Zoo tour

Meg-T

Meg-T

Well-Known Member
Hi,

I am hoping to come across to America sometime next year and do a tour of some of the zoos there.

I will be there for about 2 weeks, so with traveling time I think about 7 or 8 zoos.

Which zoos/aqauriums/etc. do people suggest? I would like to see a wide range of animals, but particularly mammals which are not common in the UK.
 
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Here is a thread with my top 12 North American zoos:

http://www.zoochat.com/22/snowleopards-top-12-zoos-north-america-57773/
 
Remember, visiting the U.S. is not like visiting U.K. or Germany - it's like visiting all of Europe (in terms of size). Unless you want to spend half your time flying between cities, you will likely need to pick one or two regions. There are so many good zoos here, it's a tough call.

For lots of top-notch in one area, Florida is hard to beat. If you want unique desert wildlife of North America, Arizona (my state) could easily be combined with southern California in a driving tour. (San Diego is 6 hours driving time from Tucson or Phoenix, not counting rest breaks). San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park are both must sees, and could be combined with the very nice Aquarium Of The Pacific in Los Angeles area. The Living Desert, another nice desert zoo (with both local and african desert animals), is near Palm Springs on the freeway between Phoenix and Los Angeles (or near another freeway - 15 - that goes down to San Diego Wild Animal Park).

There are great zoos all over though. I think my all-time favorite is Northwest Trek in Washington state, which could be combined with Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and even with the Oregon Zoo in Portland.

I think the best advice is to read the guide book mentioned above and also to check ISIS for your favorite animals (the ones you don't have at home).
 
The midwest certainly has an abundance of great zoos. There is St. Louis and Kansas City Zoos in MO. Henry Doorly Zoo in NE. Minnesota Zoo in MN. Sedgwick County Zoo in KS. Ohio also has four great zoos (Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, and Columbus). The Detroit Zoo has one of the best exhibits in America (Arctic Ring of Life), and Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek, MI opened a new snow leopard exhibit and has a great African Savanna. Toss in the Indianapolis Zoo, and the Chicago area zoos and you have a full list of great zoos that are all within a few hours from each other if you drive across the Midwest.
 
I would suggest flying into NYC, and of course then go to the Bronx Zoo. You could go south from there to Philadelphia, Maryland Zoo, Baltimore Aquarium, and National Zoo. All of that is in pretty close proximity to each other, and the Maryland Zoo and Balt Aquarium(one of best in country) can be done in the same day. So that can actually be done in 4 days, but this is also the best site seeing area(at least in terms of cities) in the country, so you should spend more time there. You could eliminate everything here other than Bronx if you don't care that much about seeing the cities, because other than the Aquarium, none of the other establishments are great, all good though.

Otherwise as Arizona Docent said, San Diego is a must for it's zoo and animal park. Sea World is also great. Southern California is another of best places in the country to visit with it's great beaches, great weather, scenic drives, big and exciting cities, and tons of touristy things to do.

Unfortunately my plan only brings you to 3 of the top 10 or so zoos in the country and one of the best aquariums, however like I said, if you want to do see some great things other than zoos, this makes it a great combo.

Plus, there could be some more time to visit another area and its zoos. Maybe Florida, Chicago area, or as Black Rhino said, the Midwest offers a lot of very good zoos with Henry Doorly, St. Louis, Oklahoma, Kansas City, and Sedwick Park. I wouldn't classify Minnesota as being in this area, that's why I left it out.
 
BTW, I did just drive from SoCal to eastern PA in a 10 day trip which included 4 zoos(Omaha, KC, Lincoln Park, Columbus) and an aquarium(Shedd).

So stretch that to 14 days, and add more zoos and you could have something like this with the ones in bold more of a priority:

San Diego:
SDZOO
SDWAP

Arizona:
Phoenix
ADSM

Oklahoma City Zoo

Sedwick County Zoo

Kansas City Zoo

Henry Doorly Zoo

St. Louis Zoo

Chicago:

Brookfield Zoo
Shedd Aquarium
Lincoln Park

Detroit Zoo

Columbus Zoo

Bronx Zoo
 
What animals aren't common in the UK that you want to see?

And is there any other point besides zoos to this trip? Anything you want to see?
 
BlackRhino said:
St. Louis should most definitely be in bold. Two sets of exhibits that are brilliant.
Click to expand...

Well I haven't been there, but I left it out more because of it's location. It wouldn't make sense to go to both St. Louis and Omaha unless Chicago/Detroit is being skipped. And I would suggest Omaha out of those two. St. Louis Zoo may be better than going to some of the zoos in Chicago and Detroit, but Chicago does have Shedd and it's a great city to check out, I don't know if that matters to her though.
 
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