While visiting the Calgary Zoo, be sure to venture to Destination Africa and excite your senses at the African Savannah building. Experience the atmosphere of a village before you enter, and notice the African theme among the buildings, including lamp posts and lanterns, wooden fences, and the detailed exterior decoration of the buildings. It feels like you’ve jumped from Canada to the African continent - and this is all before going in to see the animals!

As you step into the building, take a moment to soak in the sights, the sounds, and of course the smells of the Savannah. On your left you’ll see the rock hyrax. Believe it or not, small modern hyraxes share numerous features with elephants, such as toenails, excellent hearing, sensitive pads on their feet, small tusks, good memory, high brain functions compared to other similar mammals, and the shape of some of their bones! To the right as you look down, you can see into the warthog exhibit; soon to be converted to a new species of hog.

In the summer when the south wall is open, you will see the spacious yard, with some of our largest animals roaming about. Before reaching them, follow the winding pathway to see some of Africa’s smaller species. See our African-crested porcupines and Meerkats, and to your right, a tortoise and two of the 24 different species of lapwing birds.

As you get to the bottom of the pathway, take in the large glass case on your left, but beware the faint-of-heart. Look in to see the Malagasy hognose snake. Look closely because hidden in the cave you might see our longest animal at the Zoo – the African rock python, which can be from 18 to 20 feet long!

As you walk around the Baobab tree, you will encounter the hippopotamuses and giraffes. The male hippo, Foggy (1965), is the oldest animal here at the Zoo and can be identified by his wonky front teeth. Sparky (1987) is the female. If they are out of the water and enjoying breakfast or lunch, stand back, because to mark his territory, a male hippo spins his tail while defecating to distribute his poop over the greatest possible area. If they are swimming, you will be able to sit and watch them as they gracefully move in the water. You may see some tilapia fish in the pool that feed on waste and so are there to clean up after the hippos in their 80,000-gallon pool. Don’t worry, they are in no danger of being eaten since hippos are herbivores.

Our giraffes have a new addition to their family, baby Richard, who was born November 15, 2006. As a newborn, Richard was already 6 feet, 4 inches tall! Richard’s mom, Mardi (1990), was born in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. The other giraffes are Richard’s dad, Tenga (1995), and Carrie (1993). Leaving the building to the right, you’ll pass by the warthog exhibit again, and possibly Foggy and Sparky enjoying sunbathing outdoors, but your African Savannah experience is not yet over. Can you think of an animal you’ve missed that is important to the Savannah? Take the outdoor path to the right and walk under the rock overpass and proceed past the rock outcropping. To your left, you will see our pride of lions. We have one male, Okonko, and three females.

Keep following the path, and pass the marabou stork and hooded vulture. At the end of the path is a gazebo where you can look out and see all of the animals on our African Savannah and sometimes, if you’re very lucky, you might meet a giraffe face to face. Grevy zebras and ostriches complete our multi-species exhibit and demonstrate how an ecosystem exists in the wild, and the inter-relationship between species. How many species can you spot in this yard?

Kelly is a recent public relations graduate from Algonquin College in Ottawa. She has experience in education and interpretation as a tour guide at the Canada Agriculture Museum and an honours degree in anthropology with an emphasis in education. Following a two-month internship in communications at the Calgary Zoo, Kelly is now their media relations advisor.