The kumbayah moment for the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s new African savanna is nearly here.

The 43-acre Heart of Africa exhibit is set to open on Thursday after years of dreaming, imagining, planning and building.

The most-hyped features so far might be the exhibit’s size, camel rides and opportunities to feed the giraffes, but the real stars are the 165 exotic animals.

Some species, such as giraffes and ostriches, are back at the zoo after a long hiatus. Others, such as lions, have been moved into the African exhibit from another spot on the grounds.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/05/19/zoos-heart-of-africa-exhibit-opens-on-thursday.html

The new exhibits look to be fantastic... And the Hagenbeck effect in the lion exhibit is one of the best probably since DAK's opening.

The region is definitely at hit with visitors: Saturday, the park drew 27,229 visitors, and on Sunday there were 30,791.

Also new this year at Zoombezi Bay, the zoo's waterpark, is Baboon Lagoon: A huge water fortress and activity pool complex that replaced the old Barracuda Bay (formerly Christopher's Island at Wyandot Lake)

Holy smokes... Look at these attendance numbers:

Today's final attendance is 29,795. That is 87,815 for the three-day weekend and 119,697 for the five days since Heart of Africa opened on May 22.

Went yesterday evening at 5PM to check it out. 5PM was a great time to go, a lot of the people were leaving for the day so Heart of Africa wasn't crowded. I saw that they had Memorial Tournament parking at the zoo as well... I'm not sure who thought that would be a good idea with Heart of Africa opening as well as one of the first weekends for Zoombezi Bay.

Area looked fantastic, but it was hard for me to tell if it was fully done. Looking through the cracks of some of the walls, I couldn't tell if they were continuing construction, or if it was simply where they construction equipment was parked. I'm not sure where that Cheetah picture was taken at, their enclosure seemed pretty small to me. The restaurant in Heart of Africa seemed to have really good prices for the zoo. It was $10 for an entree plus two sides. We also heard the male lion roar while we were there, that was really neat.

Also, it appears Dippin' Dots have taken over at the zoo. They had stands everywhere.

Went yesterday evening at 5PM to check it out. 5PM was a great time to go, a lot of the people were leaving for the day so Heart of Africa wasn't crowded. I saw that they had Memorial Tournament parking at the zoo as well... I'm not sure who thought that would be a good idea with Heart of Africa opening as well as one of the first weekends for Zoombezi Bay.

Area looked fantastic, but it was hard for me to tell if it was fully done. Looking through the cracks of some of the walls, I couldn't tell if they were continuing construction, or if it was simply where they construction equipment was parked. I'm not sure where that Cheetah picture was taken at, their enclosure seemed pretty small to me. The restaurant in Heart of Africa seemed to have really good prices for the zoo. It was $10 for an entree plus two sides. We also heard the male lion roar while we were there, that was really neat.

Also, it appears Dippin' Dots have taken over at the zoo. They had stands everywhere.

Construction is still ongoing for the special events center built along the savannah... it will open later this summer. The cheetahs are taken into the watering hole exhibit two (three?) times a day for their runs.

That's what I love about this exhibit, and why it will really shine even once the newness wears off: The watering hole veldt has different animals cycling in and out throughout the day.

Is the special events center the building at the back of the exhibit?

I would love to see the Cheetah's run, that would be cool.

Is the special events center the building at the back of the exhibit?

I would love to see the Cheetah's run, that would be cool.

The event center is on the far east side of the complex, past the Giraffe feeding area.