Ethiopian zoo at Unity Park is open

Hi All

interested to see your comments and rather than reply to all - i will provide some information for you. presently there is little marketing on the zoo as its closed right now due to the virus as with most parks and zoos.
The new Unity Park Zoo is part funded by EMAAR in UAE and is not associated with Leipzig zoo at all. It is run by the zoOceanarium group, alongside the prime ministers Office and we have 14 very experienced ex pat staff from across the globe who have helped me Richard Champion the Zoo Director set up and train staff. It is a first class EAZA/PAZAA standard zoo with fully kitted out vet hospital, kitchens etc etc. All BOH are open for VIP visits and are kept in excellent condition. The animal collection is all African except for some Peafowl, and that was done on purpose to show the African species off. The zoo is not huge, but has a good collection, and some important conservation work is being supported by the zoo on endemic species and also supporting the other smaller zoos in Addis Ababa. We have also moved 3 Lions from the six kilo zoo lions to a new exhibit and are setting up a programme to support the others. The zoo has great facilities and is just getting going so the infrastructure is great and its all systems go - and looking forward to the future. hope this brief helps understanding

 

I am very excited to have someone who is working at the zoo and has a lot of knowledge about it. As an Ethiopian myself I’ve always wanted there to be a nice zoo in my country and it’s great to hear that it is an EAZA zoo! I would have never thought that Africa would see its first EAZA zoo! I have so many questions but firstly welcome to Zoochat and thank you for the information!

Firstly what animals are being housed at the zoo right now? Any endemics? I also heard that there was an aquarium but I couldn’t find a lot of information on the matter. What species are housed in the aquarium? Is the zoo up on zootierliste since it is an EAZA zoo or not? What conservation action is the zoo taking and how can I help?


Sorry for the rapid fire questions I’m just excited to see a zoo growing in my country. I wish you and your team the best of luck. You are making the country a better place with a conservation message in its capital.

 

I will try and answer in the next day or to just busy with zoo stuff - its not an EAZA zoo but built with the future accreditation of either EAZA or PAZAA standards in mind - following husbandry guidelines etc.

 

I still think it is a huge accomplishment that the zoo upholds these standards. I apologize if I may have overwhelmed you with my apparent eagerness. With the restoration of the zoo in Ivory Coast and with my home country getting such a promising zoo, I'm excited for the future of African zoos.

 

I also hope it is a bright future as well, and a fine example of what can be achieved. The important part is the link to conservation , education and raising awareness, etc.

 

Just one more question to add to my many others. Do you have any pictures of the zoo? If so you can probably ask the mods to make a gallery.

 

I can only second that notion.

I would be very interested to learn about the conservation work on endemics the zoo is/will be supporting.

 

Is there really an Ethiopian endemic "big 5" haha? I was thinking the same thing to myself while in Ethiopia last year (having just come from South Africa). I definitely picked the same first 4 you mentioned, and thought maybe Swayne's hartebeest for the 5th spot. Although having once lived in Somalia would this not be a true endemic?

 

I saw the term "Ethiopia's Big 5" used before in an article so I just presumed it was a thing if not something that isn't widely known. I think its a cool term that should be coined more by the tourism industry in Ethiopia since almost all the animals that are (or could be) in the big 5 of Ethiopia are at risk of extinction so more press would help. As for Swayne's Hartebeest I would say it is an endemic through technicality since while there was a population in the past in Somalia there isn't one anymore.


In other news the Prime Minister of Ethiopia did a full guided tour of Unity Park which includes the zoo and aquarium (which looks like is much smaller than I thought it was). The new zoo footage can be seen around 19 mins if you want to see it. It is all in Amharic though so it might be hard to follow what he's saying. I'm working on translating the important parts so if I find anything of importance I'll put it up later.

 

Some updates:

Cheetahs have arrived at the zoo. Can't tell how many or the genders but there are at least three from what I have seen. No idea on subspecies either.

Geladas are also at the zoo. I saw at least one male from a photo.

Some Ostriches have moved into some of the empty exhibits near the Black-Maned Lions. There is glass viewing for them which is something I never really seen for Ostriches.

I THINK there was a litter of African wild dogs born but I can't confirm it.

Aquariums are really just saltwater fish tanks nothing extraordinary. Three or four large tanks with various fish species you might see in a fish store. Not saying that it is bad or anything just pointing this out.

Aviary species list:
Harwood's spurfowl (Endemic)
Vulturine Guineafowl
White-Faced Duck
Lesser Moorhen
Grey-headed Gull
Bruce's Green Pigeon
Grey-crowned Crane
African Wattled Lapwing
Wattled Ibis (Endemic)
Black-Crowned Night Heron
Cattle Egret
African Spoonbill
Waldrap Ibis
White-crested Turaco
White-cheeked Turaco
White Bellied Go-Away-Bird
Northern Red-Billed Hornbill
Ruppel's Starling
African Oranged-Bellied Parrot
Greater Flamingo (Not signed and a lone individual)

 

I do hope some locally sourced cheetah and ostrich

Gelada added is something I am really chuffed about!

 

No Blue-winged Goose? Endemic!

 

I saw signage from a video of the cheetahs and there isn't anything indicating that they are a specific subspecies but if the animals are being sourced from the Gulf States then it is most likely the subspecies native to the region since most cheetahs are sourced from the horn if I am not mistaken in UAE zoos.

Geladas are always awesome

Didn't see any evidence of them, unfortunately. There is a chance that I missed them since there are some outside aviary exhibits and a separate flamingo exhibit near the aviary but I have yet to see them.

Other things worth mentioning:

I saw signage for White Rhinoceros but no evidence they are present at the zoo. They seem to be planned for the "Prey Exhibit" which is the large exhibit with Giraffes and different species of Antelope. Not sure how well that will work but I do believe they have already started a rotational system but even then seems like that might cause problems. It is a pretty nice sized exhibit though but it is hard to tell with only a few angles from pictures and videos on Facebook or Youtube.

Peafowl have a separate exhibit. There also seems to be some birds in the aviary that are unsigned that I missed. I saw some spur-winged lapwings.

I think the litter of African Wild Dogs I mentioned before have been moved to an exhibit near the Black-Maned Lions. This probably means if this litter was born they were born a long time ago or they are just a separate juvenile group unrelated to the individuals at the zoo. Hard to get a grasp on that information though.

Found a map on a tour video. I saw that there is a monkey exhibit and a baboon exhibit. We can conclude that the baboon exhibit is probably the Gelada. Unsure what the monkey exhibit could be but it is definitely a smaller species. My guess is Grivets since they are common in the area but they could be something else.

Here are some videos from the zoo. Fair warning though a lot of these have some annoying editing but it's probably some of the best tours of the zoo you can get online at the moment.

The most recent video of the zoo I can find:


General tour:


Aquarium:

 

They could send some Yellow-bellied Parrots or Wattled Ibises to Walsrode and get some Blue-winged Geese back. Both sides would be very happy.

 

The aviary of the zoo looks great, very innovative design and concept! It is just a pity that they have built this project in the city centre, which means the very little margin for expansion in the future.

I really hope more projects like this pop up in Africa. I also hope that they can achieve the prestigious EAZA membership in the future.