Help choose my 100th zoo

Arizona Docent

Arizona Docent

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I just updated my zoo list (posted below), adding the three I recently visited in Alaska. I am now up to 95 facilities visited since I started getting into zoo photography in 1990. Though I never was serious about racking up a certain amount, I recently decided I should make number 100 special. I have not put much thought into yet, but I will post my initial thoughts in a followup post and invite your ideas. In my list, each facility is followed by the city in lower case and the state abbreviation in upper case (if it is in the USA) or the country in upper case.

Zoos Fred Has Visited (1990 – present)
1. Alaska Sealife Center (Seward, AK)
2. Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (Portage, AK)
3. Alaska Zoo (Anchorage, AK)
4. Albuquerque Aquarium (Albuquerque, NM)
5. American International Rattlesnake Museum (Albuquerque, NM)
6. Aquarium Of The Pacific (Long Beach, CA)
7. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (Tucson, AZ)
8. Arnold’s Exotics (Okeechobee, FL)
9. Big Cat Rescue (Tampa, FL)
10. Brevard Zoo (Melbourne, FL)
11. Bronx Zoo (New York City, NY)
12. Busch Gardens (Tampa, FL)
13. Caldwell Zoo (Tyler, TX)
14. Cameron Park Zoo (Waco, TX)
15. Caribbean Gardens (Naples, FL)
16. Central Florida Zoo (Sanford, FL)
17. Chester Zoo (Chester, ENGLAND)
18. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (Colorado Springs, CO)
19. Cincinnati Zoo (Cincinnati, OH)
20. Columbus Zoo (Columbus, OH)
21. Dallas Zoo (Dallas, TX)
22. Denver Zoo (Denver, CO)
23. Disney’s Animal Kingdom (Lake Buena Vista, FL)
24. Douglas Wildlife Zoo (Douglas, AZ) – NOW CLOSED
25. Edinburgh Zoo (Edinburgh, SCOTLAND)
26. EFBC Feline Conservation Center (Rosamond, CA)
27. El Paso Zoo (El Paso, TX)
28. Flamingo Gardens (Miami, FL)
29. Florida Aquarium (Tampa, FL)
30. Fort Worth Zoo (Fort Worth, TX)
31. Fossil Rim Wildlife Ranch (Glen Rose, TX)
32. Fresno Chaffee Zoo (Fresno, CA)
33. Gilcrease Bird Sanctuary (Las Vegas, NV)
34. Gladys Porter Zoo (Brownsville, TX)
35. Great Cats World Park (Cave Junction, OR)
36. Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary (Prescott, AZ)
37. Highland Wildlife Park (Kincraig, SCOTLAND)
38. Houston Zoo (Houston, TX)
39. Howlett's Wild Animal Park (Canterbury, ENGLAND)
40. Indianapolis Zoo (Indianapolis, IN)
41. Keepers Of The Wild (Las Vegas, NV, then Valentine, AZ)
42. Langenberg Wildlife Park (Langnau am Albis, SWITZERLAND)
43. Le Menagerie – Jardin Des Plantes (Paris, FRANCE)
44. Le Parc Des Felins (Nesle, FRANCE)
45. Living Desert State Park (Carlsbad, NM)
46. London Zoo (London, ENGLAND)
47. Los Angeles Zoo (Los Angeles, CA)
48. Lowry Park Zoo (Tampa, FL)
49. Maryland Zoo (Baltimore, MD)
50. Memphis Zoo (Memphis, TN)
51. Minnesota Zoo (Apple Valley, MN)
52. Mirage Hotel – Secret Garden of Siegfried & Roy (Las Vegas, NV)
53. Out Of Africa (Fountain Hills, then Camp Verde, AZ)
54. Nashville Zoo (Nashville, TN)
55. National Zoo (Washington, DC)
56. Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch (New Braunfels, TX)
57. Newport Aquarium (Newport, KY)
58. Northcoast Marine Mammal Center (Crescent City, CA)
59. Northwest Trek (Eatonville, WA)
60. Palm Beach Zoo (West Palm Beach, FL)
61. Parq Zoologique Paris (Paris, FRANCE)
62. Payson Zoo (Payson, AZ) – NOW CLOSED
63. Philadelphia Zoo (Philadelphia, PA)
64. Phoenix Herpetological Society (Scottsdale, AZ)
65. Phoenix Zoo (Phoenix, AZ)
66. Port Lympne Wild Animal Park (Lympne, ENGLAND)
67. Project Survival Cat Haven (Dunlap, CA)
68. Rare Species Conservation Centre (Sandwich, ENGLAND)
69. Reid Park Zoo (Tucson, AZ)
70. Rio Grande Zoo (Albuquerque, NM)
71. Saint Louis Zoo (Saint Louis, MO)
72. San Antonio Zoo (San Antonio, TX)
73. San Diego Safari Park (San Pascual, CA)
74. San Diego Zoo (San Diego, CA)
75. Santa Ana Zoo (Santa Ana, CA)
76. Santa Barbara Zoo (Santa Barbara, CA)
77. Shambala Preserve (Acton, CA)
78. Sedgwick County Zoo (Wichita, KS)
79. Southern Nevada Zoo (Las Vegas, NV) – NOW CLOSED
80. Spring River Park Zoo (Roswell, NM)
81. Texas State Aquarium (Corpus Christi, TX)
82. Texas Zoo (Victoria, TX)
83. The Living Desert (Palm Desert/Indian Wells, CA)
84. Tiger Rescue (Colton, CA) – NOW CLOSED
85. Turpentine Creek Wildlife Sanctuary (Davenport, FL) – NOW CLOSED
86. Wild Animal Orphanage (San Antonio, TX) – NOW CLOSED
87. Wildlife Ambassadors (Thermal, CA) – NOW CLOSED
88. Wildlife Heritage Foundation (Ashford, ENGLAND)
89. Wildlife Waystation (Angeles National Forest, CA)
90. Wildlife West Nature Park (Edgewood, NM)
91. Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium (Litchfield Park, AZ)
92. Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle, WA)
93. Zoo Miami (Miami, FL)
94. Zoobotanico Jerez (Jerez de la Frontera, SPAIN)
95. Zoo Zurich (Zurich, SWITZERLAND)
 
Random possibilities (with minimal thought and which may or may not be realistic).

USA - MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM. Though I am not a huge aquarium fan, I do enjoy a good one and this is the biggie in the USA zoo world.

SOUTH AFRICA - ANN VAN DYK CHEETAH CENTRE. King cheetahs are my all time favorite animal and photographing them here would be the ultimate addition to an African safari.

AUSTRIA - TIERGARTEN SCHONBRUNN. I have been to the other two historic zoos (London Zoo and Le Menagerie), but have not been to the first and most historic. For a landmark visit, this is logical in many ways (combined with a strong desire to photograph the landscape of nearby Salzburg).
 
As cats are your thing I guess the South African option is the obvious one. Monterrey Bay Aquarium would be a less costly option, but if you wanted other less costly (to get to) zoos I would suggest Honolulu Zoo which a few years ago had a number of endangered species of bird, not just Hawaiian ones (and then there's also Waikiki Aquarium and Sea-Life Park). And if your family is tagging along they won't object to Hawaii.

Audubon was good zoo when I visited New Orleans 25 years. Or you could try for Belize Zoo.

And for anyone going to Europe I always recommend Durrell in Jersey.

:p

Hix
 
@AD: Since you love cats, I would recommend Noah's Lost Ark. It is a small, but wonderful big cat rescue sanctuary in rural Berlin Center, Ohio, about half an hour west of Youngstown (northeastern Ohio). It is near the town of Alliance. They also have rescued bears, farm animals, camels, zebras, bison, binturong, lemurs, etc. Even though it is obscure (even some locals don't know about it) it is great. I would recommend you visit Noah's!
There is also the Cleveland, Ohio Zoo and Wagon Trails Animal Park in Vienna (near Warren, Ohio). Wagon Trails is where you can ride a safari wagon/truck and feed zebras, camels, cows, deer, bison, etc. Noah's is about 35 minutes from Wagon Trails. Plus, travel to rural Ohio is cheaper than going to Singapore or Europe!
 
Bioparc Valencia in Spain?

Attica zoological park (where cheetahs are keep (or were kept) in a common enclosure with white rhinos) near Athens, Greece and walk in the old city in Acropolis :)

Both zoos are in Mediterranean Europe :)
 
Just an idea but you can make a Belgium - Dutch tour with 5 world-class and / or historical zoos which would like be :
Antwerp Zoo - Belgium ( loads of zoo history )
Beekse Bergen - great and with a lot of Cheetahs
Burgers Zoo - some world-class enclosures ( Bush - Desert - Ocean )
Rotterdam Zoo - simply a world-class zoo
Artis Amsterdam Zoo - again loads of zoo-history
With those 5 you'll have reached your 100 zoos.
 
Arizona Docent said:
AUSTRIA - TIERGARTEN SCHONBRUNN. I have been to the other two historic zoos (London Zoo and Le Menagerie), but have not been to the first and most historic. For a landmark visit, this is logical in many ways (combined with a strong desire to photograph the landscape of nearby Salzburg).
Click to expand...

I'd suggest that Zoo Berlin is also worthy of being classified as one of the most historically significant zoos; although slightly younger than London Zoo it has been open to the public for longer.
 
The Monterey Aquarium is the best zoo in the world. You could go north a couple hours more and visit the zoos of the Bay Area also. San Francisco and Oakland Zoos both have cat collections.
 
I think that if you are at liberty to choose any zoo in the world for your 100th, you should consider one of the great historic zoos. You have already mentioned Vienna, which would certainly count. Alternatives would include Basle, Berlin and Whipsnade. My suggestion would be Tierpark Hagenbeck in Hamburg, which could be described as the first modern zoo (although I don't suppose that everyone would agree with that).
A suggestion from left field is a small zoo with a peerless reputation for conservation and education, which is a prototype for the future: Durrell Wildlife Park in Jersey.

Alan
 
I would recommend Durrel Wildlife Park, for its stunning exhibits (stand-out ones include the tamarins; lemur and orangutan exhibits are great too).
 
I'll go with TeaLovingDave: Trip to Berlin, then Tierpark Berlin (No 96), Train to Leipzig, hotel for 2 nights, Zoo Leipzig (No 97), Zoo Halle (No 98, with public transport from Leipzig very close), Aquadom/Sealife Center Berlin (No 99) together with Berlin sightseeing and finally one of the best No 100 you might have: Zoo Berlin.
 
I've visited approximately 70 out of your 95 zoos, although there are many that are now closed and/or overseas that I've never toured.

For your 100th zoo you could always spend an hour at Charles Paddock Zoo in Atascadero, California. I hear that the facility looks great in the death throes of winter. :)

In all seriousness, you should splash the cash on a venture to a phenomenal zoological park that will provide you with a memorable adventure. Vienna, Berlin and Singapore would be wonderful destinations and worthy of the occasion. An expensive trip to Singapore would be great for you as you enjoy naturalistic exhibits, you love hot weather and you'd be able to see a number of terrific facilities in a short time frame.
 
zoomaniac said:
I'll go with TeaLovingDave: Trip to Berlin, then Tierpark Berlin (No 96), Train to Leipzig, hotel for 2 nights, Zoo Leipzig (No 97), Zoo Halle (No 98, with public transport from Leipzig very close), Aquadom/Sealife Center Berlin (No 99) together with Berlin sightseeing and finally one of the best No 100 you might have: Zoo Berlin.
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I'd swap your choice for No. 99 with Zoo Magdeburg!
 
From your posts, I don't think the European city zoos suggested would be the best choice. I love Berlin, Antwerp and Artis, but all have some pretty awful cat enclosures. Burgers' ecosystem exhibits are great, but I found the rest of the zoo disappointing. Schönbrunn, on the other hand, I'd recommend to anybody, and it has good transport links to several other "big hitters". Blijdorp is also excellent.

Singapore's overrated in my eyes. If you were into birds or primates sure, but the cat collection isn't anything special. The exhibits are so-so.

Monterey Bay is outstanding. Far and away my favourite aquarium and the best ethos of any zoo I've visited. Several other places in the Bay Area are worth visiting, too. Since you're not an aquarium fanatic, though, possibly one to save for a future trip?

All this is just one person's opinion, of course. In the end it's a personal thing, and the Cheetah Centre sounds like something that would be very special to you. If you haven't been on safari before, that would clinch it for me.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I'd swap your choice for No. 99 with Zoo Magdeburg!
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I was thinking about Magdeburg too, but chose Aquadom instead because maybe ArizonaDozent - as a vistor from accross the ocean - would like to see anything from the (historical) city of Berlin as well and it is possible to combine Aquadom and Citytour while you need (at least) an entire day to visit Zoo Berlin, Tierpark Berlin or Zoo Leipzig. I guess, it depend how much time he will have. If an additional day doesn't matter, then of course Zoo Magdeburg is the much better choice then Aquadom.
 
I'd say it would be possible to do Magdeburg and still have time to explore the city of Berlin afterwards; when I visited in 2014 I spent about 4 or 5 hours at the zoo but about an hour of this time was spent watching the Marbled Polecats, which are no longer present :p I imagine AZ would be rather quicker!
 
Lots of good ideas and I should note this will not happen immediately. I have just used up my available leave from work on my recent Alaska trip. (I started a new career less than a year ago so I do not get as much vacation time as I used to). Plus I bought a new lens (Canon 100-400 ii) for the trip as well as trip expenses, so I need to pay off my credit card.

Monterey Bay Aquarium could be a good one next summer - not the magic 100 - but one of the 96 or higher that will get me closer. Lots of good things to photograph in Northern California and a friend from ZooChat will be touring the state next summer so we could meet up.

I have never been strongly interested in Berlin (either zoo) because exhibit quality is important to me and I hear it is lacking (especially for my beloved cats). Still I could feasibly combine it with Vienna...

Or maybe I will pick some small town USA zoo with limited funds but lots of potential and tell them my story and get the local paper and television to promote it (to help the zoo) and give them a nice thousand dollar donation. Probably not; I am just brainstorming at this point.
 
Arizona Docent said:
Or maybe I will pick some small town USA zoo with limited funds but lots of potential and tell them my story and get the local paper and television to promote it (to help the zoo) and give them a nice thousand dollar donation. Probably not; I am just brainstorming at this point.
Click to expand...

This describes my suggestion (Noah's Lost Ark Big Cat Rescue Sanctuary, Berlin Center, Ohio 44401) to a T. Whenever I have out-of-town guests, I take them down to Noah's and they love it. They have a lot of cats, too, including a half-jungle cat, half-domestic cat hybrid! Yes, this is in rural Ohio! Plus, travel costs to Ohio from AZ are probably a lot less than to Europe or Singapore.
 
@TeaLovingDave: Well, it depends on how much you would like to see (and take pictures) of both...
For first time visitors who are interested in history and/or architecture, I would strongly recommend more then just a half day for a sightseeing tour (it's not Northumberland...;)).

@ArizonaDocent: I sometimes have the feeling, that some people do not judge fair about the Berlin zoos (although they have their bads, no doubt). And specially your beloved cats will get new exhibits in the near future in both institutions (although that means that the huge carnivore collections will be smaller then).
 
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