Asian Adventure – where East meets West.

We’ve bought the East to West Wales with the launch of our new Asian Adventure exhibit – a brand new four-acre animal attraction, home to animals and habitats from the Far East.

This purpose-built £500,000 enclosure will home some of our existing Asian animals and also some brand new arrivals!

New to our zoo family is a pack of endangered Asian wild dogs called dholes and a series of birds including white naped cranes, great white pelicans, red crested pochard, mandarin and marbled teal ducks.

Our new Asian wild dogs – otherwise known as dholes.

Asian Adventure will also be a new home for our existing residents including the Chinese muntjac deer, Asian leopard cats and a breeding pair of red pandas, Lotus and Baika.

Part of a European endangered species breeding programme for red pandas, Lotus and Baika arrived at Folly Farm in September 2018 and have been living in a temporary enclosure while Asian Adventure was under construction. It’s hoped the pitter patter of baby red panda paws won’t be far off once they’ve settled into their new enclosure.

Lotus and Baika, our breeding pair of red panda have moved into their new home.

[Pullout] “The launch of Asian Adventure is the culmination of a huge amount of hard work and dedication.

“The whole enclosure will take you on a journey through the habitats found in the Far East and by theming and replicating these environments, we’ve recreated a serene ambience that will hopefully add some zen to your Folly Farm visit.

“Significant research has gone into the design and development. We’ve included models of local fish markets, traditional music and replicated a typical national park.” – Tim Morphew, zoo curator, Folly Farm. [/Pullout]

[InsertVideo video=https://www.youtube.com/embed/8dD46-miKZU?rel=0 fullscreen=true]

Along with the new animals, four new habitats have been created and two have been upgraded to the highest standard. Replicating their natural habitats, these include bespoke climbing frames, ponds, caves to shelter from the sunshine and (more commonly) rain as well as trees and plants indigenous to the area such as silver birch and acers.

Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Lord Elis-Thomas, said:

[Pullout] “This is yet another exciting development for Folly Farm, the team are to be congratulated for refreshing and improving what the attraction has to offer its visitors – and this is one of the reasons why Folly Farm is one of Wales’ top paying attractions.  I’m sure that the Asian Adventure will be a big hit with visitors this summer and wish the team a successful summer.” [/Pullout]

Sybil and Basil, our white naped cranes.

Conservation partner

Our conservation partner for this enclosure is the Red Panda Network. We’ve already donated £2,000, which employs a dedicated person to look after the red pandas in Nepal for a whole year. We’re proud to be sponsoring Menuka Bhattarai who was the Red Panda Network’s first ever female forest guardian.

So, when you visit Asian Adventure not only are you learning about the environment and culture in the Far East but also contributing to the care and conservation of these endangered species.

Menuka Bhattarai, our Forest Guardian, working to protect red pandas in the wild