If this is a genuine plan, then it will take many, many years to complete.
A new and improved giraffe enclosure as part of an African Savannah would be great - facilitating a full herd without the serious welfare concerns of the current stable. I also love the idea of the Galapagos Tortoises and Humboldt Penguins being the foundation of a ‘Ocean’ zone with a clear South American theme.
But other than that, so much of this plan makes absolutely no sense, so much so that it leads me to believe it is, as
@Tea_and_Biology suggests, ‘a demonstrative example’ from the architect firm of how these new Gorilla Kingdom plans could lead to a modern geo-zoo further down the line.
According to this, an area of the zoo with exclusively African animals (the African hoofstock on the Cottons and the colobus in Snowdon) will become ‘Asian Forest.’ Seems fairly random. But then there is a string of Southeast Asian exhibits (the Komodo house, Tiger Territory and the Babirusa on the Cassons) being lumped into the same ‘African Forest’ zone as Gorilla Kingdom and a Bird Safari that was originally intended for solely African species, but in recent years has lost any geographical consistency and now holds a rather random assortment of species, although that can easily be reverted, I feel.
The construction of two hotels is a bit of a leap, and I feel as though if this were the long-term plan there would be information about it more publicly (perhaps not, though). I don’t mind this myself, but I’m sure other members will. To be honest, given how widespread this practice is becoming in zoos, this is an actually one of the more plausible facets of this ‘masterplan.’
My scepticism about whether these plans are genuine goals rather than random ideas visualised on a map mainly comes down to two, particularly bizarre things: the incorporation of LotL, which is very clearly themed to an Indian village in a manner that directly links to ZSL’s in situ work in the Gir Forest, into an ‘African Savannah’; and the supposed transition of the Clore from an onshow area for animals to a pair of (presumably behind-the-scenes) staff facilities. I do not believe that the zoo intends to undo all the expenses that went into theming LotL by re theming it, or for that matter throwing much of their credibility in terms of enclosure design out of the window by having a clearly Indian exhibit in an African display. To be honest, incorporating Blackburn and Tiny Giants into it is bizarre, too. The Clore becoming staff facilities is just bizarre, and would be a real error by the zoo in my eyes.
Only time will tell. I suspect when the Gorilla Kingdom plans are officially announced, there will be some sort of cryptic reference to how this is the first stage of a metamorphosis should this actually be a long-term goal. But to be honest, I doubt it will ever happen. And in some ways, that may be a good thing.
