Thursday next week, the reconditioned Manila Zoo, closed three years ago next month because of environmental issues, is up for soft launching on December 30, in time for the sparkle of the approaching New Year.
The soft launching—restricted to a limited audience given its nature before the full blast opening—of the 5.5-hectare Zoological and Botanical Garden—will have the 1,300 construction workers and their families as VIPs (very important people) or nearly 8,000 people, according to Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso, who visited the area days earlier.
Domagoso had said before the public could enjoy the unique experience of touring the newly-renovated zoo, he wanted the families of around 1,300 construction workers to be the VIP guests during the soft opening “as a tribute to their hard work and ingenuity in creating a facility that is at par with the world’s best zoological and botanical gardens.”
The construction workers will have their day off and will bring their families to the soft opening, dubbed Family Day, Domagoso said, nearly three years after it was closed in January 2019 due to environmental issues.
The facility, a stone’s throw from the busy Roxas Blvd. fronting Manila Bay, is well-lighted and night visitors will be treated to the attractions of several dancing fountains and mini-falls around the zoo’s lagoon.
And it now has its own state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant.
Domagoso has ordered city officials to provide free food and drinks for the workers and their families so they would enjoy the fruits of their labor while spending quality time with their loved ones in the zoo.
“They will be the ones to open the zoo. It will be a family day. They are high-end, they worked hard to reconstruct the facility, reason they deserve the treatment,” Domagoso said in Tagalog.
The remodeled zoo, first opened in July 1959, features elevated viewing decks and pathways, animal museum, botanical and butterfly gardens, and a separate area for Filipino endemic animals.
The Manila City government earlier said it was starting a partnership with the Cebu Safari and Adventure Park for future exchanges of animals and medicines.
Domagoso, whose roots are from Antique, added the zoo in Cebu could supply Manila Zoo with wildlife since several species have been successfully breeding in the animal reservation in Carmen, Cebu.
The refurbished zoo will be a fulfillment of Domagoso’s dream of having a facility that can compete with the world-famous Singapore Zoo, which has been a favorite attraction among local and foreign tourists.
Having undergone no major renovation since it opened in July 1959, the new Manila Zoo now boasts of fresh and exciting facilities that include world-class animal enclosures—especially for Mali the elephant—that are surrounded by transparent glass where visitors can get up close to the animals.Elevated viewing decks around the enclosures are also in place.
There is also the Animal Museum, Botanical Garden, and the Butterfly Garden with its own viewing loft, and separate enclosures for Filipino endemic animals and birds.
The enclosures and facilities are intersected by wide, elevated pathways where visitors can see the animals and other sights while going around the zoo.
Amenities include clean, spacious restrooms with stalls for persons with disabilities, drinking fountains, souvenir shops, food stalls and a new parking area.
Benches are placed in strategic areas where visitors can take family pictures or group selfies, while additional benches are being put in place along the pathways so that people can take a rest and take additional pictures.
The Manila Zoological and Botanical Garden is home to about a thousand animals from 90 species as of April 2015.
Animals residing or have resided in Manila Zoo include a Bengali tiger, Malayan civet, monitor lizard and hippopotamus. Many of the animals of the zoo were born in captivity with three month-old juveniles recently born in April 2015.
It was home to Bertha—believed to be the world’s oldest hippopotamus—until her death at age 65 in 2017.
The zoo’s most famous resident is Mali, a 43-year-old Asian elephant which had been the subject of a campaign alleging animal cruelty. The campaign to free Mali, zoo resident since age 3, had drawn support from Philippine bishops, global pop stars and Nobel Laureate John Maxwell Coetzee.