Why don't Zoo in US, UK or Europe create A Night safari zoo

My thinking was that a savanna is fairly flat (though not as flat as Florida or the Yucatan), and "safari" to me implies a savanna-like habitat. However I've never been to a safari park (big animals don't interest me as much), so I may be assuming incorrectly.

 

While safaris often incorporate wide, open, flat savannahs, and that is what is popularised in movies and TV, I've been on safaris that have included mountains and rainforests. The word itself is Swahili and means 'journey'.



Hix

 

And I believe even before Swahili, the word safari originally comes from the Arabic for 'travel'/'to travel'. ('travel' in Arabic is sufar)

 

That's correct, the word does have Arabic roots.



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And now I'm having flashbacks to Arabic with Al Kitaab fii Ta'allum al Arabiyya and the second-worst professor I had in college.

 

I also hated having Arabic lessons when I lived in Saudi Arabia. Being drilled from age six with the shapes and pronunciations of the letters of the Arabic script without being taught any useful vocabulary whatsoever .

 

I had no problems with the grammar. A professor who believed that nobody needs to speak Arabic and the focus should be entirely on reading and writing, on the other hand...

 

There are certainly enough animals that are either strictly or largely nocturnal to make night zoos worthwhile. Aside from the climate requirements (already discussed), the issue of course is how to see animals in the dark. Night vision technology has advanced so much recently that I think it would be really interesting to design a facility with night vision binoculars or other viewing apparatus at the exhibits.

Miami (Florida, USA) might be a good spot. What about Havana (Cuba). After all the door has just been opened for US tourists to freely visit.

 

Zoo nights (usually in the summer) are not limited to American or Australian zoos, but are also a popular (and in the case of some zoos long-term established) feature in many European zoos...

As for the initial question: this has bothered me for quite a while, too. In theory, (indoor) night zoos that open when the "traditional" zoos have closed could actually be an interesting addition to cities with a busy nightlife, potentially attracting a different clientele (singles, people in their twenties/thirties, "party people", mature tourists without kids...). However, the absence of the main paying customer base of zoos (= families with young kids) might impede the establishment of such. Furthermore, this might also attract the "wrong" kind of customers, as observed during London's former Zoo Lates-especially when the consumption of alcohol on zoo grounds is allowed. London zoo scraps Zoo Lates parties