Venue Description

If you are looking for elegance, comfort and somewhere a little different to hold a conference or function then the mansion house at Edinburgh Zoo is an ideal setting. With fully equipt conference facilities and extensive catering there is all one would need for a successful conference.

Proposals

Edinburgh Zoo's new multi-million pound chimpanzee enclosure, the Budongo Trail, will open to the public in May 2008. The enclosure, a £5.65m exhibit, features the world's largest climbing structure for chimpanzees and three state-of-the-art living ‘pods' that imitate their natural habitat.

The Budongo Trail, which incorporates interactive exhibits using touch, sound and smell to educate visitors about chimpanzee conservation, is set to be a highlight for over 600,000 visitors who come to the Zoo each year. The unique 1500m² enclosure gives the chimpanzees the choice of three living pods of varying degrees of temperature, light and humidity that represent different aspects of the chimpanzees' natural forest habitat, as well as the freedom to explore the world's largest ape climbing frame. Visitors will be able to view the chimpanzees up close from both indoor and outdoor viewing areas.

David Windmill, Chief Executive of The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) which owns Edinburgh Zoo, said:

"We are extremely proud of the Budongo Trail. We have been working towards this project for three years and we look forward to sharing with the public, the result of many months of dedicated planning, construction and installation to create this absolutely wonderful exhibit."

The Budongo Trail, which has been inspired by the RZSS funded chimpanzee research station in the Budongo Forest in Uganda, will also be used by behavioural researchers as a study base. It will fully open to the public on Thursday 1 May 2008.

Area/Location Description

Corstorphine Road

Disabled Access Information

Full disabled access