San Diego Zoo Why has Reptile Mesa at San Diego Zoo been bulldozed and bus tour question

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I just got back from the San Diego Zoo.

It appears that the reptile houses along Reptile Mesa and the outdoor exhibits there other than the Galapagos tortoise exhibits have been flattened from what I could see behind the fences. These seemed like perfectly functional exhibits so I was very surprised to find them gone

Do any of our San Diego ZooChatters know why Reptile Mesa was knocked down? Was the gharial exhibit taken out also (there haven't been gharials there for a long time but it still seemed like a nice exhibit)?

In the 15 years that I have been a member of the San Diego Zoological Society I have never taken the bus ride around the zoo. Do people on the bus ride get to see any animals or aspects of the exhibits that pedestrians don't? Is there any reason to take a bus tour at least once if you always see the zoo by foot, or am I not missing anything...any opinions will be appreciated.
 
David, haven't as yet heard exactly whats going on at Reptile Mesa.

As for the bus ride. It doesn't go anywhere visitors can't see, but if you sit on top you can see the exhibits from a different, elevated perspective. I usually try and take the bus when I'm there because it's a nice relaxing break.
 
Thanks for the input on the bus ride Ituri. It does look like a nice relaxing ride.

Re: reptile mesa, somebody had told me recently that these buildings were going to be remodeled, but the construction zone looked like a lot more than "remodeling" was going on.
 
For me personally, I always took the bus tour to kind of get the lay-of-the-land, then backtrack later on foot. And during the 1960s and 70s, one of the thrills was to watch the tour guide glide slices of bread for the various bears to catch, with great accuracy. Yogi and Boo-boo are names that come to mind. A practice, I'm sure, long done away with.
 
For ZooChatters, bus ride is a waste of time IMO. It has been over two decades since I have done it.

edit: I just thought of perhaps one reason to take it. Since the addition of Elephant Odyssey, the bus goes on a path behind the public area (eg backside of lion and jaguar exhibits) and is on the edge of the steep old hoostock exhibits off to the left that have been closed for years. Perhaps if you sit on the upper deck on the left side of the bus, you might get a good look at these off-exhibit ungulates?
 
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Arizona Docent said:
For ZooChatters, bus ride is a waste of time IMO. It has been over two decades since I have done it.

edit: I just thought of perhaps one reason to take it. Since the addition of Elephant Odyssey, the bus goes on a path behind the public area (eg backside of lion and jaguar exhibits) and is on the edge of the steep old hoostock exhibits off to the left that have been closed for years. Perhaps if you sit on the upper deck on the left side of the bus, you might get a good look at these off-exhibit ungulates?
Click to expand...

There's also some sort of jaguar exhibit or extension of the jaguar exhibit on top of the building between the two exhibits. I would like to see that.

But overall I agree, which is why I've never done the bus ride.
 
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