New Israeli Interactive Zoo Allows Visitors to Experience How Animals’ Move and Act

On the outskirts of the ancient biblical desert city of Beersheba in Israel, is a brand-new sprawling animal theme park that is totally unique. This one-of-a-kind attraction, the Midbarium, is more of an immersive experience than a zoo, the Jerusalem Post reports. It allows visitors to feel like they are stepping into wildlife habitats and experiencing life through the eyes of an animal.

What is the Midbarium
The word Midbarium comes from the Hebrew word midbar, which means desert. The interactive zoo features four habitats: canyon, arava (steppe), oasis, and savannah, and houses 100 species of animals, including zebras, giraffes, hippopotami, eagles, meerkats, leopards, turtles, and three rare white lions. 

The lions, Flora, Fauna, and Marcus, Haaretz reports, lived at the Beersheba zoo for five years before it was converted into the Midbarium. Their albino coloring is a rare genetic phenomenon,Haaretz explains, citing the exhibit’s educational video. These lions have to  struggle to survive in nature because they can be easily seen at night.

Designing the Midbarium
The Midbarium is designed to be an immersive experience, the Jerusalem Post reports. Consequently, the gates and fences are camouflaged into the surroundings, allowing visitors to feel as if they are literally in the exhibit with the animals. 

This design facet is the brainchild of Erik van Vliet, a Dutch architect who has designed 70 zoos in 36 countries. Van Vliet tells the Jerusalem Post that, “Truly immersive wild animal experiences create memorable emotions.”He added that designing the Midbarium posed a unique challenge because of its desert theme.

“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.”

In addition to van Vliet, the Zur Wolf Landscape Architects firm and the farmed architect Asaf Lerman collaborated on designing the park. Ora Hacham Rafael of Zur Wolf Landscape Architects tells Haaretz how the firm recreated the canyon experience for the zoo’s eagles.

“The Canyon,” Rafael explains, “the place of the eagles in the zoo, simulates the rocks in the Timna area. The Savanna complexes have rock formations found in the African savannah. The artificial rocks were built using huge metal grids on which concrete is sprayed. An artist paints them to give them a natural look. Many people are involved in this – we plan it, a modeling company makes the rocks and an artist paints them.”

Near the zoo’s entrance is a delicate concrete pergola with a tent-like structure, in homage to the city’s biblical and nomadic history. The canopy, which was designed by Lerman, in partnership with structural engineer Rafael Bet, serves more than just a decorative purpose. It also cools the front of the zoo naturally. In addition to the pergola, more than 1,500 trees of all types also shade and cool the zoo. 

An experiential park
One of the most unique features of the Midbarium is its 15 interactive exhibits, designed for children by the design-and-tech company the Hata’asiya group, that allow visitors to step into the shoes of desert animals, the Jerusalem Post shares. 

“Our goal was to let the visitor get into the skin of the animal,” Yariv Gibli, the co-CEO of Hata’asiya tells Jerusalem Post. “We started from the realization that children don’t read signs…We didn’t want to give them more screens, so, we thought, ‘Let’s make them active, be physical; let them be the animals.’” 

ISRAEL21c lists the 15 exhibits that include: See Like a Raptor, Climb Like an Ibex, Sneak up Like a Leopard, Slither Like a Snake, Romp Like a Monkey, Ambush Like a Crocodile, and Navigate Like a Bat.

These exhibits are all hands-on and allow young guests to see the world through the eyes of the animals. For example, the Leopard exhibit challenges visitors to try to ambush prey without setting off alarms and the bat exhibit contains a maze that visitors need to navigate using echolocation.

More than just a Zoo
The Midbarium does more than allowing guests to see and experience life as animals. It also hosts a rehabilitation and veterinary clinic that provides services not just to the Midbarium residents, but also to the rest of the Negev’s wild inhabitants. 

Midbarium director Ziv Reshef, tells Haaretz that, ““We have endangered animals here, such as tigers, and injured animals – many birds without wings, and you can also see a deer and a wolf with three legs.”
“We received three pairs of eagles, some of them disabled,” Reshef adds. “For each pair, we designed a nesting area with room for up to seven pairs. Each cave has a camera that monitors their nesting and egg-laying. After rehabilitation, they are supposed to return to nature.” 

The idea behind the Midbarium is to educate people, to understand the animals, love them and to take care of animals facing extinction or that have been injured in the wild.