The island that will form the gorillas’ outdoor space is a beautiful green oasis boasting a heated cave and rocks, a hill that provides a perfect gorilla vantage point and a scene-setting waterfall that cascades through the gorillas’ home and the public area. African plants will give the gorillas extra food to munch on if they want and trees and ropes offer a stimulating climbing environment.

The gorillas’ indoor day gym includes ropes to swing on, climbing walls all around and nesting baskets high up for them to snooze in. There is still some work to do to complete the public area including kitting out our field station, erecting a climbing pole for children and installing plasma screens to show visitors what’s going on in our field conservation programme in Gabon, Africa – not to mention giving the floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows a final clean before opening.