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BOISE — The newest addition to Zoo Boise was still a construction zone on Tuesday, encased in chain-link fence and echoing with the whir of power tools. But by July 17, when the exhibit is set to open, zoo officials say it will transport visitors to southeastern Africa.

The Gorongosa National Park Exhibit has been years in the making. Named for the famed park of the same name in Mozambique, the exhibit adds 2.5 acres and more than 20 new species to the zoo, including African wild dogs, a Nile crocodile and olive baboons.

“This isn’t going to be a 2-hour visit to the zoo anymore,” Doug Holloway, director of Boise Department of Parks and Recreation, told the Statesman.

Zoo Boise director Gene Peacock said the Gorongosa addition is a huge step toward modernizing the 103-year-old zoo. It’s also a step toward recovery for the Mozambique wildlife park, which was ravaged by civil war in the late 1970s and ‘80s.

GORONGOSA’S TIES TO BOISE