New Fog Playground Open at Zoo Osnabrück in Germany
(f.l.t.r.): Together, they break ground for the fog field and stream: Sebastian Benstein (Head of Business Operations at Osnabrück Zoo), Philipp Bruelheide (Zoo Director), Dr. E.h. Fritz Brickwedde (Zoo President), Antonius Fahnemann (Chairman of the Board of the Haarmann Foundation), Anna Kebschull (Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Sparkassen Foundation in the Osnabrück District), Katharina Pötter (Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Sparkasse Osnabrück Foundation), André Schüller (Chairman of the Board of Directors of both Sparkassen foundations), Johannes Busmann (Managing Director of Prowind), and Tobias Klumpe (Zoological Director). // Photo: Osnabrück Zoo
(eap) Osnabrück Zoo is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. As part of the anniversary celebrations, which reached their highlight last Saturday, the new 1,000-square-metre “Sparkassen-Auenlandschaft” area was inaugurated. In future, it is intended to offer visitors a place to cool down on hot summer days. “I am very pleased to open this area together with you – here, we are combining recreation, species conservation and state-of-the-art technology,” said Zoo Managing Director Philipp Bruelheide. “The fact that it could be realized in time for the zoo’s 90th anniversary is truly fantastic and was only made possible thanks to the extensive support of private donations, our sponsors and funding from foundations,” Bruelheide continued.
The floodplain landscape is being developed in several stages on the site of the former sea lion enclosure. “We planned the project in such a way that we could open relatively quickly and then, depending on available funding and donations, gradually expand the design and range of features within the landscape,” Bruelheide explained. The first construction phase has now opened an area which the zoo itself describes as “Germany’s first mist playground”. “With what is probably the world’s most powerful walk-through mist installation in a zoo, we are offering visitors a fantastic experience,” said the Managing Director.
Other leisure facilities, including Europa-Park and the Karls Erlebnis-Dörfer destinations, are also adding similar misting systems to their outdoor areas to provide guests with refreshment during the summer months.
Two companies played a key role in implementing the mist playground: Boymann, which was responsible for the landscaping and the stream, and Lang-Luftfeuchte, which supplied the misting system. A total of 300,000 euros was invested in the first construction phase. The project received financial support from the Stiftung der Sparkasse Osnabrück, the Stiftung der Sparkassen im Landkreis Osnabrück and through donations from Prowind GmbH. ■
