By Nangamso Mabindla
17 July 2007

THERE are exciting times ahead for the East London Zoo with Buffalo City allocating R1,3-million for the upgrading and improvement of one of the city’s prized possessions.

Talking about the planned upgrades, zoo curator, Nico Roux, said Buffalo City wished to create a zoo that could be rated with the best in the world.

"We are blessed with a natural setting that few zoos in the world are able to re-create," he said.

The money allocated for improvements was part of a master plan that aims to create an environment for further development.

"The master plan [will assist in making] the further developments in an organised manner," Roux said. "To implement the complete master plan we will need an amount of R280-million; realistically we will never receive that kind of funding in one go," he added.

A number of projects will begin during the next couple of months, Roux said. "The intention is to have most of these projects completed before December; but the project as set out in the master plan could be a five to 10 year project, we are not sure," Roux said.

The upgrades and improvements would take place in phases, he added, "as funding becomes available".

This year would see the improvements made to the existing facilities. "We are going to fix our animal enclosures and improve what we have." One such upgrade would be the building of dams for the duck pond.

New projects were being planned for next year, according to Roux. The master plan is to be presented to Buffalo City councillors and officials at the Nahoon Estuary Nature Reserve on Wednesday, 18 July.