Sumatran orangutan temple, 2019-10-04

I remember the likes of this from my last visit.
Then I found it (and much of the rest) distasteful, ostentatious and embarrassing. I think I still do, even if this is and was, tinged with amazement.
I might be the only one, though... and no, it is not jealousy, really it isn't, honest...

@Andrew Swales You're not alone I think. I also feel a mixture of amazement and distaste over some of the ostentatious and way over the top structures at Pairi Daiza, and this one definitely took the crown.

It's definitively over the top, especially when looking at the mediocre to bad exhibits surrounding it. I do not mind a good amount of theming but animal welfare comes first. Another thing here is that the theming is way to visible from other section: if I' correct from this temple you can see a European abbey, a Russian palace, a Chinese temple, a giant boat, a lighthouse and an African village.

@Jarne

This building definitely takes the cake for most extreme and to some degree counterproductive theming. The inside of this building with the white marble is perhaps even more extreme than the outside and I remember having some serious reservations about the orang-utan indoor housing in this building.

Could you clarify which mediocre to bad exhibits you are referring to?

Personally I found the orang-utan island connected to this temple to actually be pretty decent. The second orang-utan exhibit I found decent but not at all exceptional.

But there are definitely several poor exhibits with excessive theming in the Ganesha area at Pairi Daiza.

I did not climb the temple during my 2019 visit because I didn't feel like it as I don't have the greatest of knees and did not want to spend the time, so I did not get that view. You are however right that you can see all of those things from this temple.

@KevinB I do mean the entire area, thus including the tigers and leopards (well known bad exhibits) but also the elephants (they don't really have much shadow nor space in those two smaller exhibits if I remember correctly, the first is an often forgotten need for Asian elephants as they can get sunburned) and to a certain extent the orangs (no privacy and 360° viewing, very open indoor places without visual barriers both towards the public and towards other orangs). The macaques do miss a few climbing structures, but besides that that exhibit isn't that bad actually. It is also true though that the orang islands have some nice climbing abilities and the largest one is also quite decently sized for a single pair.

@Jarne I agree with you that this entire area is relatively poor in terms of animal exhibits and it was definitely my least favorite area of the park.

I agree with you that while the orang-utan islands are decently sized and have nice climbing abilities, but that they are probably also too open and lack privacy (not an uncommon problem with ape exhibits in zoos). Looking back at my pictures from last year it also stood out to me that the climbing structures on these islands are made of a lot of ropes and not that many larger trees or branches.