It seems as if you visited on a sun-drenched day! This photo in particular is quite impressive and makes the zoo perhaps look better than it really is.
Exactly so. A little framing to maintain the illusion and light traffic during our visit contributed. It was not a bad place. I enjoyed seeing the bison and zebra against this landscape. I wish they would remove the Bears and Big Cats from the "drive through" and invest in a couple outstanding walk through exhibits. Same for the Elephants. The drive through area is not quite as good as Natural Bridge Wildlife Range in Texas (although arguably they have very different intentions in that regard) and their walk through pales next to Safari Beekse Bergan. Again, though, the place was not bad and they do apparently have some success with captive breeding rare species.