Beersheba’s Midbarium: Israel’s newest zoo is unlike any other

The animals live in several interconnecting areas of different habitats for desert-adapted species from Israel and Africa, replicating their natural surroundings. The main habitats are Canyon, Arava (steppe), Oasis, and Savanna, connected by winding paths and bridges. In keeping with the “immersion school” of modern zoo design to involve as few fences as possible, the goal is to give visitors a feeling of actually entering into the habitat of animals.

Midbarium is called an experiential animal park because one of its main goals is to allow visitors to experience animals’ movements and behaviors. The first of its kind in the world, the park features 15 interactive experiences that enable visitors to “walk in the shoes” of the animal they’re observing to understand how they survive and thrive in desert habitats.

Besides seeing the animals much closer than in conventional zoos, via the interactive activities, a visitor can “see like a raptor,” ride up in an elevator to see the world from the same height as a giraffe, hunt like a crocodile, and navigate in the dark like a bat by echolocation.

Almost all the animals at the Midbarium are desert species, though many are not native to Israel. Some non-desert animals are holdovers from the old Beersheba Zoo, and some, like the hippos, come from other animal parks in the country. The hippos Chipopo and Shmolik had social problems in the Ramat Gan Safari park but are now happily adjusted to their Midbarium lake area. Another star attraction are three rare white lions, siblings who arrived from Hungary five years ago to the old Beersheba Zoo.

THE MAIN principle of the Beersheba Midbarium is that the interaction between visitors and the animals involves as few fences and barriers as possible, so that the visitors experience the animals as if they’re with them in their natural environment.

The Midbarium was designed by Dutch architect Erik van Vliet, the international authority on the design of modern zoos. He’s carried out the master planning of animal exhibits for 70 zoos in 36 countries.

“Do not show, make them feel,” is van Vliet’s motto wherever he consults. “Truly immersive wild animal experiences create memorable emotions,” he states.

The Midbarium was a particularly unique project for van Vliet. “This was a very different situation from what I normally encounter; it was an entirely new zoo,” he notes in a telephone interview from Amsterdam. “We wanted to show the beauty of the desert – it’s a much more beautiful habitat than many people think; it’s very much alive. The emphasis on the arid zones makes it unique as is its educational approach.”

Van Vliet says that his main challenge in the Beersheba animal park was designing habitats in an arid zone. “Normally,” he explains, “if you make a mistake in design, and an animal escapes, you realize you have to erect a more effective barrier or fence, which then needs to be hidden by foliage or vegetation to maintain the entire illusion. But you can’t do that in an arid zone zoo because the area is barren. So that was really a challenge.”

“This was a once-in-a-life-time opportunity!” exclaims landscape architect Lior Wolf, CEO of Zur Wolf Landscape Architects, the firm that designed the landscaping of the park. “Nothing like this had been done before,” he says.

“We worked with the architects and zoologists on how to plan the landscape – how the animals live, what their environment is like,” Wolf relates. “We first visited some of the parks in Holland, to see how the animals live, the spaces, how to start to work, what animals would be appropriate to accommodate. Eric van Vliet guided us all the way with his thoughts and his great experience.

“There’s no other place like the Midbarium. The idea was to educate people, to understand the animals and to love them. And to take care of animals facing extinction or that have been injured in the wild,” Wolf adds.

Something of an architectural marvel, the unique design of the Midbarium was carried out by Asaf Lerman Architects. The roof structure at the entrance to the park is an intricate concrete canopy which resembles a tent.

THE EXHIBITS serve as storytelling settings. Alongside each animal in the zoo is a QR (quick-response) code that links to an informational video. That might be fine for the adult visitors, but youngsters are enthralled by the park’s interactive experiences. The 15 innovative installations are the brainchild of Hata’asiya Group, or The Industry, a multi-disciplinary design and technology company based in Tel Aviv which specializes in conceptual spaces for visitor centers and museums.

“Our goal was to let the visitor get into the skin of the animal,” explains Yariv Gibli, co-CEO of Hata’asiya together with Amir Zehavi.

“We started from the realization that children don’t read signs. This is sad but true; they’re used to using their hands, not their reading skills. Kids are used to computer and video games and play stations. We didn’t want to give them more screens, so, we thought, ‘Let’s make them active, be physical; let them be the animals.’”

Following architect van Vliet’s slogan “Don’t show, make them feel,” the company developed interactive stations which allow participants to experience what the animal feels.

“This has been a collective mission, with several groups working together,” says Gibli, who relates that their process began by first working with zoologists, to learn the characteristics of the animals. “What are a snake’s movements in relation to the territory, for example. If the snake is bending and curling back and forth, we’re letting the participant feel these movements by copying the same movements.”

He explains: “These are advanced technologies, involving hidden cameras that pick up a person’s movements.”

For example, in one installation, at the top of the two-story enclosure for large birds of prey, you lie down on netting and become the raptor: You spot the prey, dive down, and grab the rabbit with your talons.

In the crocodile “game,” players master the art of ambushing prey, waiting patiently for the exact moment to capture animals just as they bend down to drink.

“Many of the animals were wounded or trapped in the wild, and are rehabilitated and can be released back into the wild. This really is a unique park in the world,” says Lavi, who says there are some 130 employees and volunteers who work at the compound.

“Most of our volunteers are retirees from Beersheba who work in the kitchens, take care of the animals, and also guide. The volunteers also include young people with special needs who carry out various tasks with the animals,” he says.■