move to Werribee, I'm begrudgingly going to put my money on this area housing a mixed bag of leftover ungulate species and bachelors displaced by the works, perhaps a bit of future-proofing for housing any additional acquisitions. Otherwise, they'd have announced an "asian themed precinct". But we can always hold out hope that someone of influence reads this and claims the idea as their own....
Anyhow thats my observations, love to hear your thoughts. Did I miss anything?
To get things going, I found the plans linked below, which might be of interest to those who have been searching for some nice hi-resolution images of the proposed development:
Werribee Open Range Zoo Redevelopment / ARM Architecture
I've also added these two images that have been circulating on news sites:
A)
B)
Usually these things change a bit along the way, but these various blueprints/maps largely match up and with some of the timelines being stated by the zoo, I'm feeling like this might be very close to the final product.
After studying it closely, here are some of the things I noted of interest:
- Overall, the zoos is set to more than double in size from a visitor perspective. And it's going to be a lot more accessible by foot, which is going to be a huge improvement and something the zoo badly needs.
- The Sky Safari gondola looks like it will carry visitors between three stations: One located across the river at the zoos "lower savanna", one at nearby the main entrance/hub and another in the new elephant area. I like the look of the stations designs and think a gondola is a great idea for the zoo. It has some impressive topography.
- The lower savanna station appears to have walking trails around it, suggesting visitors can disembark and get an overlook of the existing African animals in the floodplain and I'm going to guess a more up-close look at some the zoos rhinos, given the Rhino Retreat is marked as being adjacent to this area. Likely this "retreat" is a way for displaying some of the animals such as bulls otherwise not on display in the savanna or animals being paired for breeding. A new bridge over the river appear to make this area accessible by foot also.
- The lion exhibit is to extended at the rear in what looks to take advantage of the road that runs behind in the nyala paddock for safari bus viewing. This is a good idea as I personally have never liked Werribee's lion exhibit. From the outset its always felt small and awkward with the rear exhibit essentially off-display. This would correct what it a pretty flawed design.
- The hyena exhibit looks like its next to the wild dogs, which is ideal since 90% of zoo visitors still thing the wild dogs ARE hyena's. By placing them adjacent it offers an opportunity to draw comparison and educate on the differences between these totally unrelated animals.
- You can see that they are planning a new larger Safari station slightly northwest of the existing one.
- The 22 hectare Elephant Sanctuary looks like its going to be located on land that currently is entirely unused by the zoo. By the plans it looks pretty terrific, I'm particularly fond of the large riverbank and bridges going over it. its looking like five or six seperate paddocks. And whilst I assume it's not all going to open at once, thats plenty of room for growing the herd, both naturally and with further transfers from zoos elsewhere.
- Bison Plains from the map marked A) appears to be just simple paddocks lining the opposite side of the road that runs along the river. These already exist and are seen the safari tour and currently house odd and ends: a few bachelor antelope groups and domestic (longhorn) cattle. its probable that some adjustments will be made to these paddocks to enlarge them and make for better viewing and perhaps even revised to become drive through (although the maps doesn't seem to indicate this). In any event, its clear why the "Bison Plains" are the first stage of development and its because they currently reside on the site of the future "Waterhole" zone.
- The Waterhole appears to be a large walk-through area similar in scale to the existing African trail, that adjoins the elephants and links back to the Safari station. This area appears to be a total redevelopment of the paddocks that currently houses bison, wild horses, camels and oryx. This is the area that intrigues me most because despite the word "waterhole" evoking African connotations, nothing explicitly says this is the case. My hope is that this area is earmarked for Asian animals as I think doing so will allow the zoo to take advantage of all the asian ungulates that are available in an otherwise limited pool of hoofstock, as well as to include some other mammals types for interest sake. In my mind the Terai of northeastern India rivals the African savanna for diversity and its going to provide a nice compliment to the Asian elephants who are going to seem a little out of place in an otherwise African-themed zoo. However, as much as i'd love to see tigers, leopards, otters, macaques, deer, banteng, buffalo and indian rhinos move to Werribee, I'm begrudgingly going to put my money on this area housing a mixed bag of leftover ungulate species and bachelors displaced by the works, perhaps a bit of future-proofing for housing any additional acquisitions. Otherwise, they'd have announced an "asian themed precinct". But we can always hold out hope that someone of influence reads this and claims the idea as their own....
Anyhow thats my observations, love to hear your thoughts. Did I miss anything?
but that is where the safari begins before looping around the top of the zoo and then around to the lower savannah which is opposite the Australian area.
