African Journey (Fort Wayne, Indiana)

 zoo enclosure / exhibit  Add category

In September 2006, the zoo announced plans for its most ambitious project to date: A complete renovation of the 30- year-old African Veldt. The new exhibit, called the African Journey, includes African lions, hyenas, mongoose, and many other species never before exhibited at the zoo. The first phase of the exhibit, the Sky, Safari, opened in spring 2007. The Sky Safari replaced the popular zebra-striped Safari Ride as an important revenue source for the zoo.

The African Journey’s grand opening in 2009 brought unprecedented publicity to the zoo. Parents magazine named the zoo one of the nation’s “Top Ten Zoos for Kids.” More than 613,000 people visited the zoo in 2009, far outpacing the previous record of 540,000 guests in 1994. Bill the lion, the giraffe feeding station, and a set of African drums quickly became visitor favorites in the African Journey.

Source: kidszoo.org/about-the-zoo/history/