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San Diego Zoo A walk through Africa Rocks

Discussion in 'United States' started by timmychompchomp, 8 Sep 2017.

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  1. timmychompchomp

    timmychompchomp Well-Known Member

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    Hello,

    09/07/2017 Zoo Trip - Africa Rocks Kopje

    Part 1

    I will start with photos coming from the Outback.

    Path to Kopje In Order:

    Construction views on left while in between turn 3 and turn 4:

    Eagle Aviary:
     
    timmychompchomp, 8 Sep 2017
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  2. timmychompchomp

    timmychompchomp Well-Known Member

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    Part 2

    Views up to Bus Path:

    Path around Kopje past the School:
     
    timmychompchomp, 8 Sep 2017
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  3. timmychompchomp

    timmychompchomp Well-Known Member

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    Part 3

    Meerkat and Hyrax:

    Into the Kopje coming from Meerkats:

    Serval:

    Internal path of Kopje path and Internal Aviary:
     
    timmychompchomp, 8 Sep 2017
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  4. timmychompchomp

    timmychompchomp Well-Known Member

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    Part 4

    Some Other Views:

    Signage:

    No Changes to the Actual exhibits, but as you see, path ways have been redone. No more walking with the Buses. Rails on paths near Bus road. Will probably have to cross the Bus road to enter path way from the Outback.

    Next up: Madagascar. Thanks.
     
    timmychompchomp, 8 Sep 2017
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  5. timmychompchomp

    timmychompchomp Well-Known Member

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    Part 1

    Africa Rocks Madagascar:

    Entrance:

    Fossa to left as you enter:

    Sign:

    Lemur Signs:

    There are 2 Lemur Exhibits which form a horse shoe around the winding path:
     
    timmychompchomp, 8 Sep 2017
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  6. timmychompchomp

    timmychompchomp Well-Known Member

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    Part 2

    Ratel Sign:

    Ratel Exhibit, notice the height:

    Behind Lemur 2 Exhibit as you progress up hill:

    Construction further up hill:
     
    timmychompchomp, 8 Sep 2017
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  7. timmychompchomp

    timmychompchomp Well-Known Member

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    Part 3

    West Africa Path going downhill:

    Gate to Theater:

    Mini Stage by Gate:

    Africa Rocks snack shack "Rocks Box":

    Ugly Wall on way down hill to Penguins:

    Panda Bar:

    Elevator and Scary Stairs:

    There are more Photos in the Gallery.

    Animals on Display that I could see: 1 Fossa, 5-6 Ringtail Lemurs, 1 Ratel.

    The Fossa and Ratel Exhibits are quite large. I would say 30-40ft.l, 12ft.w, 30-35ft.h.
    Lemur Exhibits are large. I would guess Lemur 1 to be 35ft.l, 12ft.w, 25ft.h.
    Lemur 2 would be maybe 40-45ft.l, 15ft.w, 25ft.h.

    I feel that this section will look much better when the foliage grows in. There is a ravine that runs down the center of the space and the walkways bridge over it. The ravine ends in Lemur 1 which is behind the West African Exhibit. I don't believe it will have any water in it, but it does have drains surrounded by rocks.

    Enjoy. Thanks.
     
    timmychompchomp, 8 Sep 2017
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  8. ZooBoyNZ

    ZooBoyNZ Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Thank you @timmychompchomp for the great photos and detailed walk around of the new area, much appreciated.

    Africa Rocks seems like a solid addition to the zoo from what I've seen so far. I understand that some people on here will be quite harsh on the Madagascar exhibit because of all the mesh viewing and netted enclosures; but surely you have to agree that Africa Rocks is miles ahead of Elephant Odyssey in terms of overall exhibit quality.

    So congratulations to San Diego Zoo on this new development, I'm very impressed and would love to check it out in person one day. Excited for opening of the remaining habitats!
     
    ZooBoyNZ, 8 Sep 2017
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  9. Jurek7

    Jurek7 Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I am impressed by the height of the cages. I wonder if there are structural reasons why most zoos build much lower cages, generally just 3-5 m tall? Or, actually, most zoos would build an open-topped fence instead.
     
    Jurek7, 8 Sep 2017
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  10. zoomaniac

    zoomaniac Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Thank you so much for the pictures, @timmychompchomp. Very interesting.

    Judging from the pics only, It seems that there is a lot of space/land wasted (but probably can be used in future?). Also, some iron and concrete construction could have been hide better, but will hopefully be overgrown by plants.
    All in all not bad and at least much better (natural looking) then EO.
     
    zoomaniac, 8 Sep 2017
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  11. michaelarthur

    michaelarthur Active Member 5+ year member

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    As everyone else I'm sure that it will look better when it grows in. I for one really like how they minimized the overall number of supports of the mesh by suspending the exhibit mesh from the "big top". It really gives a nice seamless view of the actual exhibits which look pretty good to me!

    Thank you for the thorough photo tour!!
     
    michaelarthur, 8 Sep 2017
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  12. Arizona Docent

    Arizona Docent Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I can't wait to see what the leopard exhibit looks like.
     
    Arizona Docent, 9 Sep 2017
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  13. mweb08

    mweb08 Well-Known Member

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    Looks good to me. The three exhibits that are most important to me are yet to come though (leopard and baboons).
     
    mweb08, 9 Sep 2017
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  14. mweb08

    mweb08 Well-Known Member

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    Btw, I was at the zoo a month ago and I think the penguin exhibit should be in the conversation for best penguin exhibits in the country.
     
    mweb08, 9 Sep 2017
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  15. Otter Lord

    Otter Lord Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I am not too thrilled with the new Madagascar section. The exhibits seem dark and difficult to view into and there are obvious stainless steel doors in every the exhibit. I am unconvinced by the rockwork and it feels like Omaha's Desert Dome with very fake rock. Does anyone what kind of rocks they were trying to imitate? Can anyone find some kind of reference for this? It looks nothing like rock and spray painted brown and gray.
     
    Otter Lord, 9 Sep 2017
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  16. timmychompchomp

    timmychompchomp Well-Known Member

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    I quickly googled "Madagascar rock formations"and came up with some images.[​IMG] [​IMG]


    [​IMG]

    I'm guessing these were the inspirations. I think with some weather and age they will look a similar to these.
     
    timmychompchomp, 9 Sep 2017
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  17. mweb08

    mweb08 Well-Known Member

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    The rockwork looks pretty good to me.
     
    mweb08, 9 Sep 2017
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  18. Shellheart

    Shellheart Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I agree on the rockwork. I griped earlier about Rady Falls having a similar appearance, with the gray and brown rock, it honestly looks more rusted than anything. Furthermore I feel like the immersive feeling of the concept art for Madagascar is completely gone in the actual exhibit.
     
    Shellheart, 10 Sep 2017
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  19. Otter Lord

    Otter Lord Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Agreed, every single piece of metal in this exhibit is polished. How can say immersion is being attempted when there is glaring bright metal railing, holding doors, and support poles? The mesh tent was supposed to help with the immersion by reducing the number of poles but that concept was not carried all the way to the finer details.
     
    Otter Lord, 11 Sep 2017
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  20. Shellheart

    Shellheart Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    The worst thing is we absolutely know the zoo (I say that including the zoo and Safari Park) is capable of immersive exhibits. Tiger Trail at the Safari Park is more or less the golden standard, and it's an immersion standard they set for themselves. Every time I visit I'm reminded almost of Disney's Animal Kingdom, so to see them going from something that might have actually had its own team of Imagineers to this is disheartening. I like the exhibit for the species list, but other than that it's just on the very high end of average. I'm surprised, frankly, at how many members are okay with this. There's been a lot of debate of holding the zoo up to its world famous name, and those same members don't seem to be applying the same standard here.
     
    Shellheart, 12 Sep 2017
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