About trip to the San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Zoo celebrated itʼs centennial year in 2016. The Zoo, is 100 acres in size located in Balboa Park, which is adjacent to downtown San Diego, California.
The Zoo is well known for its naturalist habitats and unique animal encounters. It is home to more than 3,700 rare and endangered animals representing approximately 660 species and subspecies, and includes an extensive botanical collection.
For more in depth information about the Zoo please visit their website: zoo.sandiegozoo.org. The Zoo is a fantastic place to visit. Their vision to lead the fight against animal extinction is inspiring. They recommend you plan a minimum three to four hour visit.
My family and I recommend you book a room in the area and plan on spending two days. We were only able to spend nine and half hours there and barely saw a third of the Zoo.
We did see: a plethora of large cats (lions, tigers, jaguars, amur leopards, cheetahs, lynx); the polar bears; a large variety of song birds and ducks; flamingos; gazelles; tapers; the Tasmanian devils; a couple eagles (even though the eagle exhibit was closed during our visit…they were perched near the walking path); we managed to spot a giraffe family (mom, dad and baby) all nestled in next to each other.
Several monkey species are present on the grounds. It is always interesting to see how they watch us watching them.
A large group of us listened to the trainers educational demonstration and Q&A session, as they pampered an African elephant in the specially built elephant spa. I really enjoyed spending time with both the African and Asian elephants.
The animal on the top of my must-see list was the hippopotamus. It took a lot of patience but eventually we managed to catch a quick glimpse of it. The exhibit was continuously wall-to-wall people against the glass. I would say the hippopotamus exhibit seemed to be on the top of most visitor lists.
What, no Giant Pandas, you ask!?! No, unfortunately, we ran out of time. The Zoo was closing. We missed seeing the Pandas. This is the reason why we suggest you plan to spend two days at the Zoo!
I highly recommend visiting the San Diego Zoo. It is a wonderful way to spend quality time with your family and learn about the amazing animals with whom we share this beautiful planet.