We all know that the attention of most people who visit Edinburgh Zoo falls on the pandas and the penguins, but now you can get a really good view of what the meerkats are up to as they have a new enclosure.
Edinburgh author Alexander McCall Smith was on hand to help them settle in to their new digs, by reading them a story from one of his books.
Born in Africa, McCall Smith is known for his bestselling series The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, which has sold over twenty million copies and translated into over forty languages and follows the adventures of Botswana’s first ever female detective – Precious Ramatswe. He has also written a children’s series about Precious as a child detective, with meerkats featuring in a number of the stories.
The dynamic new enclosure is located at the entrance to the Zoo and replaces the old sea lion enclosure. The Zoo’s group of meerkats have moved into their new digs, which features sanded areas for digging, large rock features, caves, heat pads and a meerkat house. Visitors can come face to face with the charismatic creatures with 20 metres of glass panelling running along the front.
As part of the redevelopment the front entrance now includes a large welcome plaza, with ‘where to go’ signage to allow visitors to orientate themselves before starting their day at the Zoo. Four large wooden meerkat benches featuring hand-crafted meerkat carvings, created by a local chainsaw artist Iain Chalmers take pride of place in the middle of the plaza.
Chris West, Chief Executive Officer for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which owns and operates Edinburgh Zoo, said:
“It was a great delight to be joined by Alexander McCall Smith for the grand opening of our new meerkat enclosure and welcome plaza. It seemed only fitting to have one of Edinburgh’s best-loved writers who specialises in African-themed stories to assist in launching Edinburgh Zoo’s newest enclosure.
“Meerkats are extremely charismatic and inquisitive animals, making them extremely popular with our visitors. They will even hold eye contact, which makes it hard not to love them. The new enclosure gives visitors an opportunity to see more of our family group as well as provide the meerkats themselves with a large natural enclosure to explore, while the welcome plaza offers visitors improved orientation signage as well as space for keeper talks and animal handling sessions.”
To celebrate the grand opening, Alexander McCall Smith read a selection of his works to VIP attendees of the opening ceremony, while visitors were treated to African music and African-themed face-painting at the front reception. This was followed by a private screening of Meerkats: The Movie at the Budongo Lecture Theatre, which was scripted by Alexander McCall Smith, created by BBC Films and The Weinstein Company, and narrated by the late Paul Newman. The feature length British wildlife docu-drama, which anthropomorphises the daily struggle of a clan of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert, follows the coming of age adventures of a young meerkat called Kolo.
Photos courtesy of Ivon Bartholomew for RZSS
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
