Tulsa Zoo Opens the First Piece of African Wilds

Tulsa Zoo opened the first finished section of William S. Smith African Wilds on September 4, 2026. The permanent pathway to the giraffes, rhinos and other African species is open, and for the first time guests are walking through a piece of the complex the zoo has been building toward its centennial.

What is open is a path and the things along it: new restrooms, water refill stations, and Meerkat Market, a new concessions and retail stop. Two named buildings on that path are finished and standing, and neither is yet doing the job it was built for. Which is which matters, because a phased opening reads easily as a finished one.

Why the Meerkat Exhibit has no meerkats

Construction on the Helmerich Meerkat Exhibit is complete. The animals are not there. Tulsa Zoo is working through the federal permitting process required to house meerkats in the space, and the zoo says it hopes to welcome them in 2027. In the meantime the space holds several African bird species, so the exhibit is occupied even though its namesakes have not arrived.

The Hardesty Family Foundation Giraffe Encounter is the other building guests now walk past. It opens as part of the grand opening of African Wilds rather than now, and until then giraffe feedings continue where they have been all along, on the Mary K. Chapman Giraffe Experience deck.

What the seven acres will hold

William S. Smith African Wilds spans more than seven acres and is designed to resemble a backpacking journey through modern-day Africa. When it is finished it will house lions, African painted dogs, meerkats and African birds, introduce pygmy hippos to the collection, and bring back zebras, a guest favorite the zoo has been without for years.

The centerpiece is the Stephenson Family Foundation African Lion Habitat, and its numbers are the clearest picture of what the project is buying. The lions get a 20,000-square-foot outdoor space and a 2,000-square-foot climate-controlled day room, plus behind-the-scenes areas for animal care. Guests get multiple viewing portals built into the habitat, Tulsa Zoo’s first at-exhibit classroom, and after-hours views from the H.A. Chapman Event Lodge.

Other pieces already named and under construction include the ONEOK and Jim and Suzanne Kneale African Painted Dog Exhibit, the Adelson Family Walkthrough Aviary, the Zarrow Zebra Habitat with its H.A. and Mary K. Chapman Zebra Overlook, a vulture aviary, and the Stuart Family Foundation Meerkat Cave, a walk-through that exits near a window into the meerkat day room.

How it is being paid for

The City of Tulsa approved a $7.5 million investment in the project, and that allocation came with a condition: the zoo had to raise $2.5 million in private funding to unlock it. By the end of July 2026 it had. Construction was more than halfway complete at that point, and the zoo says it remains on track to finish in time for its centennial celebration in 2027. Naming opportunities are still open and fundraising continues.

Getting to this opening took a closure first. On August 17 the zoo shut the pathway running from the Aldabra tortoise exhibit to the giraffes and rhinos for roughly ten days, pausing giraffe feedings, so crews could replace the temporary route with the permanent one that is open now.

This is the same project ZooReviews covered at its groundbreaking, the largest in Tulsa Zoo history. The zoo is posting dated progress notes as work continues on its African Wilds construction updates page.