San Diego Zoo Safari Park Australia Walkabout Exhibit

The San Diego zoo Safari park has reveled a new project for the park, Walkabout Australia . This will be one of only 3 current exhibits in the park that are not African based (Being tiger trail, Condor ridge, and Asian savannah.) Current plans include a walkthrough Kangaroo/wallaby yard, A Australian forest trail with Tree kangaroos, tawny frogmouth, kookaburras, and cassowaries. A planned breeding program for the cassowaries is also in the plans. However the most unique exhibit involves a walkthrough Wombat and echidna exhibit. I cant think of any other place where you can get free contact with these 2 animals. This will be a news and discussion hub for this new exhibit.

 

Are you sure these are not old plans? They had an Australian forest walk (with cassowaries) in the early days of the park and for a brief period they had a walk through wallaby and kangaroo yard. These have all now gone by the wayside.

 

Walkabout Australia at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park
It's going in an entirely different location,by the condors. The walk-through with kangaroos and wallabies as well as echidnas and wombats is confirmed. Some bird species also seems to be featured in the kangaroo exhibit,but I can't tell if that's just an embellishment of the concept art nor what species. I think,based on the concept art as well,getting up close to (and apparently petting) a wombat for many will help make it an even more memorable species,same with echidnas. No longer will they just be "hedgehogs" to uneducated visitors. This could be a big win.

 

Interesting. After shutting down their long time Australia rainforest, they are building a new one. I am glad to see them add more to do on that end of the park.

 

Agreed, Condor ridge is the only real animal attraction at that end. Do you have any photos of this old exhibit your where taking about?

 

Looks like the tree kanga/aviary will feature at least Laughing Kookaburras, Rose-breasted/Lilac-breasted/Galah Cockatoos, and Magpie Geese. Maybe Tawny Frogmouths too?

 

The Safari Park map now lists "Australian Walkabout, Under Construction, Opening 2018"

http://sdzsafaripark.org/sites/default/files/SafariPark_GuideMap_Front_6.2017.pdf

 

There is a walkthough echidna exhibit at the Platypus House, Beauty Point, Tasmania. It works quite well but staff supervision would be required, more for the echidna's sake.. It would be a very brave zoo that allows free contact with adult wombats, and they would have to have deep pockets for the inevitable injury claims.

 

The Australian Rainforest section was not on the same side of the park as Condor Ridge - it was located on the other side of the park (I'm not sure of what now covers that land, though it may be Lion Camp). As others have stated previously, this section was always quite small - at the time I saw it (towards the end of its existence), the only species left were dwarf cassowary, rhinoceros hornbill, and, I believe, a macropod species or two. Sorry, but I don't have any pictures.

 

So incase you haven't heard, the zoo is hoping to import a pair of platypus from the Taronga zoo. If these plans come true, a new exhibit will be built in this upcoming area.

 

The actual area of the former Australian rain forest still exists. It is now the zipline route (or at least was last I checked). It was mainly a pathway from west to east through the park. The cassowary, hornbill, and kangaroo exhibits were the only animal exhibits along the route. It was a very pleasant, cool area on the blistering hot days that sometimes hit the open expanses of the park (for the employees who use the area it probably still is).

From the description that Chlidonias found it seems that the wombat and echidna area will be a demonstration area for highly controlled animal interactions with keepers rather than a walk-through experience. The Safari Park has several of these types of stations in the park.

For many years there was an echidna in the children's zoo at the zoo that people could pet. It lived into its 60s. Possibly they are planning to replicate this experience in the new area at the Safari Park.

 

San Diego Zoo Safari Park - Walkabout Australia Construction Walk Through

Posted a new thread following the progress of Walkabout Australia construction.

 

ZOONOOZ November 2017

An article about the new exhibit begins on page 12. There will be a large walkthrough exhibit, and a few stand alone exhibits (for waterfowl, cassowary, and tree kangaroo). There will also be an “ambassador experience.”

Species list:

Western grey kangaroo
Red-necked wallaby
Australian brush turkey
Radjah shelduck
Freckled duck
Magpie goose
Southern cassowary
Mastchie’s tree kangaroo

Ambassadors:
Wombat (unspecified)
Short-beaked echidna
Blue-tongued skink
Sugar glider

There will also be a “waterwise garden.”

 

Considering it is San Diego, I am somewhat surprised they will not have koalas.

 

Its probably due to wanting to maintain a distinction between the two parks.

 

My feeling (just a hunch) is that it has more to do with the specialized care that koalas require and not wanting the added expense of a koala care center as part of the new project.

 

It's looking very nice. I'm hoping the seemingly small size of the exhibit means they're gearing up for something bigger not too far in the future. There's one big step forward that the Safari Park has very vaguely hinted to, which is opening up the Asian Plains exhibits to all visitors (as opposed to just the people who pay for the safaris), and they had a sign that said something like "Look forward to more Asian experiences in the near future" or something to that effect at the end of Tiger Trail, so I'm hoping it can't be too long now.

 

Adult female wombats have deep pockets.