After receiving medical attention and being released from the hospital, Gino returned to Oregon, telling Lindi to do what she wanted to with the property! Nobody had to tell her twice.

Thatched huts surround the property to house many of the avian residents. The summer's heat is mitigated for the occupants of the huts with misters. Two toucans share a lengthy enclosure, allowing them to fly in safety. For the comfort of some of Lindi's flock, a former guesthouse was converted to "The Bird Room."

It was a tennis court
Before the Biggis purchased their desert retreat in 1994, Lindi thought they would wind up in San Diego, mainly because of her love of water. "Right," Lindi recalls, we were also going to buy a condo. Secretly, I think Gino thought if we had a small place, I would give up some of my pets." Clearly, that will never happen! While Gino and Lindi enjoyed having the rare grass tennis court in their desert home's backyard, they both admit that fewer and fewer people were using it. The Biggis identify a major improvement to the property each year and Lindi had her eye on the tennis court.

While many people dare to dream, Lindi Biggi dreams, and then turns visions into reality. "The main characters in my dream were the flamingoes. However, the African Turacos and the African Crown Crane were part of the image from Africa."
 
Tom Bass recalls receiving a call from Lindi in mid-2002. "I want to build a pond and have fish and flamingoes and I want to put it where the tennis court is." That, Bass recalls was the beginning of a most ambitious project. There were no architectural drawings and no official plans. "We kind of flew by the seat or our pants," Lindi recalls. In the heat of the desert summer, Lindi would convene a meeting of the staff every morning at 5:30 am. "At first we mapped things out with ropes and hoses. It wasn't unusual for us to move things three or four times.”

Michael Hamilton is responsible for the design and construction of the aviary, gazebo, docks and African Village. "It was a good team and everybody was easy to work with," Hamilton recalls. Randy Myers of Randy G. Myers nursery said, "I was called to find some clean palms for the island. "From there, it just evolved into us doing the landscaping." Myers and his partner found over 40 varieties of plants, including at least 7 varieties of aloe, the African fever tree and the mesquite. Myers pointed out that the water systems installed were very environmentally forward thinking and the irrigation plan itself involves wise water usage.The water in the ponds and the waterfalls is recycled. Irrigation of the plants, trees, and succulents are accomplished through Xerirratation by Rainbird. Each head on the individual bubblers can be turned off and the flow can be controlled allowing high usage foliage to receive more water, while others can receive less.

“”The water seeps in slower rather than running off horizontally. It saves water and prevents unnecessary evaporation,"
Myers noted.

There is a network of state-of –the-art equipment that filters, skims and cleanses the intricate ponds. Zen Aquatics created the design for the pond equipment in order to create an eco-system for the fish, fowl and system maintenance. Eventually, when a natural balance is established, chemical usage can be eliminated. Tons of sand was imported. At least two feet of depth was laid for the flamingo part of the pond to protect their sensitive feet.