Kirindy Forest

A stunning new mixed species exhibit opened on the 26th November  at our wildlife park in Jersey will give visitors a unique insight into the work being undertaken by the Trust in Madagascar’s dry forest region.

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Kirindy Forest now occupies the Walled Garden, previously home to our ever popular meerkats who have now been happily relocated to Discovery Desert. Designed by our own staff, the new exhibit showcases a variety of animals found in and around the Menabe dry western forest of Madagascar, between the Morondava and Tsiribihina rivers.

As an immersion experience, visitors can now spend time sitting on the benches and seating stones around the forest, watching the birds as they fly overhead or the lemurs at play and enjoying a true taste of Madagascar.

Kirindy Forest was the third and final exciting new development opened in 2009, celebrating our 50th anniversary. Our Landscape, Maintenance and Animal departments have all worked extremely closely with our team out in the field, in order to accurately mirror Kirindy Forest; its animals, trees, plants and buildings, right down to the paint colours used.

Our pair of red-fronted brown lemurs, four ring-tailed lemurs, a pair of giant jumping rats, four narrow-striped mongooses and an aye-aye will now be found in Kirindy Forest. One of the features will be a brand new walk-through aviary where you’ll find the white-faced whistling-duck, white-backed duck, Madagascar teal, hottentot teal, hamerkop – builder of one of the world’s largest nests - Madagascar crested ibis, black-winged stilt, Madagascar turtle dove and the Madagascar fody.

Durrell first became involved in the Kirindy Forest in 1985 making this area one of the Trust’s longest field projects. Monitoring work has been carried out on the narrow-striped mongoose, flat-tailed tortoise and giant jumping rat, as well as studies on the nearby Lake Bedo, which is an important wetland habitat and home to the extremely rare Madagascar teal.

Our Madagascan team is working hard to reduce the threats, including slash and burn agriculture, charcoal production and deforestation, faced by these endangered animals. The Trust’s work also includes efforts to encourage local communities to adopt sustainable practices that will better protect the natural environments they live in.

Durrell was instrumental in getting a Ramsar designation for Lake Bedo, as a special wetlands site, and has worked closely with the government on the creation of a new protected area for the whole region, including the remaining dry forests.

With 2009 being such a busy year for the teams based at our Jersey headquarters, Kirindy Forest has been a collaborative project, with special thanks going to Geomarine Civil Engineering, Pentagon Builder's Merchant, Tony Marett, Granite Products, Barette Plant Hire, Ian Murray Tiling, Bob Binet, the Paint Pot Colour Centre and DMV Plumbing and many other suppliers and tradesmen.

A large time capsule, kindly sponsored by MyMemory and James Le Sueur of JLS Fabrications,  will also be buried in Kirindy Forest this Thursday. The capsule contains a number of key items marking the 50th anniversary year, including a letter from Honorary Director, Dr Lee Durrell. Head of Marketing, Kelly Barker, spoke of its significance, "In 1988 we buried a time capsule in the grounds of Les Augrès Manor, containing an inspirational letter from Gerald Durrell. Over twenty years on, we are repeating this magical moment to include details of our 50th anniversary activities. We hope that those who open this capsule in many years to come feel as motivated and passionate about conservation as the staff and friends of Durrell do in 2009."

Kirindy Forest  was officially opened on Thursday 26th November at 2:00pm – 3:30pm by Jeremy Mallinson, Gerald Durrell's right-hand man.

Videos

	Leaping lemurs at Durrell Date added: 19 March 2010
	Durrells new exhibit takes shape Date added: 19 March 2010

Pictures

The opening of Kirindy Forest »  A stunning new mixed species exhibit opened on the 26th November  at our wildlife park in Jersey will give visitors a unique insight into the work being undertaken by the Trust in Madagascar’s dry forest region.   Lemurs being introduced to Kirindy Forest »  View images of our ring-tailed & red-fronted brown lemurs being introduced their new habitat.