THE DRY LANDS - A Desert Zoo Experience

Been working on some backstage areas as well as filling out a big chunky piece of terrain with rocks and foliage. This area is running between the African and North American sections and the path here is only usable by staff. The enclosure is a backstage holding for African Wild Dogs placed behind their big main habitat.

If you check out some of the earlier posts, you might be able to sense how bare this hill looked before. It works as a great background for a big part of the park now.

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While working on some more rocks and foliage, I felt like something was missing on top of that hill. I ended up making this massive billboard. I can't really figure out if I like it or not. It feels a bit over the top, but the zoo is in the US so that might be in the right spirit.

It got 3 sides, so you can see it from most of the park. Some places it kind of ruins the view but other places it looks quite cool in the background.
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Our journey through the Kalahari and Namib deserts continue, with a better look at the first enclosure.



On the left side you get a nice panorama view with a chance of elephants in the background. From the right angles you get a feeling of them sharing the same space, even though it is two separate enclosures. This also make this habitat appear bigger than it is. (Still need to make custom signs for these three species)
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And the right side. I went quite creative with the fence here, I always had a soft spot for those chunky shipwreck pieces from the Arctic pack.
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This is where the two sides connects under the bridge, which also leads you into the rest of Africa.
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Thought an overview of this habitat would be nice to get a better understanding of it.
In the right bottom corner you see the bridge going from the entrance area to Africa.
On the left you can see how this habitat and the elephant enclosure are separated by a fence, a small keeper area and a moat.
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Thank you all for stopping by here!



I am working on getting some stuff up on YouTube for the first time. I think I might start out with a tour through the NA section but I am not really sure yet. I hope some of you want to check that out, whenever I get it done.
 
My second video is up. This is a tour of the African area. I will still look into getting some pictures up here in the thread as well, so it won't just be me spamming with YouTube videos.
I do hope some of you enjoy this new way of showing my park. A like on YouTube would be very appreciated, thank you!
 
Been a little conflicted on if I should start on a new zoo/project with some of the European species or if I should implement some of the new update features into The Dry Lands.

I suddenly felt motivated to jump back into this. This meerkat enclosure was built just after the release of the Africa Pack. Since then the meerkats have been moved up next to the wild dogs, so this enclosure has been empty for a long time. Now I want to redesign it for aardvarks and test out the new burrows. I prepared for this today by making a tunnel pathway for the guests leading up to this enclosure. I don't dare to do more about it now, since we don't know exactly how the burrows will work.
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So I will come back with an update on this hopefully next week!
 
WIP

Started on a very thematized area as part of the African area placed behind the elephant enclosure.
I based it on Walvis Bay, which is a city on the coast of Namibia. It basically got ocean on one side and desert on the other.

Wasn't really planning on going this thematic. I was just looking up greater flamingos near the Namib desert and stumbled upon this place since there are flamingos close by.
The architecture there looked interesting and doable in Planet Zoo, so I gave it a try. Even though thematic buildings are a bit out of my comfort zone.

I saved an extra file of the park, in case it ended up feeling too out of place for this zoo, but I think it will work in the end.

It will provide additional viewing points into the elephants, a flamingo lagoon, and some guest facilities.
I will also add African Penguins somewhere in this area. They are found at the coast of Namibia, but I am not sure they live near this city. I will include them no matter what though.
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Another WIP shot.

Gotten pretty far with the coastal area. The flamingoes moved in and their enclosure is mostly done. It is fairly simple, but with a lot of stuff going on in the background, I feel like simple is the way to go. I have also figured out where to put the penguins, but still need to build their habitat. I also need to work some more on the guest areas.
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Whenever I get done with this I will show it in a video. Happy New Year!
 
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