Ok, back to part 2 of my Zoo adventures in past and present.

We went to the Zoo in Fuengirola with the kids, and it was really brilliant. They had gone to great lengths to make it very child friendly with lots of glass panes at floor level, aviary with birds running around freely and a HUGE playground next to a cafeteria. Ideal for the kids to get rid of some excess energy.

The zoo as a whole was so integrated and well thought out. But looking at their website, it appears that this a fairly new thing. In ‘98 it was your bog standard depressing zoo, but it all changed then. The only thing was the that the cafeteria food was a little boring. Chicken nuggets, fries, pizza, hot dogs and sandwiches. They rest of the zoo is so well thought out and wonderful that I thought they might put a bit more effort into the food and challenge the stereotype which is that children only want bland food. Anyway, a brilliant day and it appears that they are open until midnight in the summer. Wicked!

Here is some of the history of the zoo i nicked from their website:

History of the Zoo

In 1998 this small zoo, which had opened to the public in the 1970s, was in a pitiful state. Designed 30 years earlier as a traditional complex of cages and fenced enclosures, it had then expanded chaotically as the town itself developed. Both the physical appearance of the establishment and the living conditions of the animals left much to be desired.

In December 1998, Rain Forest took over the contract to operate the former site, conducting a radical refurbishment to create the first zoo fully designed in accordance with the very latest “full-immersion zoo” concept.

Taking advantage of the fine climate of the Costa del Sol, and bearing in mind the small size of the land available, one single ecosystem was chosen: the tropical forest.

The sub-tropical vegetation which grows on the coast of Malaga province served to re-create the tropical rainforests of Madagascar, Equatorial Africa and Southeast Asia.

A team of architects, builders, sculptors, painters and gardens set about making the visionary designs a reality,and over the course of two years the zoo’s appearance was completely transformed. All the fences and buildings disappeared, rivers and waterfalls sprang up, along with caves, valleys and rocks. The small size of the complex presented quite a challenge. Subterranean stables were built, deep canyons and raised gardens erected to screen off the nearby buildings. And so the zoo grew upwards, giving visitors the impression of being within a much larger site.

THE ANIMALS ARRIVE

One major step at this stage came when the first animals were introduced into their new environments. And without a doubt, the most significant of all was the arrival of the chimpanzees.

The zoo had kept, and even bred, these intelligent primates almost from the very outset, in unhealthy cages, on their own or in pairs. Over the years they had developed stereotypical and completely abnormal behavioural patterns, such as infanticide. Over a two-year period the keepers and veterinary staff at the zoo had succeeded in creating a more or less stable social unit with five of these six animals. On the day they emerged to explore their new territory, their life changed forever. For the first time they could walk on grass, touch plants, run, play hide-and-seek… For the first time they could behave like chimpanzees.