Sneak peek into Auckland Zoo's $7 million African savanna development
Friday, 18 March 2016
Picture a lanky, yet impossibly majestic giraffe fanning its front legs, lowering its head and taking a drink from a spring, right before your eyes.
That's precisely the view the creators of the new Auckland Zoo's African savanna want to give you.
'It's one thing to look down on the giraffes, ostriches and zebras going about their business, but it's a far more powerful experience be down on ground level and see them at their full height,' zoo director Jonathan Wilcken said.
The $7 million development to the former pridelands is the first of a larger $120 million Auckland Zoo overhaul which will span the next decade.
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Wilcken said it was the ideal place to start because it was the first place people experienced when visiting the zoo.
'It's part in parcel of a broader reorganisation of the zoo, so we can give people a really coherent sense of what it might be like in places like the African savanna or the Australian outback,' Wilcken said.
But by far the biggest project happening a little further down the track is the $40 million southeast Asian rainforest development.
'This is the first chance we've had at reinventing the zoo, and it's these sort of experiences - where people and wildlife get really close together - that leave a lasting impression of our children and future conservationists,' Wilcken said.
'A lot of thought has been put into the type of environments the animals need and combining that with really adventurous displays for vistors.'
Wilcken said big projects took time and not including planning, the African savanna had taken more than 10 months to build.
'It's a really fun area, we've got a tumbled down African escarpment that leads into the plains for the larger animals.'
Opening to the public on March 25, the development includes the introduction of a new avery to house a flock of African love birds, as well as leopard tortoises and a new home for the zoo's resident meerkats.
And what do the giraffes think of their new enclosure?
'They're eyeing it up but It will take them a little while. They're nervous creatures, especially the old male.'