You Can Reach Great Heights Visiting the Bristol Zoo

By Lucy Parkinson 

Bristol, UK - A new aerial adventure course around Bristol Zoo Gardens will officially open on Monday (June 29, 2009).

The activity course, called ZooRopia, gives visitors the unique opportunity to swing alongside some of the Zoo’s most popular inhabitants – gibbons, gorillas and lemurs.

ZooRopia takes participants on a thrilling course around the centre of the Zoo, traversing 17 sections themed around tree-dwelling animals. This includes the red panda clamber, the lemur leap, the gibbon swing, the orangudangle and the gorilla gangway. The course finishes with a zip wire onto the Zoo’s main lawn.

It is the first ropes course in Europe that is accessible to children as young as five and set within a zoo.

Alex Page, head of commercial operations at Bristol Zoo Gardens, said: “ZooRopia is the result of months of hard work by a lot of people so it’s great to see it open now; I’ve had a go myself and its fantastic fun. It gives visitors of all ages the chance to swing next to some of our most popular primates while enjoying a great birds’ eye view of the animals and the Zoo grounds.”

ZooRopia is up to 5m (16ft) high and participants use an innovative, continuous belay system so that, once fastened into a harness by an instructor, the adventurer remains secured to a rope and completely safe at all times. It also gives participants the ability to move freely and at their own speed.

Rod Baber, managing director of Head 4 Heights, the company operating the new ropes course, said: “ZooRopia at Bristol Zoo is the first ropes course of its kind to date. It offers a fantastic opportunity for young and old alike to experience moving around like primates in a totally safe environment – after all, millions of years ago our ancestors came down from the trees, now we all have a chance to go back up again!”

ZooRopia is suitable for visitors aged five and over, there is no maximum age limit. Participants must be over 1.1 meters tall. ZooRopia is designed so that adults and children alike can take part (charges and restrictions will apply). The course will be staffed by trained instructors at all times.

Bristol Zoo Gardens

· Bristol Zoo Gardens is open from 9am every day except Christmas Day.

· The Zoo is an Education and Conservation Charity and relies on the income from visitors to support its work. The Zoo is involved with more than 100 co-ordinated breeding programmes for threatened wildlife species.

· Bristol Zoo Gardens employs 140 full and part-time staff to care for the animals and run a successful visitor attraction and to support its conservation and education work.

· Bristol Zoo Gardens supports – through finance and skill sharing - over 10 projects in the UK and abroad that conserve and protect some of the world’s most endangered species.

· Bristol Zoo Gardens is a member of the British and Irish Association of zoos and Aquariums. BIAZA represents more than 90 member collections and promotes the values of good zoos and aquariums.

ZooRopia

· ZooRopia is a permanent addition to the Zoo.

· There is a secondary charge for Zoo visitors wishing to take part.

· ZooRopia is now open every day until 1st November, and every weekend, school holiday & Bank Holiday during the winter months.

· Children must be aged five or over to take part, and over 1.1m tall.

· Parents/carers can also take part in the activity, or children can complete the course alone. There must always be at least one guardian/supervisor at the start and end of the activity

· Adults can also take part in ZooRopia. The upper weight limit for participants is 18 stone.

· Specific dates can be arranged for less able-bodied visitors who will be taken round the course with an instructor on a ratio of 1:1 (no additional charge for 1:1 ratio).

· ZooRopia conforms to the European Standard: 15567 for “Artificial Climbing Structures”. 

Head 4 Heights

· Head 4 Heights is the name of the company operating the Zoo’s new ropes course.

· Head 4 Heights is the fastest growing private educational aerial adventure centre working with schools, charities, birthday groups, the public sector, stag and hens parties.

· Head 4 Heights is contracted worldwide for consultancy and training on ropes courses.

· ZooRopia will be installed by RCD (Ropes Course Development), the founder of the European ropes course industry.

· RCD has more than 500 ropes courses in 20 countries around the world.

· RCD has more than 2 million people using its facilities annually with an unblemished safety record

· RCD has been instrumental in the formation of the new prEN:15567 for Ropes Courses.

· RCD advise the HSE on ropes course related matters

· For more information visit www.head4heights.net or www.rcd.co.uk

To view Bristol Zoo's web page on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor, go to: http://www.zandavisitor.com/forumtopicdetail-719-Bristol_Zoo_Gardens