The problem with rhinos is that they don’t always appreciate that there’s a major media launch happening. And so, at 9am on a chilly Monday morning, a decent chunk of the North West’s broadcast media, as well as several writers clutching notebooks, waited in vain for a glimpse of one of the star residents of Chester Zoo’s huge new Heart of Africa zone.
Credit: Chester Zoo
It was feeding time at the Eastern black rhino enclosure – a specially scheduled event for the benefit of the watching journalists no less – but the animals had little appetite for either breakfast or making their TV debut and remained resolutely out of sight.
Notwithstanding this perhaps inevitable lack of rhinoceros cooperation, Heart of Africa is an impressive addition that will no doubt cement the zoo as one of the major tourist destinations in Northern England. At 22.5 acres, it is the largest zoo habitat in the UK, and its centrepiece – a wide-open enclosure designed to replicate a savannah on which giraffes, zebra, antelope and ostriches mingle – is as close as anyone is likely to get while on this island to experiencing life on the African plains.
Its creation has been a major undertaking for the zoo over the course of several years and has included the planting of more than 6,000 trees, shrubs and grasses, as well as the creation of 30 additional jobs. Jamie Christon, chief executive of Chester Zoo, has described it as “the largest and most ambitious zoo development ever undertaken in the UK. It stands as a vibrant symbol of our commitment to safeguarding wildlife across Africa, ensuring its future for generations to come.”
In total, 57 species will populate the zone, some of which are new to the zoo and many of which are endangered. Three spitting cobras have been deposited into their new homes within the Hidden Savannah building, demonstrating about as much enthusiasm for those watching as the rhino had indicated, and will share their accommodation with pancake turtles, surprisingly cute naked mole rats, and 15,000 far less cute locusts, the latter of which can be viewed from inside a replica ranger’s jeep.
Credit: Chester Zoo
Outside, by lunchtime, the first non-media visitors – Chester Zoo members who had secured preview tickets – were excitedly making their way round the habitat. Critically endangered vultures pecked at a carcass; yellow mongoose looked quizzically back at this new influx of onlookers, and various grown-ups with creaky knees and stiff backs attempted to crawl through the tunnels that let visitors pop up in the middle of the meerkat enclosure.
Heart of Africa will open fully to general zoo-going crowds on April 5. If the rhino was disgruntled by its audience today, it is going to have a nasty shock at the weekend.
Main image: credit Chester Zoo
