“Although we are trying to replicate Uganda and Kenya we are actually in Cheshire so the weather is slightly different,” admits Chester zoo boss, Jamie Christon, on a fresh and very grey Monday morning.
But ignore the chilliness and screw your eyes and you could well be transported to a sweeping African savannah where, one day, there will be giraffes, zebras, antelopes and ostriches roaming majestically side by side.
Christon is speaking at the launch of the UK’s biggest ever such zoo development – a £28m facility called Heart of Africa.
It covers just over 9 hectares (22.5 acres) and is home to 57 African species including vultures, rhinos, a colony of naked mole rats and 15,000 locusts.
More than 6,000 trees, shrubs, and grasses have been planted and the idea is to recreate a variety of grassland habitats. The possible star of the show is the 3.5-acre sandy, rocky savannah where a number of species will roam together, just as they would in the wild.
The zoo is taking things slowly. Sam Harley, a giraffe keeper, admits her charges have been less enthusiastic than the zebras about sharing paddock space.
But it’s early days and understandable. “Most of our giraffes were born here so the only other animals they had ever seen were the Congo buffalo across the road,” she said.
It’s also a bit cold for a giraffe, which is practically all muscle and no fat. Plus, they have a new state-of-the-art giraffe house heated to a constant 23C, so staying indoors has its attractions.
Christon said they would take things slowly. “It is difficult to know how the animals will mix and how they will get on with each other so we are just doing it really, really gradually making sure everyone is comfortable – the animals and the keeping staff.”
Over the past few weeks staff have been letting animals out together for short periods. “It’s baby steps. We want to make sure everyone’s happy and we are not putting any animals under pressure.”
Elsewhere, white-headed vultures seem content with the dead animal carcass breakfast they have been served. In other enclosures there is a flock of 107 flamingos, an aviary of black-cheeked lovebirds, Africa’s rarest species of lovebird, as well as meerkats, African wild dogs, aardvarks, yellow mongoose and dik-dik.
The zoo came up with the Heart of Africa concept in 2017 with the assumption that building would begin in 2020. The pandemic and resultant zoo closure for 208 days set them back. A spade finally got in the ground in November 2022 and work was completed at the end of last year.
Christon said one aim was to shine light on the biodiversity crisis in Africa and the work being done to save species.
“Some of these species are critically endangered in the wild and unfortunately their numbers are going the wrong way. So we are doing work here and we are doing work out in Uganda and Kenya.”
He hopes it honours the spirit of George Mottershead, who created the zoo in the 1930s. After being horrified by caged and chained animals he encountered in an amusement park in Manchester, Mottershead had the dream of creating a “zoo without bars”.
Today, Chester is the most visited zoo in the UK including 150,000 schoolchildren a year.
Christon said he understands that some people are opposed to even the concept of a zoo but for him it is all about conservation. He sees the project as a “symbol of our commitment to safeguarding wildlife across Africa”.
While the Heart of Africa project cost £28m, the aim was that it would increase visitor numbers by 200,000 a year and pay for itself. Crucially it should generate an extra £3m to spend on conservation, he said.
Mark Brayshaw, head of mammals at the zoo, believes the project will enrich the lives of the animals in the zoo’s care.
“It has been a huge undertaking and occupied a lot of our time,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve had any blood but there’s been a lot of sweat, maybe a few tears along the way.
“To finally get to the end is fantastic and a big relief but actually the real work starts now … there is plenty to keep us busy.”
