Klein Tuin Zoo

[Joël]

View attachment 176407
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.

Great idea to create, build and show the evolution of a zoo from the start of a private collection to a larger zoo!

Best of luck & enjoy your progress! So far it's looking great! Thanks for posting regular updates on the forums!

 

[Mealie]

Great idea to create, build and show the evolution of a zoo from the start of a private collection to a larger zoo!

Best of luck & enjoy your progress! So far it's looking great! Thanks for posting regular updates on the forums!

Thank you. I'm happy you like the concept

 

[Mealie]

~1913~
With the increase in popularity of brass band music a bandstand was erected to allow bands to play at the zoo and for the guests to enjoy some music on their visit.

The bandstand is based on the one construction in Johannesburg Zoo in 1910 where it stands till today still serving the same purpose as it did over a century ago

Some gardening was also done in front of the waterfowl exhibits. The garden features a range of flowers, trees, cycads and a budgie aviary.

And just like I did in the 1898 update, I have uploaded the world download showing the state of the Zoo & Estate in 1913 which you can check out on the steam workshop
Please feel free to have a look around and also check out the 1898 update to see how the estate has changed.

More details can be seen in the Youtube video:
Episode 11

 

[FoxyDee]

Awesome. I love how you reasearch the retro things for your zoo. Brilliant!

 

[Mealie]

Awesome. I love how you reasearch the retro things for your zoo. Brilliant!

Thank you. I really appreciate the comment.

 

[random goat]

Looking awesome as always! Can't wait to watch the upcoming episodes.

 

[Mealie]

Looking awesome as always! Can't wait to watch the upcoming episodes.

Thanks. Next updates should be coming soon

 

[Mealie]

~1914~
An Indian prince recently visited the zoo and was so impressed that he decided to donate some animals from his own private menagerie.
This included a pair of Bengal Tigers, a group of peafowl and a pair of trained Indian Elephants.
The tigers were placed in the Lion house (now a big cat house) that was divided into two sections to accommodate the tigers and the lions which were already in theexhibit.

The peafowls were released onto the grounds where they free roam throughout the zoo. Here are a pair of them on an elevated platform built to overlook the elephant exhibit

And of course here are the elephants.
Here is the front. You'll see on the left there is a ride station. These elephants are trained and as such were used to give guests rides around the zoo along with all the other animal rides the zoo offered.

And here's the back of the elephant house.

The elephant house itself is based on the Old Stone Elephant House at the Johannesburg zoo, which stands till this day

And a bonus animal. A hippo while on it's way to the coast to be shipped to Europe had stopped in the zoo for a temporary visit at the zoo for the guests to admire for a short while.

More details can be seen in the Youtube video:
Episode 12

 

[Mealie]

~1918~
(it's been a while but I'm going to try to keep this forum updated)
Due to the outbreak of World War 1 the hippopotamus that was supposed to temporarily pass through the zoo on it's way oversees was left stranded in the zoo. This unexpected permanent resident required a new exhibit and one was built near the elephant enclosure.

A new exhibit for the gemsbok was also constructed next to the hippo exhibit.

I also gave the file to a fellow content creator named Lucoshi. He built this beautiful aviary (implied of course) near the front of the elephant house. It currently holds white storks, ground hornbills and woolly-necked storks (added in their art shape form).

More details can be seen in the Youtube video:
Episode 13

 

[FoxyDee]

Amazing, really like this historical aviary

 

[paul78]

I seen your YouTube video the other day while skimming through PZ videos. These vintage setups are amazing. There is something neat about vintage exhibits not so much for the animals I guess but thankfully zoos have very nice modern exhibits that put more emphasis on animal needs.

A 70-80s grotto setup at my local zoo.

And a earlier elephant exhibit as well.

 

[Mealie]

~1920~
With the rise in popularity of automobiles, a parking lot a bus stop was raised at the zoo to increase accessibility.

The zoo had also received a pack of three female grey wolves

This exhibit is based on an old picture I found from the Pretoria Zoo (which was titled "Lion's Cage" but was holding tigers at the time)

The zoo also erected several owl cages for both exotic and indigenous owl species (namely: Cape Grass Owl, Great Grey Owl, Verreaux's Eagle-owl, Marsh owl, Short-eared owl, Eurasian Eagle-owl, Barn Owl and Spotted Eagle-owl)

The owls are custom made with gutter pieces by me and are available on the steam workshop
And we sell popcorn now (Mr Domez's angry archer for scale)

More details can be seen in the Youtube video:
Episode 14

 

[Mealie]

~1922~
The zoo had decided to create an area based around primates featuring members from South Africa and the rest of the world
Two small (implied) cages were erected, one holding grey squirrels (not a primate, I know, but I need a small animal to put in here) and bush babies.

A row of small monkey houses was constructed. These would hold chacma baboons, rhesus macaques and vervet monkeys. This kind of exhibit is based on similar ones that used t be found in Johannesburg Zoo and Pretoria. With these exhibits the monkeys wore a harness that chained them to the pole, only giving them access to their house and the pole itself. (these are of course implied as well)

A reference pic from Johannesburg Zoo.

Here is a baboon from Pretoria showing how the harness system worked for this kind of exhibit

Some larger exhibits were built to house some bigger primates namely Chimpanzees (left exhibit) and Mandrills (middle exhibit).

The very right exhibit isn't actually a primate exhibit but houses the zoo's new jaguar.

While feeding of primates is mostly banned in zoos today, it was encouraged in the past. Here we see Mr. Domez's Angry Archer selling some peanuts guests would feed to some of the zoo's primates and probably other animals like squirrels and elephants.

More details can be seen in the Youtube video:
Episode 15

 

[Lea_G]

This is so interesting and nicely done! Really cool to see how much research you put into this, also thanks for sharing the reference pictures (which are both interesting and saddening, I'm glad many zoos have improved since those times). Keep up that amazing work!

 

[Loganispokey]

Noice!

 

[Mealie]

~1924~
A shipment of two polar bears have arrived at the zoo to fill the new bear bit in the zoo.

This polar bear pit on based on one that still exists today in the Johannesburg zoo, although now it holds Red Panda instead of bears.

Several small cat species and large birds have also arrived at the zoo. These animals were either caught on nearby farms or were brought from other facilities.
Here you can see one of our blue cranes next to the Polar bear pit with the small cat house in the back.

Another view on the polar bear pit and small cat cages.

Here are two wattled cranes that were brought into the zoo.

The artificial birds you see here and in the episode are part of my crane and stork packs you can check out on the stem workshop:
Storks: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2346123436
Cranes: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2311064621

And if you want to see the zoo in even more detail you can because the updated [1924] save file is available on the steam workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2312834498

More details can be seen in the YouTube video:
Episode 16

 

[FoxyDee]

That Polar bear enclosure conditions were really horrible at the past. But nothing specieal at the time unfortunately.

But your recreations are amazing as always.

 

[DarthQuell]

It's amazing how much zoos have changed. Now every zoo (at least those with a budget and reputation) are trying to roomy, natural-looking enclosures so that the animals can be as comfortable as possible. But these old zoo photos always interest me (anything from the 50s and before interests me, so)

 

[Mealie]

~1927~
With construction of a new area going underway near the entrance, the springbok and the sable antelope had to find new homes in the zoo.

Some giraffe had also arrived at the zoo

Across from all the new ungulate exhibits some new large bird enclosures were also made
Including a new flamingo and goose pool

Some black storks were introduced and some wild white-faced whistling ducks decided to take a dip in the stork pond

And finally some cranes and Natal Red Duiker

The artificial birds you see here and in the episode are part of my (old) waterfowl, crane and stork packs you can check out on the stem workshop:
Waterfowl (old, I have newer version up): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2099121096
Storks: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2346123436
Cranes: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2311064621

The red duiker are part of Drac's small mammal pack part 2: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2272208813

More details can be seen in the YouTube video:
Episode 17

 

[Mealie]

~1928~
As mentioned last episode there was some construction going on in the front of the zoo, and those constructions are complete. Welcome to the new reptile area of the zoo.

The area opens up with so
me testudines. On the left you have a baby Aldabra Giant tortoise. The central pond has some Cape/African helmeted turtles and on the right are some leopard tortoises

One of the old stables have been converted to house some of our crocodilians.

Here is a pit with some Giant Plated Lizards and Angulate Tortoises

And another with some monitors

The main attraction of the reptile area is the Snake Pit, fully equipped with a customised angry archer.

This snake pit is based on a snake pit that existed in an old Snake Park that existed in Port Elizabeth.

More details can be seen in the YouTube video:
Episode 18