In 2012 pairi daiza plans to open its new large theme zone: this one will be devoted to Afrika. on cultural level, the continent will be represented by a village from Togo and in pairi daiza style have a lot of authentic sculptures and stuff, including a witchdoctors shrine. still in construction phase, these pics were taken the last opening weekend in november. some of the "huts" will also house small african animals. the african fur seals will move to the large pond, where the tapir used to be (they now share an enclosure with the capybara on the other side of the park) Visitors can walk over the enclosure in a stelted village on the former cassowary enclosure (they moved to mura mura territory, pics elsewhere on this forum) an enclosure for the colobus monkeys is being erected. sorry no pics of that one. with the african zone, the park will also get its first large carnivores: hyenas, lions and cheetahs. their enclosures and the one for african elephants are being built behind the togo village the cheetah enclosure is being built behind the elephant enclosure. as cheetahs live in both asia and africa when I last spoke to my contact there, construction was on schedule and this new zone should open somewhere in spring 2012. this all depends of course on the wheather and stuff. more pics of that last day of 2011 https://picasaweb.google.com/103530361963220845263/20111106#
Thank you very much for the information, Forumbully. Pairi Daiza (awfull word) is one of the zoos in the Benelux area which is on the top of my "to visit" list. But now I'm a little confused. I thought that PD has Asian Elephants (some from Rapperswil, Switzerland) and not African Elephants. Do they really have the intention to exhibit both species in future? And is the new fur seal pool within the new Togo themed zone (which would not really fit to this theme) or just adjected?
I fully agree with you on the name. but hey, rich owner and you know what they say: rich people aren't crazy, they're excentric. anyway, the word pairi daiza is supposedly ancient persian and the first known reference to the garden of eden. but the elephants: at the moment they have 5 asian elephants: anny and valentino (a pair of sumatranus from Indonesia), claudi and sandy (2 females from rapperswil) and 1 adolescent bull from the EEP (po chim, formerly in Bellewaerde park) and 1 female african elephant. Suzy, a hands on elephant from Harry Malter family park, a very small zoo in Belgium. they plan to have at least 1 more african (according to belgium law, you need to have at least 2) but that probably won't happen before the enclosure is completed. regarding the fur seals, maybe this map makes it a bit more clear. the savannah speaks for itself. that's where they're building the togo village. the walkway with stelted huts (which is not the togo village) will be next to the ship, where you see the tapir.
Thank you forumbully Well, it makes it a little more clear to me, but anyway, I presume, that I have to see it in person...
And we can reveil a little more. Pairi daiza will house the big 5 in it's african zone: lion, (white) rhino, buffalo, african leopard and elephant. If I find time later on, I'll post a complete species list or at least what has been made public. Most animals are certain to come as soon as their enclosures are finished (they had a pic of one of their future lions on facebook). Suzy, the african elephant would have had company too, but unfortunately, this didn't go as planned. an african female, former circus elephant with quite the medical history was scheduled to come, but upon arrival, she was lying in the transportbox, to weak to stand and died shortly after. Very sad story and the pairi daiza crew is still a little shaken by it. in more positive news, several birds have already begun nesting and laid eggs.
The complete list of "enchanting Africa" The animals marked in bold are already present in the park - lion - cheetah - african leopard - spotted hyena - meerkat - red river hog - colobus monkey - red ruffed and black/white lemur - african fur seal - african elephant - white rhino - hippo - zebra - giraffe - sitatunga - ringtailed lemur - ostrich - secretarybird - cape buffalo - greater kudu - sable antelope - thomsongazelle - wildebeast - watussi - warthog - fishers lovebird - african grey parrot - saddlebill stork - marabou - kori bustard - shoebill stork
wow, has it been that long since I last posted here? anyway, with photo courtesy to my wife: Still in construction, opening is foreseen june. Animals are arriving almost daily. hyenas, lions, antelope, cheetah are already in the park. with leopards, rhino and several other species coming in soon.
Last friday evening, after 10 months of labor, the new theme zone: "terre des origines" which translates as "land of origin" opened in Pairi Daiza. They worked on it until the very last day. as a matter of fact, the owner, Eric Domb was giving his speech, while in the background, the botanists were still planting. Anyway: pictures: https://plus.google.com/photos/103530361963220845263/albums/5760229125127660113 Oh and in some other news: the asian elephants sandy and Anny are pregnant.
I was at Pairi Daiza today, and was very interested in all of the new developments. This was my first visit to the place in about 15 years. Has any other European zoo changed so much in that time? Gelsenkirchen, Hannover.... PD isn't really my sort of zoo, but what it does, it does very well. This African development is extraordinary - even if the Africa it presents is a pretty funny-looking place. It's a rather Lion King-ised version of the place, with a strong Willard Price influence and lashings of tarzan-chic. As I'm sure has been said before, putting African animals in grass-roofed, brightly-painted huts is akin to putting badgers and red deer in a European town house. That said, people who like this sort of thing will like this sort of thing, and it has certainly been done a lot worse, elsewhere. The new 'islands' for lions and hyeanas are both very bare, and with a gravelly substrate really do have the look of a car-park. However, it is early days, and hopefully they will look much better when the planting is established. The leopard enclosure - not yet inhabited, as far as I could see - is a strange thing, reminiscent of the indoor orang cages at Chester. Not massively spacious. I suspect that the parts of the zoo I liked best are probably those parts that the average visitor - who clearly loves this African thing, and the similarly themed Asian and Australian areas - would find least impressive: the brilliant birds of prey aviaries (a walk-through aviary for palm nut vultures and secretary birds!), and some of the excellent birds (rufous hornbills, for example, and - a real zoo rarity - great crested grebe). The most interesting mammal - giant squirrel - impossible to see, sadly; meanwhile, two separate enclosures each for meerkats and short-clawed otters.
one of the hyenas is definately pregnant, the 2nd female probably too. pairi daiza bred a whooping 23 pink pelicans this year (allthough their record is somewhere around 30)
