Volume 3, No. 13. July 11, 2003
New Arrivals
It’s
an African exhibit!
Brevard Zoo in
Melbourne, Florida, announces the arrival of Expedition Africa, July 4, 2003.
Measurements: 10 acres (4 hectares), 63 animals representing 14 species, one
research station, one boardwalk and overlook, one river with kayak tours, one
train. Delivered by BRPH Architects/Engineers, Naumann Naturescapes, more than
800 community volunteers and 31 local businesses, institutions and service groups
donating expertise, materials and manpower.
Opening
one of the largest and, certainly, most ambitious expansions in the zoo’s
history—an exhibit that sets a new standard of delivering views to the
public—deserves a noteworthy celebration. Brevard Zoo’s Executive
Director Margo McKnight put on the kind of grand opening celebration for Expedition
Africa she thought most appropriate. “We did nothing but have Expedition
Africa ready for the public,” said Lisa Lauf, the zoo’s interim marketing
director. “What more could you want? Margo’s vision was, ‘Why
add more mayhem?’”
You
couldn’t add many more people. The zoo counted 2,085 people visiting this
Fourth of July, more than three times the 600-turnstile rotations recorded on
last year’s Independence Day. Through the weekend 7,070 people turned out,
straining the little zoo’s capabilities. When parking space ran out, volunteers
provided bus service from remote parking sites. Expedition Africa’s grand
opening garnered nearly blanket media coverage, Lauf said, including radio remotes,
a 12-page special section in the local paper, stories in newspaper and television
outlets from Orlando as well as the Space Coast, and wire service dissemination.“We
had people in from Naples, Tampa and Gainesville,” Lauf said. She also
had a huge stack of membership renewal forms on her desk.
The
big turnout from locals, at least, was expected because the Brevard County community
built this zoo and built the new exhibit. The official price tag for Expedition
Africa is $2.5 million, but the zoo estimates it received another $2.5 million
worth of donated skills, supplies and labor. Community volunteers helped rebuild
the Cape to Cairo Express train, dig the trench for the Nyami Nyami River,
and construct the boardwalk and Savanna Overlook. Don’t, however, mistake
“community build” for cheap; what Brevard Zoo has delivered with Expedition
Africa would cost some zoos $10 million to $30 million to emulate.
The
animals—five reticulated and Masai giraffes, two white rhinos, five species
of antelopes and nine species of birds, including ostrich—roam a single
exhibit space, the combination of species providing constantly varying movement
and color in the 10-acre expanse. Guests have a choice of three vantage points
to see the exhibit. They can walk over the Baobab Bridge past artist Roger Naumann’s
baobab tree and on an elevated boardwalk to a 9-foot (2.7-meter) overlook of
the exhibit. They can take the Cape to Cairo Express train to a different
part of the exhibit. And, in a revolutionary concept for zoo viewing, they can
kayak.
Tours
of up to five, two-passenger kayaks float around the exhibit on the Nyami Nyami
River, with up to four tours running at one time. Guides kayak at the front
and rear of the fleet providing information on the exhibit. The kayaks are free
floating but kept away from the animals by a channel of terrestrial barriers
submerged in the 8-foot-deep (2-meter-deep) river disguised by water plants
and deadfall. The animals are kept away from the kayaks by virtue of their natural
disinterest in submerging themselves in water. At $5 per person, the exhibit’s
opening three-day weekend saw a total of 803 kayak trips, near capacity, Lauf
said.
Opening Expedition Africa to such resounding success should give Brevard Zoo cause to celebrate. For the community, being there is celebration enough.
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
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