Hello.
Out of all zoos near me, the last one I had yet to visit was Arca do Noah, in Guaratiba. It is a very small zoo (more like a farm park with a few wild animals) which is around an hour away from my house. The entrance fee is rather expensive (80 reais for people over 21 and half the price for people below that age but above 3) and I believe the whole experience is not worth the price.
The first thing you come across after you get in is a small pen that is home to at least two red-footed tortoises. I followed the right path (which is basically a loop) and the next thing I saw was a row of three small exhibits for marmosets: one for golden-headed lion tamarins, another for a black-tufted marmoset and a last one which had been deactivated. Adjacent to this small corridor was a small building where a staff member was waiting to welcome a few children for their next activity (Arca do Noah revolves around children and promotes almost hourly activities in various areas). Before you reach this employee, there is a small tank (not in inadequately small, but still on the smaller side) for sliders (all of which I believe were yellow-eared).
The next place I went to was their herpetarium, which has an outdoor iguana exhibit and five terraria: one for three rainbow boas (I believe one was an Amazonian rainbow boa and I was told by the female staff member the other two belonged to the Atlantic Forest species), another for boa constrictors, a third one for corn snakes and the two last ones housed burmese pythons. The python enclosures were inadequate for their residents.
Then, going even further uphill, there is a row of exhibits for native species.
On the left: three horned capuchin monkeys (in their underwhelming new exhibit), two brown howlers, two king vultures (in a very inadequate aviary) and two ring-tailed coatis.
On the right: an aviary for two rusty-margined guans, 2.0 blue-and-gold, 1.0 green-winged and 1.0 hyacinth macaws; a crab-eating raccon, an oncilla (most likely a Southern tigrina), and three Paraguayan hairy dwarf porcupines.
I walked downhill and the next thing I came across was a tall but narrow aviary for Chilean flamingos and scarlet ibises. Then, their tiny walkthrough aviary, which housed 1.1 peafowl, an unsigned species of ring-necked dove, budgies and cockatiels.
The next exhibits all housed domesticated species.
On the left: a pen for two llamas, another for horses and a last one for even more llamas.
On the right: two pens for goats of different breeds, one for noticeably uncomfortable sheep, and another for two cattle and 0.2 pied water buffalo.
On the middle: rabbits and a few deactivated enclosures (of which there were many across this small park).
Then, I came cross an aviary for multiple gamebird species: a male golden pheasant, a male blue peafowl, turkeys, chickens, what seemed to be a female junglefowl (maybe the other fowl I saw were hybrids between the roster and this female), and my first ever chukar partridges!
Next was another corridor, with enclosures for Azara's agouti (didn't see) and greater rhea on the left. On the right, a goat and a horse (housed separately) in what seemed to be a row of former landfowl pens. Then, the tortoise enclosure (yes, I had almost finished the loop).
The last attraction should have been the boardwalk where visitors walked above two exhibits, one for collared peccaries and the other for waterfowl (a black swan, many swan goose and a random duck), but it was closed off.
In conclusion, I reckon the entrance fee is too expensive for the experience offered. I was likely unlucky because far too many animals (including their elderly brown-eared woolly opossum and their two Western crowned pigeons) were backstage today. It kind of sucked because I would have likely spent more time there had the park not been so devoid of animals. The enclosures are also way too small to my liking, despite not being literal cells like at Southeast Asian zoos (as shown by @snowleopard in his wonderful thread).
The only good things I'd like to mention were the employees, who were very nice and seemed to know the species they were dealing with (instead of calling all by their popular names), and the fact most of the zoo can be easily accessed via small pathways across the main course.
After leaving Guaratiba, I had lunch at Barra Shopping, where there is a very interesting saltwater aquarium at the food court.
EDIT: after taking a look at their Instagram, it seems one of the rainbow boas I saw was Epicrates maurus, another lifer to me! The other one is a hybrid.
Out of all zoos near me, the last one I had yet to visit was Arca do Noah, in Guaratiba. It is a very small zoo (more like a farm park with a few wild animals) which is around an hour away from my house. The entrance fee is rather expensive (80 reais for people over 21 and half the price for people below that age but above 3) and I believe the whole experience is not worth the price.
The first thing you come across after you get in is a small pen that is home to at least two red-footed tortoises. I followed the right path (which is basically a loop) and the next thing I saw was a row of three small exhibits for marmosets: one for golden-headed lion tamarins, another for a black-tufted marmoset and a last one which had been deactivated. Adjacent to this small corridor was a small building where a staff member was waiting to welcome a few children for their next activity (Arca do Noah revolves around children and promotes almost hourly activities in various areas). Before you reach this employee, there is a small tank (not in inadequately small, but still on the smaller side) for sliders (all of which I believe were yellow-eared).
The next place I went to was their herpetarium, which has an outdoor iguana exhibit and five terraria: one for three rainbow boas (I believe one was an Amazonian rainbow boa and I was told by the female staff member the other two belonged to the Atlantic Forest species), another for boa constrictors, a third one for corn snakes and the two last ones housed burmese pythons. The python enclosures were inadequate for their residents.
Then, going even further uphill, there is a row of exhibits for native species.
On the left: three horned capuchin monkeys (in their underwhelming new exhibit), two brown howlers, two king vultures (in a very inadequate aviary) and two ring-tailed coatis.
On the right: an aviary for two rusty-margined guans, 2.0 blue-and-gold, 1.0 green-winged and 1.0 hyacinth macaws; a crab-eating raccon, an oncilla (most likely a Southern tigrina), and three Paraguayan hairy dwarf porcupines.
I walked downhill and the next thing I came across was a tall but narrow aviary for Chilean flamingos and scarlet ibises. Then, their tiny walkthrough aviary, which housed 1.1 peafowl, an unsigned species of ring-necked dove, budgies and cockatiels.
The next exhibits all housed domesticated species.
On the left: a pen for two llamas, another for horses and a last one for even more llamas.
On the right: two pens for goats of different breeds, one for noticeably uncomfortable sheep, and another for two cattle and 0.2 pied water buffalo.
On the middle: rabbits and a few deactivated enclosures (of which there were many across this small park).
Then, I came cross an aviary for multiple gamebird species: a male golden pheasant, a male blue peafowl, turkeys, chickens, what seemed to be a female junglefowl (maybe the other fowl I saw were hybrids between the roster and this female), and my first ever chukar partridges!
Next was another corridor, with enclosures for Azara's agouti (didn't see) and greater rhea on the left. On the right, a goat and a horse (housed separately) in what seemed to be a row of former landfowl pens. Then, the tortoise enclosure (yes, I had almost finished the loop).
The last attraction should have been the boardwalk where visitors walked above two exhibits, one for collared peccaries and the other for waterfowl (a black swan, many swan goose and a random duck), but it was closed off.
In conclusion, I reckon the entrance fee is too expensive for the experience offered. I was likely unlucky because far too many animals (including their elderly brown-eared woolly opossum and their two Western crowned pigeons) were backstage today. It kind of sucked because I would have likely spent more time there had the park not been so devoid of animals. The enclosures are also way too small to my liking, despite not being literal cells like at Southeast Asian zoos (as shown by @snowleopard in his wonderful thread).
The only good things I'd like to mention were the employees, who were very nice and seemed to know the species they were dealing with (instead of calling all by their popular names), and the fact most of the zoo can be easily accessed via small pathways across the main course.
After leaving Guaratiba, I had lunch at Barra Shopping, where there is a very interesting saltwater aquarium at the food court.
EDIT: after taking a look at their Instagram, it seems one of the rainbow boas I saw was Epicrates maurus, another lifer to me! The other one is a hybrid.
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