The giraffes are introduced to the specially-built wooden transport crates several weeks before the date of travel. This gives them time to get accustomed gradually - the giraffes enter and leave the crates at their free will. When the day comes, the crate doors are shut and the giraffes loaded onto lorries. In the same paddock as the giraffes are a colony of meerkats . Although their name suggests otherwise, they are in fact members of the mongoose family.
Meerkats are extremely social mammals, living in the wild in the Kalahari desert of Africa.
In an effort to make feeding time more interesting, some of the fruit is pressed into holes drilled out of a small wooden log. The meerkats spend time extracting the food, thus keeping them occupied for longer. The Greater kudu herd are dominated by a large male with very impressive spiralled horns. These African antelope can jump over eight foot high fences, so their enclosure is set below the public viewing area. This also gives a good view of the animals, allowing the visiting public to observe them from above.