grandelover1
Well-Known Member
So, today I visited the Cincinnati Zoo for the first time in almost 3 years. I have always been very fond of the zoo, and it’s my first time coming alone because I just got my drivers license!!
The entrance itself is quite unique. You have to walk into this tallish building and either take the stairs, elevator, or escalator to the top floor. When you’re there you have to walk a bridge that overpasses a road below. When you cross the entrance is right ahead of you and the tickets are to the right. When you walk through the entrance line you walk into the main plaza. The plaza is filled with shops and kiosks of all sorts. Immediately after you come down the stairs, right in front of you is a Red Crowned Crane exhibit. Per usual the cranes were no where to be seen.
After that I went to Elephant Reserve. There are two separate exhibits both of smaller size for Asian Elephants. The one holds two females and the other held a male and female pair. Last time I visited the females were all in one and the bull was alone.
The Discovery Forest was the next stop. There was one Blue and Gold Macaw, a sloth, and some sort of snake in a terrarium. This exhibit is heavily lush and has many different kinds of tropical mist and honestly it’s kind of a waste of the such a beautiful area, it’s not educational and I feel there could be more exhibits for plants, animals, and the Amazon.
After that I made my way to the African region. The first stop was Giraffe Ridge, home to Masai Giraffe. When I was on the deck I could see at least 5 giraffes, one for sure being Cora. After that was the first of two Greater Flamingo exhibits. It was small and held about 6-7 flamingos. When you are passing to go to the next exhibit you pass a small fenced in area called Animal Encoutner. They rotate what species are in there and when I was there, there were a few flamingos in with the educator. Then I came up on the African Lion exhibit. I was only able to see four lionesses. Afterwards we went to the African Savanna and tbh it was quite dead. There were two impala, a singular White-bearded wildebeest, Pink Backed pelicans, Lappet-Faced Vulture, and two Crowned Cranes, and well apparently two baby bunnies in the exhibit. I then went to the Meerkat exhibit which was rather large. The meerkats were really playful and were jumping on the bubble you can go in to view them. The first viewing area of the African Painted Dogs was bare of any dogs. And then you when I passed the other viewing spot waiting to see Fiona, about 11 of the Painted Dogs were frolicking around in their stream and play-fighting each other. Finally, after an hour of wait i approached the Hippopotamus exhibit and... I saw Fiona!! She was so cute and was hiding behind Bibi. They were sleeping in the water. I wasn’t able to get any good pictures of them. The keeper told me Henry was inside because they heard he was a bit aggressive to Fiona. The acclamation is still going on between the family. Before exiting Africa I passed by the savanna one last time and the ostriches were out, and then I viewed the Cheetahs. They were no shows
. Overall the Africa region was very beautiful and had an amazing amount of species in it and is also immersive.
After that i went by the Kea Aviary not expecting to see any Kea, and to my astonishment I saw a kea!! And then I went into Wings of The World. This is one of my favorite exhibits in the entire place! The first one exhibit was a South American Rainforest. It had a tank for Mata Mata turtles first. The “Aviary” itself had a very friendly Sunbittern who tightroped across the glass of the mata mata exhibit. And in the distance I saw a Golden Conure, Blue Grey Tanager, and another type of bird I was not able to make out. When I looked up into the canopy above I saw a pair of Scarlet Ibises. And then all of the sudden, two Boat-Billed Herons came flying at each other and were fighting in one of the trees. The next exhibit was for Southeast Asian birds. As soon as I walked in a White-Rumped Shama was whistling a beautiful song above the path. There weren’t many birds in the Aviary other than a lapwing that scurried off into the foliage and a Victoria’s Crowned Pigeon who was creeping around a bush. After that there were 3 aviaries in a row, in 2 I couldn’t find any birds, but in what I assume is Grassland Aviary, I saw a 2 Guiras and a Buff-Breasted Bustard. After that I went down a narrow hallway where two exhibits were in the wall. One was for Canaries and Southern Red Bishops and the other was for Gouldian Finches. Then there was 2 exhibits for arctc shorebirds like Horned Puffins, Crested and Whiskered Auklets, and Pigeon Guillemots. Then my personal favorite the penguin Exhibit! There were Magellanic, King, and Rockhopper Penguins swimming about. There was a Black-Faced Ibis perched on a rock as well as two Inca Terns fluttering around the exhibit and put on quite the show. After exiting the building there is an exhibit which I believe was home to a hornbill species but now holds Chestnut-Breasted Malkoha. I LOVE this building a lot its great way to feel like you are birding and seeing this animals in a natural habitat.
Walking down a curved path leads you to three Bear grottoes and Lords of the Arctic. The first exhibit was for Andean Bears. There was one who walked across the exhibit and laid down. The next was for American Black Bear who were laying behind a log. And then the next one was surprisingly the most active, polar bears. They had ice as enrichment in their exhibit as it was edging 100 degrees XD. The first part of the exhibit is a grotto which one polar bear, Anana, was sitting on a log eating ice. And the second half is underwater viewing and the other polar bear(unsure of name) was swimming. Directly beside the underwater viewing is an exhibit for Arctic Foxes. I saw one, the others must of been hiding or very well camouflaged. Overall this section is on of the worst in the zoo. The amount of mock rock is overwhelming. And I’m definitely not a fan of old style grotto exhibits.
This review will be in 4-5 pieces and the others will come later. Pictures will be up later tonight.
The entrance itself is quite unique. You have to walk into this tallish building and either take the stairs, elevator, or escalator to the top floor. When you’re there you have to walk a bridge that overpasses a road below. When you cross the entrance is right ahead of you and the tickets are to the right. When you walk through the entrance line you walk into the main plaza. The plaza is filled with shops and kiosks of all sorts. Immediately after you come down the stairs, right in front of you is a Red Crowned Crane exhibit. Per usual the cranes were no where to be seen.
After that I went to Elephant Reserve. There are two separate exhibits both of smaller size for Asian Elephants. The one holds two females and the other held a male and female pair. Last time I visited the females were all in one and the bull was alone.
The Discovery Forest was the next stop. There was one Blue and Gold Macaw, a sloth, and some sort of snake in a terrarium. This exhibit is heavily lush and has many different kinds of tropical mist and honestly it’s kind of a waste of the such a beautiful area, it’s not educational and I feel there could be more exhibits for plants, animals, and the Amazon.
After that I made my way to the African region. The first stop was Giraffe Ridge, home to Masai Giraffe. When I was on the deck I could see at least 5 giraffes, one for sure being Cora. After that was the first of two Greater Flamingo exhibits. It was small and held about 6-7 flamingos. When you are passing to go to the next exhibit you pass a small fenced in area called Animal Encoutner. They rotate what species are in there and when I was there, there were a few flamingos in with the educator. Then I came up on the African Lion exhibit. I was only able to see four lionesses. Afterwards we went to the African Savanna and tbh it was quite dead. There were two impala, a singular White-bearded wildebeest, Pink Backed pelicans, Lappet-Faced Vulture, and two Crowned Cranes, and well apparently two baby bunnies in the exhibit. I then went to the Meerkat exhibit which was rather large. The meerkats were really playful and were jumping on the bubble you can go in to view them. The first viewing area of the African Painted Dogs was bare of any dogs. And then you when I passed the other viewing spot waiting to see Fiona, about 11 of the Painted Dogs were frolicking around in their stream and play-fighting each other. Finally, after an hour of wait i approached the Hippopotamus exhibit and... I saw Fiona!! She was so cute and was hiding behind Bibi. They were sleeping in the water. I wasn’t able to get any good pictures of them. The keeper told me Henry was inside because they heard he was a bit aggressive to Fiona. The acclamation is still going on between the family. Before exiting Africa I passed by the savanna one last time and the ostriches were out, and then I viewed the Cheetahs. They were no shows
. Overall the Africa region was very beautiful and had an amazing amount of species in it and is also immersive.After that i went by the Kea Aviary not expecting to see any Kea, and to my astonishment I saw a kea!! And then I went into Wings of The World. This is one of my favorite exhibits in the entire place! The first one exhibit was a South American Rainforest. It had a tank for Mata Mata turtles first. The “Aviary” itself had a very friendly Sunbittern who tightroped across the glass of the mata mata exhibit. And in the distance I saw a Golden Conure, Blue Grey Tanager, and another type of bird I was not able to make out. When I looked up into the canopy above I saw a pair of Scarlet Ibises. And then all of the sudden, two Boat-Billed Herons came flying at each other and were fighting in one of the trees. The next exhibit was for Southeast Asian birds. As soon as I walked in a White-Rumped Shama was whistling a beautiful song above the path. There weren’t many birds in the Aviary other than a lapwing that scurried off into the foliage and a Victoria’s Crowned Pigeon who was creeping around a bush. After that there were 3 aviaries in a row, in 2 I couldn’t find any birds, but in what I assume is Grassland Aviary, I saw a 2 Guiras and a Buff-Breasted Bustard. After that I went down a narrow hallway where two exhibits were in the wall. One was for Canaries and Southern Red Bishops and the other was for Gouldian Finches. Then there was 2 exhibits for arctc shorebirds like Horned Puffins, Crested and Whiskered Auklets, and Pigeon Guillemots. Then my personal favorite the penguin Exhibit! There were Magellanic, King, and Rockhopper Penguins swimming about. There was a Black-Faced Ibis perched on a rock as well as two Inca Terns fluttering around the exhibit and put on quite the show. After exiting the building there is an exhibit which I believe was home to a hornbill species but now holds Chestnut-Breasted Malkoha. I LOVE this building a lot its great way to feel like you are birding and seeing this animals in a natural habitat.
Walking down a curved path leads you to three Bear grottoes and Lords of the Arctic. The first exhibit was for Andean Bears. There was one who walked across the exhibit and laid down. The next was for American Black Bear who were laying behind a log. And then the next one was surprisingly the most active, polar bears. They had ice as enrichment in their exhibit as it was edging 100 degrees XD. The first part of the exhibit is a grotto which one polar bear, Anana, was sitting on a log eating ice. And the second half is underwater viewing and the other polar bear(unsure of name) was swimming. Directly beside the underwater viewing is an exhibit for Arctic Foxes. I saw one, the others must of been hiding or very well camouflaged. Overall this section is on of the worst in the zoo. The amount of mock rock is overwhelming. And I’m definitely not a fan of old style grotto exhibits.
This review will be in 4-5 pieces and the others will come later. Pictures will be up later tonight.
