I was avoiding all media and forums on it....wanted to go with out being subjected to other opinions when forming mine. The point is the zoo should have made us aware they were not ready. I could have taken that, but it has all be last minute and then half truths.
It's mis-management by the marketing department. The rest of the zoo staff have worked very hard to get things moving.
Well, it was open in the sense that you could walk through it, but it wasn't stocked with animals. The anoa and babirusa enclosures, macaque viewing window, restaurant, play area and shop (everything from the Rock Bridge to the exit) are Sulawesi.
Somewhat implausibly, the Liverpool Echo is running a live coverage page for the opening day, if anyone fancies following it: Live: Chester Zoo's new £40m Islands attraction opens its doors - Liverpool Echo
I was planning to visit possibly in a couple of months when it was more established, now I think I'll give it a year....
Probably a good idea for anyone travelling a significant distance, given a year the plants will be much more developed, the animals will be housed and settled and any snags should have been dealt with by then. As I'm local and have a season ticket, I'm happy to travel to see updates and will make a personal judgment in around 12 months time, I'm taking a trip towards end of July. However having read all the posts to date about Islands (Zoochat is useful!) if it was a zoo 200 odd miles (ie Colchester for me) away I'd probably give it a year or so myself.
Your Illustrated Tour of Islands - Part 1 For than three years we have looked at plans and artists' impressions with a mixture of scepticism and anticipation. We have watched strangely shaped new buildings appear on a muddy field. We have imagined and speculated. This weekend Chester members could finally walk up the new path beside the oryx paddock for a preview visit to Islands. The entrance point is staffed by smiling, blue-shirted zoo guides. They welcome the visitors and give Explorer's Logbooks to children as they enter. But I chose a quiet time when their backs were turned to get this photo. When we arrived on the first preview morning the sun had burnt off a lot of cloud and the first vista was striking. It is called Coral Sands. I was born and bred in Cheshire – and it doesn't usually look like this. These are authentic boats from Indonesia and there is a range of replicas and original goods at the 'Islands Supplies' stalls. Of course this is really a theatre set. It is attractive and it certainly makes a good impression. I think it's nice, but on the other hand, it's not really what I have come to see. When we cross the Thatched Bridge we can see the boats for the Lazy River Boat Trip leaving the Jetty. Due to technical difficulties, there was a long queue on the first preview morning. Incidentally, there are a lot of bridges in Islands and each one is different. Notice the background of the image above. This is the Monsoon Forest building, the show piece of Islands, but not on show yet unfortunately. We are now in Panay, which represents the Philippines. The first animals to live in Islands are the Visayan warty pigs. This shows a small section of their enclosure and a wall of their house, which is off-show. There is a fenced yard behind the house for isolating individuals and the main paddock is long and shaped like an asymmetrical letter Y, with two sections of riverbank where the pigs can be viewed from the boats. The area of grass, trees and ponds behind this exhibit is earmarked for a possible future extension to Islands. The zoo had originally planned a rather larger development, including exhibits for Malayan tapirs and Komodo dragons, but these have not been built. If Islands succeeds, there is room for more. to be continued
We are going to visit in October, I wouldn't mind the delayed openings, but my wife may not be so patient..
Your Illustrated Tour of Islands - Part 2 As the warty pig's enclosure is the only one where animals were on show, it also has a sign – the only proper zoo sign I saw. It is in the same style as the zoo's sign for the spectacled bears and some other feature species. I expect that some of the information answers a question in the Explorer's Logbook. Across the next bridge is Papua, which also only holds one species, southern cassowary. The birds were getting used to their new house, before being allowed outside. The zoo's pair are normally kept apart, so there are two enclosures; one is visible from the boat, the other from the footpath. Both have wide water moats and are densely planted. Unfortunately I omitted to photograph the one by the path, although there is a photo by Maguari in the Gallery. This was the only enclosure that I felt was rather smaller than I expected: only my first impression and perhaps unfair, but I put it on record. The main path goes on to Bali, but the Dragon Bridge was closed because building work is continuing. The plans for this aviary have changed, the publicity material features Bali starlings (or Rothschild's grackles, as we used to call them). Beyond Bali is Sumatra (Islands geography does not correspond closely to conventional maps) where orang utan and tiger enclosures are also under construction, although they can be seen from the boat. Instead we cross to Sumba, which has no animal exhibits but is the base for the Lazy River Boat Trip. The queue for the trip will be well screened and shaded when the planting has had some time to grow. There are also fruit stalls, which fascinated these two young visitors. They had to touch each type of fruit to check that Mummy was telling the truth when she said they were not real. Heuristic methods rule OK. The school room is also on Sumba. A wide range of educational activities have been planned, with financial help from the Wolfson Foundation. I like the idea of putting education in the centre of the whole project. The Rock Bridge links Sumba to Sulawesi. From this bridge we can see the boats passing the orang enclosures, the first tall and wire covered and the second barless, and then on past the crested macaque's enclosure which has a deep dry moat on the monkey's side. to be continued
Your Illustrated Tour of Islands - Part 3 There is also a covered viewpoint overlooking the macaque exhibit: it is not yet complete, but I lifted my camera over the barrier to photograph what I could not see. Sulawesi also has the Madano Town area, behind the tuk-tuk park is the Street Kitchen under its fancy roof. I think the building at the far right is the Toilet block, but it was closed because of a water supply problem on the first preview morning. The same problem closed the Street Kitchen, but the menu was displayed prominently. Walking on, the anoa paddock is on the left, overlooking the landing area of the Boat Trip Jetty. On the right is the babirusa paddock, which is not visible from the boat. The final view from the path overlooks the babirusa's pool and then the macaque paddock, with the Monsoon Forest and the orangs in the background. At the end of the path you can continue into the Gift Shop, once it is finished, or turn left to leave Islands and join the path that goes between the bongos and the bears. Alternatively go on the Lazy River Boat Trip to view the enclosures that you can't see on foot at the moment. I hope you enjoyed your tour. Alan
Your Lazy River Boat Trip - Part 1 The Lazy River Boat Trip is an alternative way of viewing the outdoor exhibits of the Islands project. The only species in these exhibits that will not be visible from the boat are the babirusa and the birds in the Bali aviary. The boats travel around the waterway circuit in an anticlockwise direction. My ride took 16 minutes, including a couple of short stoppages which may have been teething problems on the first preview day. There will certainly be queues on busy days when all of Islands is up and running. There is plenty of space for the queue, but not much to do or see. When we reach the business end we can see the Rules – they should probably be on show near the top of the path too. Pushchairs etc must be left in the buggy park behind the building. I did notice that one of the boats carried a passenger in a wheelchair at the stern – if you would like to find out about this facility I would advise contacting the zoo in advance. At the Jetty, there is a second notice. When our turn comes, the staff will ask us to stand in one of the lanes to take our places on the bench seat in front of us when we board the boat. Naturally I embarrassed myself by getting this wrong, but I was politely directed to my proper place. I don't think that many of the trips actually had 17 people on board – it would be a very tight squeeze for adults. One or two of the boats had problems of some kind and had to be sent out with no passengers, but things seemed to running quite smoothly when our cruise started at mid-day. As I sat down I saw one final piece of safety advice on the back of the seat in front of me. Look back as our boat leaves to see the next one boarding: as there are 14 boats they must leave at nearly one a minute. The whole point of the Lazy River Trip is to sit back, relax and look around. We get a nice view of the Coral Sands area where we entered Islands. to be continued
Your Lazy River Boat Trip - Part 2 Then we arrive at the first warty pig beach. On our real trip the pigs were elsewhere. I presume that the branches are to indicate to the pigs that there is a barrier to prevent them going into the water. As the boat rounded the little headland between the warty pig beaches, I was impressed by the realism of the simulated riverbank. We were lucky enough to see two of the pigs on the second beach. They were the only animals out in the enclosures on the first preview day. I was surprised and impressed; my eyes were at just about the same level as the pig's (add your own joke here, if you have to) which made an interesting and unusual perspective. The boat moved slowly enough for me to take a series of pictures, which was something I had wondered about beforehand. It would have been quite easy to get a nice shot of the nearer pig with a moderate telephoto. Please note that the images in this thread were taken at a wide angle setting to show the enclosures, this makes the pigs appear much further away than they actually were. The next section of Islands is Papua, where we pass one of the cassowary enclosures. These birds had been moved into their new house the previous day so they were having some time to settle down before being allowed into their enclosures. The green mesh should deter the bird from running into the water if it panics in its new surroundings. Note that this enclosure is heavily planted and there is a wide stretch of water between the bank and the boat. On to Bali and the banteng exhibit, which was not quite finished. It is one of the largest and features a huge pool, which is slightly below the level of the river. Imagine coasting past while the big bull banteng is wallowing happily a few metres away from the boat. to be continued
Your Lazy River Boat Trip - Part 3 After the banteng the river bends left around the mound on which the Bali aviary is built. We will not be able to see the birds in this aviary once the plants have grown a little, but we won't mind because we'll be looking at Sumatra on the right. The tiger enclosure has a fence, which appears to be both fairly elegant and very strong. I think there will be better viewing of the tigers from the footpath. The Lantern Bridge links Bali and Sumatra (it is easier to understand the layout of Islands if you have forgotten all your Geography lessons). Note the Tomistoma in front of it and the orang utan enclosure behind, with a first glimpse of the Monsoon House behind that. This tall wire exhibit will hold Sumatran orang utans. I think the green structures are sway poles and I presume that webbing straps and hammocks will be hung from the roof and between the fake trees. Note the translucent plastic roof of the Monsoon Forest, for solar gain, and the louvres for ventilation on this hot day. The next orang enclosure is barless. There is a dry moat between the nearest poles and 'riverbank' and the side walls are smooth and overhanging. If the orangs are managed in the same way as they are currently, they will be kept in one group with a free choice between their different indoor, outdoor and off-show areas; although the new housing can be used very flexibly if different arrangements become necessary. The other end of the Monsoon Forest is part of the Sulawesi section. This is the outdoor area for the crested macaques, which has another dry moat on the animal side. Both the macaques and the orangs will be also be on show indoors in the Monsoon Forest. to be continued
Your Lazy River Boat Trip - Part 4 On the other side of the river from the macaques is the turtle waterfall, which I think rather lowers the tone – and the pump and plastic pipe are just plain naff (I trust they are only temporary). Once we can see the anoa paddock through the Rock Bridge we realise that we are near the end of the trip. There is a nice view of the exhibit as the boat glides up to the Jetty again. It seems ready and I think the anoas are due to be moved in very shortly. I hope that the trees and shrubs will soon screen the view of the Street Kitchen's roof. However authentic its design is, I think it looks rather incongruous on the skyline here. After we disembark, don't forget to pick up the buggy from the Buggy Park. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the ride. As I said to SMR before the Zoo opened, I have never been on the monorail and I only remember going on the old waterbus once, on a school trip when I was about 10 (many, many years ago); so I was doubtful about the Lazy River. But it is nice to sit down and travel slowly and silently around the exhibits, looking at them from a different perspective. Of course you can't stop if you see something interesting and there can be no guarantee of seeing any animals at all, even when all the exhibits are complete and fully stocked. But all zoo nerds know that already and they will find plenty to interest them in the planting and design of the enclosures and the waterway. I think it will be popular with the public too and I would certainly recommend avoiding long queues by going early or late in the day if the Zoo is busy. I expect there will be some modifications made to the boats, adding canopies and modifying them to make them a little more stable when passengers shift position to look at something. The queue experience could be improved with more information signs and shading too. I am sure the staff have learned a lot from the preview days and I look forward to an even nicer trip next time I visit the Zoo. Alan
If the only animals on display are some warty pigs and a cassowary then the islands really should not be open or at least there should be huge signs clearly stating this!
Looks like a copy of Hanover Zoo, especially African boat ride. Another of exotic cultural pseudo-artifact in zoo design in 2000's-2010's in Europe (together with Hanover, Gelsenkirchen, Pairi Daiza, exotarium in Hamburg, Brasilian and elephant exhibits in Zurich etc). I would wonder about reaction of Indonesian tourists to this thing. The effect may be the same turn-off as European tourists seeing very fake imitations of European castles and towers in theme parks in Asia.
