I visited the Omaha Zoo for the first time today, and thought I should post my thoughts on this famous zoo. It was a pretty surreal visit, as Omaha is a zoo that’s been on my bucket list since even before I joined Zoochat, so to say I was excited to visit would be an understatement. Omaha is very well-documented on this site, so this won't be an extremely detailed review of every area, just my general impressions of the various exhibits.
The main draw of Omaha for me has always been the massive animal buildings, and they mostly lived up to the hype. Kingdoms of the Night is an incredible exhibit - so many great elements, but the mixed-species exhibits were the highlight. Lots of interesting species as well; Springhaas, Potto and Aardvark were the highlights for me. Visiting first-thing definitely paid off, as pretty much every animal was seen and active. In contrast to the excellent exhibit beneath it, I found the Desert Dome to be a little underwhelming. The scenery and atmosphere is certainly quite nice, but I found a lot of the exhibits to be inadequate. I understand that quite a few of the major issues of the Dome have been fixed, but I still found many exhibits to be very cramped, particularly the Bobcat and Bat-Eared fox exhibits. The reptile collection in the Dome is massive though, and looking for all the free-flying birds was interesting.
Lied Jungle was also a bit of a mixed-bag, but nevertheless a very enjoyable building. The free-flight birds are very cool, and it has more of a “jungle” feel than the other rainforest houses I’ve seen. Similarly to the Desert Dome, there are still some exhibits that are too-small, especially the Pygmy Hippo and Malayan Tapir exhibits. The primate islands are mostly good, though, and the free-flying bats are a nice touch. The lower path of the building being inaccessible due to renovations was a bit of a bummer, how long is it closed for?
The last of the mega-buildings I visited was the Scott Aquarium, and I thought it was pretty solid. I still prefer Pittsburgh in terms of aquariums in a zoo, but Omaha’s is no slouch either. If I had a criticism for the Aquarium I’d say it feels a bit “generic” in terms of having all the usual aquarium stuff (walk-through tunnel, rainforest tank, coral reefs) but it’s all done nicely, so I’m not complaining too much. Seeing active Penguins and Puffins was really nice, though.
African Grasslands was the first outdoor exhibit I visited (almost 4 hours after I entered the zoo
), and it was a really good first impression. I can see why this section cost over $70 million to build, as it’s massive and all very well done. Personal highlights for me were: the excellent Kopje area, the main savanna with Giraffes, Ostrich, Kudu and Impala, and the great Lion exhibit complete with a massive rock formation. I did have some minor problems with sight lines and I found the loud train running though the middle of the exhibit pretty annoying. Those are only minor quibbles, though, as this is truly a great part of the zoo.
My personal favourite outdoor exhibit was Asian Highlands, one of Omaha’s newest areas and certainly a worthy addition to the zoo. I think the ruined temple theming was maybe just a bit over-the-top, but the exhibits were very good, which more than makes up for it. Seeing an active herd of 6 Sichuan Takin was the major highlight for me, very cool animals and a species I don’t get to see that much. I missed seeing the Chinese Goral they’re mixed with, unfortunately, although I believe they are generally hard to see so that wasn’t really a surprise. The Indian Rhino/Père David's deer exhibit was excellent and a cool mix of species, but really everything else was also great.
The rest of the outdoor exhibits are a bit of a mixed bag, although still there was much more good than bad. I really liked the Simmons Aviary; seeing Crowned Cranes, Roseate Spoonbills and other nice species in a massive walk-through aviary was really neat. Expedition Madagascar I found very strange, as it’s a relatively new exhibit (2008) and yet feels like it’s straight out of the 1970s. The indoors is pretty bad, although the Aye-Aye exhibit was good (and Aye-Ayes are always great to see). I thought the outdoor exhibits were decent, apart from the Ring-Tailed Lemur island with the hideous Baobab tree. Gorilla Valley was another odd exhibit, the Gorilla exhibit itself it fine, but the layout and design of the visitor areas didn’t entirely work for me. The final place I visited also happened to be Omaha’s newest exhibit, Owen Sea Lion Shores. I loved this area; the enclosure itself is quite large with a great underwater viewing section, and Sea Lions always make for a fun exhibit.
Overall, if it wasn’t already obvious, I loved Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo. Exhibit-wise I do have some issues in terms of too-small enclosures in the large buildings, but apart from that, the exhibits are generally good with a few outstanding ones. The species line-up is great as well, with most of the ABC’s represented, (no Common Hippo’s and only 1 bear species is surprising) as well as quite a few rarities (Potto, Aye-Aye, Togo Slippery Frog etc). Despite lacking a Bird or Reptile House, the zoo seems to have a dizzying amount of these species, and I particularly like how non-mammals are integrated into pretty much ever area of the zoo. This also happens to be a great place for non zoo-nerds, with an excellent Children’s Zoo, a bunch of restaurants and a sky ride that I unfortunately didn’t get the chance to do.
Omaha is a must-see facility for any person with an interest in zoos, and given the rate at which new exhibits are being produced the collection will be even better in the future. I just wish I lived closer so I could visit more often!
The main draw of Omaha for me has always been the massive animal buildings, and they mostly lived up to the hype. Kingdoms of the Night is an incredible exhibit - so many great elements, but the mixed-species exhibits were the highlight. Lots of interesting species as well; Springhaas, Potto and Aardvark were the highlights for me. Visiting first-thing definitely paid off, as pretty much every animal was seen and active. In contrast to the excellent exhibit beneath it, I found the Desert Dome to be a little underwhelming. The scenery and atmosphere is certainly quite nice, but I found a lot of the exhibits to be inadequate. I understand that quite a few of the major issues of the Dome have been fixed, but I still found many exhibits to be very cramped, particularly the Bobcat and Bat-Eared fox exhibits. The reptile collection in the Dome is massive though, and looking for all the free-flying birds was interesting.
Lied Jungle was also a bit of a mixed-bag, but nevertheless a very enjoyable building. The free-flight birds are very cool, and it has more of a “jungle” feel than the other rainforest houses I’ve seen. Similarly to the Desert Dome, there are still some exhibits that are too-small, especially the Pygmy Hippo and Malayan Tapir exhibits. The primate islands are mostly good, though, and the free-flying bats are a nice touch. The lower path of the building being inaccessible due to renovations was a bit of a bummer, how long is it closed for?
The last of the mega-buildings I visited was the Scott Aquarium, and I thought it was pretty solid. I still prefer Pittsburgh in terms of aquariums in a zoo, but Omaha’s is no slouch either. If I had a criticism for the Aquarium I’d say it feels a bit “generic” in terms of having all the usual aquarium stuff (walk-through tunnel, rainforest tank, coral reefs) but it’s all done nicely, so I’m not complaining too much. Seeing active Penguins and Puffins was really nice, though.
African Grasslands was the first outdoor exhibit I visited (almost 4 hours after I entered the zoo
), and it was a really good first impression. I can see why this section cost over $70 million to build, as it’s massive and all very well done. Personal highlights for me were: the excellent Kopje area, the main savanna with Giraffes, Ostrich, Kudu and Impala, and the great Lion exhibit complete with a massive rock formation. I did have some minor problems with sight lines and I found the loud train running though the middle of the exhibit pretty annoying. Those are only minor quibbles, though, as this is truly a great part of the zoo.My personal favourite outdoor exhibit was Asian Highlands, one of Omaha’s newest areas and certainly a worthy addition to the zoo. I think the ruined temple theming was maybe just a bit over-the-top, but the exhibits were very good, which more than makes up for it. Seeing an active herd of 6 Sichuan Takin was the major highlight for me, very cool animals and a species I don’t get to see that much. I missed seeing the Chinese Goral they’re mixed with, unfortunately, although I believe they are generally hard to see so that wasn’t really a surprise. The Indian Rhino/Père David's deer exhibit was excellent and a cool mix of species, but really everything else was also great.
The rest of the outdoor exhibits are a bit of a mixed bag, although still there was much more good than bad. I really liked the Simmons Aviary; seeing Crowned Cranes, Roseate Spoonbills and other nice species in a massive walk-through aviary was really neat. Expedition Madagascar I found very strange, as it’s a relatively new exhibit (2008) and yet feels like it’s straight out of the 1970s. The indoors is pretty bad, although the Aye-Aye exhibit was good (and Aye-Ayes are always great to see). I thought the outdoor exhibits were decent, apart from the Ring-Tailed Lemur island with the hideous Baobab tree. Gorilla Valley was another odd exhibit, the Gorilla exhibit itself it fine, but the layout and design of the visitor areas didn’t entirely work for me. The final place I visited also happened to be Omaha’s newest exhibit, Owen Sea Lion Shores. I loved this area; the enclosure itself is quite large with a great underwater viewing section, and Sea Lions always make for a fun exhibit.
Overall, if it wasn’t already obvious, I loved Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo. Exhibit-wise I do have some issues in terms of too-small enclosures in the large buildings, but apart from that, the exhibits are generally good with a few outstanding ones. The species line-up is great as well, with most of the ABC’s represented, (no Common Hippo’s and only 1 bear species is surprising) as well as quite a few rarities (Potto, Aye-Aye, Togo Slippery Frog etc). Despite lacking a Bird or Reptile House, the zoo seems to have a dizzying amount of these species, and I particularly like how non-mammals are integrated into pretty much ever area of the zoo. This also happens to be a great place for non zoo-nerds, with an excellent Children’s Zoo, a bunch of restaurants and a sky ride that I unfortunately didn’t get the chance to do.
Omaha is a must-see facility for any person with an interest in zoos, and given the rate at which new exhibits are being produced the collection will be even better in the future. I just wish I lived closer so I could visit more often!
