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Welcome to Klein Tuin Zoo. This is a bit of a different zoo project. Instead of building a fully fledged modern zoo I plan to create the zoo progress updates showing the progression of the zoo from a private collection on an estate in the early 20th century up until the present day. Each update will represent a year in the zoos history showing the zoos progress through the years

I already started this zoo when the game came out, but I thought it'd be cool o share it here now
You can check out the progress on Youtube to see me build & explain in more detail
I'll also post some pictures and some text updates here as well.

A bit more info about the zoo:
Klein Tuin Zoo is based near the city of Port Elizabeth in what is currently the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
The zoo will feature many different architectural and story aspects from several IRL South Africans zoos (such as Johannesburg Zoo, Pretoria Zoo & the old Groote Schuur Zoo), giving you a bit more insight into the history of zoos in South Africa.
 
~History of the land~
Like a lot of land in the Eastern Cape Province, the major biome the zoo is placed in is the thicket biome. A dense lush biome consisting of short trees and dense bush. Thickets may include open spaces allowing larger animals to move arounds.
As humans do when they colonise an area, the change the landscape. The area the Klein Tuin Estate was built on was no exception.
The thicket in the land was cleared out to make room for timber plantations (seen below with thicket on the left and the plantation on the right)
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As time passed majority of the trees in the timber plantations were removed leaving pastures for grazing. Here are an abondoned farm building built on the pastures next to the estate
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~1886~
A man by the name of Cristiaan De Hoof purchased the land known as the Klein Tuin Estate and moved in with his family.
The main feature of the estate was a mansion built in the Cape Dutch Revival architectural style.

This building was based on the Groote Schuur Estate House, a building that belonged to Cecil Rhodes, a prime minister of the Cape colony. The IRL building was initially used as a grainary but later renovated by Sir Herbert Baker in this Cape Dutch Revival Style.

Front of the building
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Back of the building
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Some small farms were also present on the estate, to provide household with some food
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More details can be seen in the Youtube video
Episode 1
 
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~1898~
As the years passed, several new buildings were added to the estate for guests & workers.
The houses here are Rondavels. An African-styled house, with these in particular having a slight European touch
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Along side the Rondavels, 2 Cape Dutch Houses were built (1 can be seen in the background of the previous pic)
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In this year marked the start of what would lead to the formation of the zoo. The owner of the estate had purchased several large herbivores for the start of his private collection in the estate. These herbivores would in later years become some of the 1st animals of the Klein Tuin Zoo.
List of the wild animals purchased for the estate: 4 Ostriches, 2 Sable, 2 Gemsbok, 3 Zebra & 4 Springbok
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Some of the paddocks
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More details can be seen in the Youtube video
Episode 2
 
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~1898~
Along with the wild hoofstock of the estate, the estate had some animals one would consider more normal for an estate, namely domestic animals.

A large stable was constructed for horses and donkeys as well as some small pens next to the stable. The stable of course like many other buildings in the estate takes a Cape Dutch Architectural inspiration.
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Along with the stables, some less fancy cattle pens were built. It was very important to have these because majority of transportation in the time was in the form of Oxen carts, thus pens were needed to hold these oxen. These pens would also hold regular cattle farmed for their meat and milk.
The pens of all the domestic animals were for holding them for only part of the day and through the night. If the animals were not being used for transport, the would roam freely grazing in the estate.
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More details can be seen in the Youtube video
Episode 3
 
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~1898~
It's a bit weird that I have 3 1898 updates, but I'm releasing these updates in the same format as my Youtube videos, where I had 3 videos based in 1898.
Anyway this one is a small update, just a small duck pond made near some of the smaller houses on the state.
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I also have also uploaded a world download showing the state of the Estate in 1898 which you can check out on the
steam workshop

You can see more details on how I made the pond in the Youtube video, although this video is more focused on the landscape of the estate so it kinda relates to my second update: ~History of the land~
Episode 4
 
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~1903~
Expanding the exotic animal collection the estate, two lions were brought to the zoo, one male and one female.
To accommodate the lions a new building was constructed to hold them.
Like most facilities that held animals in this time (especially big cats) there was unfortunately very little space given to these animals, following the not so ethical trend to keep animals in concrete cages.
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This lion house in particular was based on blueprints designed by Sir Herbert Baker for lions at the Groote Schuur Estate but were never constructed. Here are the blueprints I used as reference:
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More details can be seen in the Youtube video
Episode 5
 
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~1906~
After obtaining quite a few animals for his private menagerie, the owner of the Klein Tuin Estate decided his collection will be private no more. And so in 1906 the entrance to the new KLEIN TUIN ZOO was constructed allowing people in the surrounding areas to come and see the wild and exotic animals for decades to come.
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More details can be seen in the Youtube video
Episode 6
Source: https://youtu.be/CV1C3WoxZpY
 
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~1908~
A group of wildebeest had found their way to the zoo. These wildebeest were captured in the wild and were being transported to the coast to be shipped to Europe. During their trip to the coast they've temporarily stopped at Klein Tuin Zoo as a temporary animal attraction.
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The zoo had also constructed new waterfowl exhibits in front of the lion house. The zoo had acquired Black Swan, Mallard, Black-Necked Swan, Swan Goose and Spur-Winged Goose. A pair free roaming of Indian peafowl have also been introduced to the zoo grounds.
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The waterfowl exhibit is based on the waterfowl ponds that used to exist at the old Groote Schuur Zoo in Cape Town.
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More water birds were also introduced to an exhibit at the entrance. An exhibit for Greylag Geese and Greater Flamingos was constructed at the zoos entrance, giving guests a taste of the zoos collection before they entered the zoo.
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The waterfowl you see here are items I made with in game pieces to look like birds. You can download the whole pack on the STEAM WORKSHOP
More details can be seen in the Youtube video
Episode 8
 
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I think it’s great that you carefully recreate real buildings and designs and it’s great to see the zoo develop through time.
 
~1910~
In order to keep guests interest, the zoo had purchased a pair of male Bactrian Camels and a pair of Llamas to give guests rides. The zoo had also purchased 3 domestic goats to accompany the llamas in their enclosure.
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(Photo containing mod removed)
The goats are a mod that replaces the Dall Sheep.

More details can be seen in the Youtube video:
Episode 9
 
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~1911~
The zoo had received a shipment of animals from Europe, the most notable being a pair of brown bears. The zoo built exhibits for the bears and all the other small mammals received as well as cages for some indigenous South African mammals. All of this was built next to an outdoor cafe (finally giving a proper food option to the zoo).

The bear house
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The bear house design is based on the old bear house in Pretoria Zoo (National Zoological Gardens of South Africa. Today it serves as a food/drink shop.
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Squirrel exhibits holding Prevost's and Red Squirrels (implied exhibits of course)
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The small mammal cages holding: African Civet, Ferret, Aardvark, Raccoon, Cape Porcupine, Striped Skunk & Stoat (also all implied)
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Inside one of the cages
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And the Cafe
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More details can be seen in the Youtube video:
Episode 10
 
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