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Bird sanctuary in Western Cape, South Africa

Birds of Eden

Birds of Eden

Key facts

inceptionDecember 15, 2005
instance ofzoo
countrySouth Africa
located in the administrative territorial entityGarden Route District Municipality
All data from the card 6
Date opening
2005-12-15
Location
Western Cape, South Africa
Land area
2.3 hectares (5.7 acres)
No. of animals
3000+
No. of species
280+
Website
www.birdsofeden.co.za

Birds of Eden is a free flight aviary and bird sanctuary, located in Kurland village near Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape, South Africa. The mesh dome of the sanctuary was built over 2.3 hectares (5.7 acres) of indigenous forest, and is up to 55 metres (180 ft) above ground level. 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) of walkways, about 75% of which are elevated, let visitors see the birds at all levels of the aviary.

Birds of Eden is one of the four Sanctuaries under The South African Animal Sanctuary Alliance (SAASA). As a member of SAASA Birds of Eden was honoured with four major tourism awards in 2014. The four awards are namely the Lilizela Tourism Visitor Experience of the Year Award at a 'Wildlife Encounters', the Skål International Sustainable Tourism Award, Overall winner of the World Responsible Tourism Award as well as the Gold Award in World Responsible Tourism in the category of 'Best Animal Welfare Initiative'.

It was the largest free flight aviary in the world from its opening in 2005 until 2026, when it was surpassed by the Deccan Birds Aviary in Hyderabad, India.

Facilities

Masts and mesh
Masts and mesh

The 2.3-hectare (5.7-acre) enclosure is covered 3.2 hectares (7.9 acres) of wire mesh resting on cables strung between 28 masts. The masts vary in length between 2 and 34 metres (6 ft 7 in and 111 ft 7 in) and at its highest point the mesh is 55 metres (180 ft) above the ground. The total weight of the wire mesh is about 80 tonnes, and it encloses a total volume of 375,372 cubic metres (13,256,100 cu ft).

Visitors can access the aviary through about 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) of walkways, about 75% of which are elevated to let them see the birds in all areas of the aviary. Visitors can tour the facility on their own, or take a guided tour.

The enclosure was built over indigenous forest and includes a natural gorge with a waterfall, and a 200-seat amphitheater.

Animals

A Blue-and-yellow macaw
A Blue-and-yellow macaw
Inside the aviary
Inside the aviary
Pink flamingo
Pink flamingo
Channel-billed toucan
Channel-billed toucan
Black-capped Conure
Black-capped Conure
Scarlet Ibis
Scarlet Ibis
6 images

In 2014 the sanctuary was home to about 3500 birds representing more than 200 species.

Read next

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Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source article