The small Tropical food court is done. Also, you can now really see how high the hilly trail is...! Imagine running up there. I'm out of breath just thinking about it, haha.
The pygmy hippo habitat is finished. There will be an underwater viewing area, topped by an above-water viewing platform. I really like how this habitat came out. It looks so green! These little hippos have super high foliage tolerance, which is great.
And last but not least: the tropical area so far, and what you have to look forward to
Buffalos on the left (I said they were done... but I feel like I want to place more foliage. I'm kinda surprised their foliage tolerance is so low).
Babirusas in the center, left of the small tropical food court. Dwarf hippos on the right of the food court.
Gharials will go next to the hippos, and will share the underwater and above water viewing areas.
The hippo and gharial viewing areas will be conjoined with a reptile and amphibian house. Here I will put 3 frogs, 2 iguanas, 2 snakes, and the Galapagos giant tortoise.
Cassowaries will be placed between the foot of the hilly trail and the large plaza next to the elephant boat ride. I'll place their enrichment on the plaza side, because the hilly trail does not lend itself well to guests stopping to watch some dino birds. It will get clogged in no time.
Now I need to think of a way to keep guests out of the negative impact radius of the water cleaning facility...
Ps. I love sharing this here! It's a big motivator to continue going
The Tropical house was so hard! Ah I hate building stuff. But it also does a lot to dress the place up, and I am pretty satisfied with the end result!
It's so bushy and I love it
Created a new river while I was at it. The Land of Giants boat ride is finally connected to the rest of the zoo!
The last remaining thing to do for the Tropical area is the Cassowary habitat to the left. You can see where it's going to be. They need quite a lot of space, I discovered, especially if you want to breed them. 100 square meters per additional bird OR chick, and they can have up to 4 chicks. So it'll be a 900 square meter habitat.
The Hippo and Gharial viewing platform and habitats, as seen from above. I made a Gharial basking rock nearest to the platform, so people can get a good look at them above water, too. I've got 7 gharials in, and what a size difference...! Some of them are absolute units.
I really love these two habitats. The water is swampy, which suits both animals. The Gharials can and do deep dive.
The way to the underwater viewing area. The sign says 'Boshut' which is Forest hut in Dutch. The butterflies are astoundingly beautiful at night! This build uses a mix of base game wood, South American stone and thatched roof, and Arctic wood and poles.
The underwater viewing area itself. I sank South American stone into the ground, and lined the path with rocks. I couldn't make the path align perfectly with the glass walls, so I covered it up this way. Worked pretty well, if I do say so myself. A random rock is placed in the middle as decoration.
The Tropical house can be entered above. It leads to the viewing Hippo and Gharial viewing platform on the left, and the Galapagos tortoise habitat to the right.
When you enter the building. A huge tree grows right through it, and you can take a look at it from the benches, where you can also see the river flowing underneath the building. Hippo and Gharial viewing platform to the left.
Upper left are three frog exhibits: Lehmann, red eyed tree frog, and golden poison frog.
Frog exhibits straight ahead. Two snakes exhibits on the left: yellow anaconda, reticulated python. Two iguana exhibits on the right: Antilles iguana, green iguana.
Snake exhibits to the left. Iguana exhibits in center. Galapagos tortoise habitat down the path.
Galapagos tortoise habitat! Small and cozy, green and flowery. It was nice building something teensy for once
It's a challenge too, because I tend to build far too large habitats.
And finally, an overview!
Cassowaries will go in the red area, they are up next.
The cassowaries are right next to a big food plaza where people can eat before and after they went on the boat ride, but I don't feel like building that one yet.
Instead I'll probably move to the Hilltop area in blue! There will be a small food court there, perhaps an animal on top. It will need to be something attractive to lure guests up there. It is quite a trek, after all. On the other hand, the hilly trail is narrow and small, so perhaps not. Do we have some kind of warm weather alpine animal? Dall sheep come close, but I'm not sure they can deal with the hot weather.
I'm thinking of doing an antelope habitat on the other side of the hill, that people can access through a tunnel.
The black arrow, I'm not sure. It's gonna attach to the Land of Giants, so perhaps giraffes? It is a long stretch of land though. A long and stretched habitat it is, then.
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"New Zealand Getaway Zoo". My main challenges will be:
- Building elephant habitats (never built for them before) and obtaining the elephant reward (breeding both species in one zoo).
- Building an elephant boat ride (never done a boat ride before).
- Deciding on zoo sections and how to make use of the terrain.
- entrance area
- tropical area
- land of giants
- hilltop area
- Multiple viewing angles from all around the zoo.
- Cool panoramashots.
- A hilly trail that looks down over the zoo, making a beautiful view from both the top and the bottom of the zoo.
