Tropical Oasis
20 January 2014
Set within the landscaped grounds of Crow Nest Park in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, Tropical Oasis takes visitors on an exciting journey through some of the world's most impressive natural habitats, including lush tropical rainforests, arid deserts and humid swamps. Visitors can explore an exciting tropical oasis of tumbling waterfalls, towering palm trees and exotic plants and animals.
The attraction is composed of five large glass houses, each one featuring its own unique habitat, home to a range of exotic plants and animals. There are a number of smaller sections which supplement the main houses too, including an aquarium, a reptile house and a nocturnal house.
There are some 84 different species on display at Tropical Oasis according to the most recent consensus.
Tropical Oasis was based very heavily on Tropical World, one of my local zoological collections. Everything from the species list and layout, to the exhibits and the signage, has been replicated in Tropical Oasis.
Before viewing this zoo, I strongly encourage people to view some photos of Tropical World on ZooChat, just to get a better understanding of what Tropical Oasis is meant to be. I know many people will probably liken it to the large indoor ecosystems that you can sometimes find at some of the major zoos, such as Lied Jungle at Henry Doorly Zoo or Burgers' Bush at Burgers Zoo, but Tropical World isn't really in the same league as those; it's an indoor ecosystem like them but on a much smaller scale. Tropical World was originally a small butterfly house which later got expanded to include other animals as well and I wanted to get that across with my rendition too.
Other comparable collections include Palms Tropical Oasis (which sadly closed - the name "Tropical Oasis" being a small tribute to it), Amazon World Zoo Park, Amazona Zoo, Amazonia, The Jungle, Living Rainforest, The Tropical Forest, Tropical Butterfly House and Tropiquaria.
