Hippo Lodges

Dearadh Zu has been supporting the West Midlands Safari Park as part of a multi-discipline team, which includes, Ecologists, Interior Designers, Architects, Animal Curators, PM and the safari parks creative team.

This phase of the Safari Lodges will ‘stitch’ together the last five years of development at the parks, such as the development of the Giraffe and Rhino lodges and the Tigers, Elephants, and Cheetah lodges. It will create a walking safari trail around the park for visitors to enjoy. Our involvement has been in developing the landscape-led master plan proposals and detailed landscape design for this latest phase of work.

The development will contain four new luxurious themed African lodges, offering breathtaking views of the hippos within their new 3000m2 grassland habitat, new animal housing facilities and visitor viewing opportunities.

Client
West Midlands Safari Park

Location
Kidderminster, UK

Year
2023 - 2024

Project Team
WMSP team / Newman Gauge / Dearadh Zu / Painter Architects

Dearadh Zu’s Role

Concept Design supporting the zoo’s in house Creative designer
Stakeholder Engagement & Workshops
Landscape & Exhibit Design
Soft Landscape design
3D model / CGI Visualisations
Planning Application Support
Detailed Design
Production of Landscape tender packages
On-site support

PROJECT FEATURES

The project includes four lodges, which have been designed to provide views of the park's Hippo Pod as they leave the lake and make their way into their new grassland meadow habitat. These themed lodges will sit above a newly constructed water body and a mud wallow which provides other source of wallowing for the animals. In addition, two of the new African dog lodges will also gain views of the hippo habitat from their private external terraces, providing dual animal viewing.

The overall landscape has been designed to reflect the animal's wetland habitats; an extensive grassland area which features scattered Acacia trees, boulders, logs, and tall grasses will sweep down to the existing lake and provide the animals with new grazing opportunities, enhancing animal natural grazing behaviours.

A new larger animal house will be constructed as part of the scheme to improve the management of these species in captivity while improving keeper facilities. The new house will include a number of offshow stalls and a indoor pool for the animals to enjoy. The scheme will also include a dedicated keeper service yard.

Visitors on the Safari walking trail will witness the animals via a new covered wetland viewing structure, which provides unobstructed views of the animals as they lounge around on the beach, take a dip in the lake or graze the meadows. The hippos will still have access to the current lake and beach, which will be enhanced, providing improved water quality through the use of aerators and reed bed systems, which will also create new wetlands and marginal habitats for native species. Around the existing viewing area, new trees, scrub and grass planting will enhance the immersive quality of the space by screening surrounding attractions.