Sorry about the late response everyone, to cut to the chase I was visiting family and wasn't sure if there'd be time for us to go to the zoo after all, but in the end we did go after all! I arrived in Houston Friday, took care of some family things, then managed to go on my own Sunday morning while the rest of my fam attended a wedding after-party that same day.
Being my first time traveling via plane and stepping foot outside California, I was nervous until I arrived and found that some other relatives rented a car, then took me to an enterprise to rent a car for Saturday and Sunday as well giving me freedom to go wherever I'd like. Now I'm responding late because after getting to the airport Monday I got a notification that my flight would be delayed, then after seven hours of waiting at the airport, it turned out it was cancelled entirely, so I spent the next few hours scrambling for another flight back to LA, then found one for Tuesday.
To get on to the zoo, I LOVED it. It was beautiful, of all the zoo's I've visited it might be my second favorite after San Diego, though its fairly tied. It was my first time visiting a zoo aquarium so seeing sharks and sea turtles the same day as seeing land animals like gorillas and lions felt so satisfying. I adored the Galapagos, Pantanal, and African Forest exhibits, saw the two jaguars (mom and daughter) play fighting, spoke to a pretty zookeeper who educated me about their jaguars, had two penguins waddle up to me at the glass (never been that close to a penguin before) practically touching me, got the closest to chimpanzees that I've ever been to in my life, adored the massize gorilla complex, and more. I usually don't do zoo restaraunts, but ended up staying at the Cypress Cafe for half an hour and enjoyed some food and ice cream. My favorite zoo restaraunt ever, it was pleasant to finally find a zoo restaraunt with indoor seating for once and not having to search through chairs to find one without bird poop on it for once lol.
I really loved seeing my first ankole watusi cattle, massive horns; he was standing assertively and stunningly atop his hill. I also loved seeing my first clouded leopard, probably my favorite species I saw that day. Other highlights included the bongo antelope, pygmy hippo, and the baby Asian elephant. Versy satisfying to see a family of Asian elephants, especially now that LA no longer has elephants and I may not see Asian elephants again for a long time.
The zoo's older sections weren't as outdated as I thought they'd be. Still looking forward to the rest of the masterplan, but even without one I'd say most of the zoo was surprisingly passable. Even the heat didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I definitley want to visit again, hope the masterplan completes successfully, would love to see their planned Texas, Asia, Africa, and Madagascar exhibits come to fruitition, especially to see shoebills and hippos.
