The kumbayah moment for the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's new African savanna is nearly here. The 43-acre Heart of Africa exhibit is set to open on Thursday after years of dreaming, imagining, planning and building. The most-hyped features so far might be the exhibit's size, camel rides and opportunities to feed the giraffes, but the real stars are the 165 exotic animals.

The kumbayah moment for the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium�s new African savanna is nearly here.

The 43-acre Heart of Africa exhibit is set to open on Thursday after years of dreaming, imagining, planning and building.

The most-hyped features so far might be the exhibit�s size, camel rides and opportunities to feed the giraffes, but the real stars are the 165 exotic animals.

Some species, such as giraffes and ostriches, are back at the zoo after a long hiatus. Others, such as lions, have been moved into the African exhibit from another spot on the grounds.

But most are new to Columbus and bringing excitement.

The wildebeest, for example, an antelope with an ox-like head and large horns, is a favorite of Doug Warmolts�, the zoo�s director of animal care.

�They�re like big puppies, really playful,� Warmolts said.

They�ll have plenty of room to play in the exhibit, the largest the zoo has ever built. About 80 percent of the area is a simulated savanna large enough for multiple herds to roam together.

More than one species will roam the grassland at the same time. Intermingling at various times will be six Grant�s zebras; seven wildebeests; five slender-horned gazelles; seven Thomson�s gazelles; five dama gazelles; and four greater kudu � a type of antelope with curlicue horns.

Also among the animals: 11 giraffes.

�There�s nothing better than seeing a herd of giraffes running,� zoo director Tom Stalf told the zoo board last week.

The giraffes include reticulated and Masai and come from other zoos as well as from the Columbus Zoo�s animal preserve, the Wilds, in Muskingum County.

The exhibit�s walkways, which run along its southern edge, are designed so visitors can see animals both at a distance, wandering the savanna, and close up. The savanna appears to be one long expanse, but it is broken up by �ha-ha moats� � narrow valleys in the landscape with fences deep in the moats that separate animal groups.

�The vista is going to be pretty amazing,� Warmolts said. �Those hidden barriers will be between the lions and the hoof stock, and between the savanna and the woods beyond. They�ll give the illusion of infinity.�

For close-up views, there�s a watering hole, a giraffe-feeding station, a restaurant overlooking the savanna and an African camp that will be half for humans and half for vervet monkeys, another animal new to Columbus.

The vervets came from zoos in South Africa, where they�re common, Warmolts said.

�They�re notorious for raiding camps and being rascals, so we�ll have a mock camp, and we�ll let them go in there and wreak havoc.�

Lions will be lured close to visitors with an abandoned plane that�s half in their habitat and half along the walkway. Warmolts said the plane�s wings will be air-conditioned so the lions will lie there to cool off.

Big birds will run through the savanna, too, including two saddle-billed storks brought in from the San Diego Zoo; 52 guinea fowl about the size of chickens that will travel as a flock; and 10 East African greycrowned cranes, an endangered species that can reach 4 feet tall.

None of the new animals has been plucked from the wild, Warmolts said. They�ve come from more than 13 zoos and four animal preserves, with many reserved for Columbus years ago, when planning for the exhibit began. The keepers have spent the past few weeks introducing the animals to their new home, taking them out separately and then together.

�It�s this ballet we�ve been going through, getting them used to each other,� he said. �Thursday will be the big kumbayah with everyone out there.�

kgray@dispatch.com

@reporterkathy