The Craftsman’s House
A Thai house made entirely from wood
Near the wall of the Abbey, providing a genuine sanctuary dedicated to the elephant, a real Thai house, all in wood, the elegant roof on two levels and the columns supporting it rescued from a previous building that was destroyed by fire. There you can admire its numerous sculptures on various wooden supports, inspired above all by the elephant, which is a sacred animal in Asia. It reigns supreme in this place, away from the crowd, a peaceful atmosphere conducive to a little meditation. It is rewarding to take your time and admire the Craftsman’s House, in the details of its decor, and, with a little bit of imagination or reverie, you shouldn’t be surprised to see the saffron-coloured robe of a Buddhist monk appear.
Sinta and Gempa
Before leaving the Kingdom of Ganesha, the visitor will no doubt enter a new enclosure, in the form of a large annex to the Craftsman’s House, which of course has been created in the same architectural style. Since 2016 this has been home to a mating pair of orang-utans of the species native to the north of the large Indonesian island of Sumatra. Sinta, a female, and Gempa, a male, were selected by coordinators from EAZA (the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) to take part in a breeding programme (European Endangered Species Programme, or EEP) for this species. Sinta and Gempa live in a managed enclosure of over 1,100 m2 (including a grassy island of 950 m2).