This is part of a series of reviews from a trip to Ontario (mostly Toronto) from this July. Also to be reviewed will be Ripley's Aquarium, Toronto Zoo, and Bird Kingdom.
Safari Niagara is the kind of place I have a "soft spot for", I like the independent zoos that are not AZA but are also striving to be a decent place for animals with a good guest experience. Wildlife World in Arizona is one of my top 3 favorite zoos and I prefer it over the major AZA zoo, Phoenix Zoo.
Safari Niagara seems to be making the right moves to make the place better for animals too, several small enclosures were clearly recently demolished in the "Silent Forest" area. The large herbivore enclosures are really nice, which is pretty par for the course of these types of zoos. Some of the carnivore enclosures need work, but in all honesty are not much worse than some new AZA carnivore enclosures that I have seen (thinking ZooTampa's Florida Panther enclosures).
The entry and exit both happen in the same main building, which is also the only gift shop. You enter this building after paying for your tickets. To be honest I am a bit surprised they didn't have a gift shop on the back side of the zoo near the giraffes and hippos as there is also a restaurant there.
Current ticket price is $39.95 for adults and $32.95 for kids. This is Canadian dollars, so in USD today that would be $29.18 for adults and $24.06 for kids. This is a reasonable ticket price for this place - it is very large and if you have kids there is a lot to do that is included in that price.
The entrance area are also has a fairly small enclosure for red panda (unseen):
After entering you have the option of going left or right. Left takes you to the large herbivores, right takes you to the birds of prey. We went left for the birds. The Birds of Prey are housed in aviary domes and two large flight cages for Andean condors. The birds seen include bald and golden eagles, Eurasian eagle owls, great horned owls (two aviaries), Victoria crowned cranes, and Andean condors. There was an empty aviary that recently held barn owls.
The dome and curved design of steel fencing is common in the zoo for primates, birds, and some carnivores.
Eagle Owl dome:
Andean Condor cage:
We saw the Wings of Wonder show, which was really well done and kept to a tight 15 minutes. They had great horned owl, harris hawk, burrowing owl, and turkey vulture. The show was well done and educational.
After the bird show we headed to Base Camp, where there is a huge playground and an adjacent petting zoo area named Papa Steve's Farm. Typical farm animals. You will also find the Siberian Tigers in this area. They have a large yard with several climbing areas and a nice pool to cool off in.
Leaving the playground you can go down the Primate Path or straight to Silent Forest. We went to Primate Path and backtracked later for Silent Forest. Primate Path houses lar's gibbons, two siamang enclosures, and a cage for ring-tailed lemur. The gibbon enclosures are quite nice with plenty to climb on and swing from, both the siamang and lar's were brachiating around their enclosures. The lemur enclosure needs to be replaced.
Lar's gibbon:
Siamang enclosure #1:
Lemur dome:
Leaving the primates takes you into the "Silent Forest" area. This area had enclosures for South African Lion, American Badger, red fox, and African Leopards. It is kind of hard to tell where Silent Forest ends and Big Cat Trek begins as there is no sign. In one of those areas there are Grey Wolves, Jaguars, and Caribou. Caribou are definitely in Big Cat Trek along with snow leopards, serval, and clouded leopards.
The carnivore enclosures here are far from terrible, but they leave something to be desired.
South African Lion:
African Leopard:
Clouded Leopard:
Continued in next post.
Safari Niagara is the kind of place I have a "soft spot for", I like the independent zoos that are not AZA but are also striving to be a decent place for animals with a good guest experience. Wildlife World in Arizona is one of my top 3 favorite zoos and I prefer it over the major AZA zoo, Phoenix Zoo.
Safari Niagara seems to be making the right moves to make the place better for animals too, several small enclosures were clearly recently demolished in the "Silent Forest" area. The large herbivore enclosures are really nice, which is pretty par for the course of these types of zoos. Some of the carnivore enclosures need work, but in all honesty are not much worse than some new AZA carnivore enclosures that I have seen (thinking ZooTampa's Florida Panther enclosures).
The entry and exit both happen in the same main building, which is also the only gift shop. You enter this building after paying for your tickets. To be honest I am a bit surprised they didn't have a gift shop on the back side of the zoo near the giraffes and hippos as there is also a restaurant there.
Current ticket price is $39.95 for adults and $32.95 for kids. This is Canadian dollars, so in USD today that would be $29.18 for adults and $24.06 for kids. This is a reasonable ticket price for this place - it is very large and if you have kids there is a lot to do that is included in that price.
The entrance area are also has a fairly small enclosure for red panda (unseen):
After entering you have the option of going left or right. Left takes you to the large herbivores, right takes you to the birds of prey. We went left for the birds. The Birds of Prey are housed in aviary domes and two large flight cages for Andean condors. The birds seen include bald and golden eagles, Eurasian eagle owls, great horned owls (two aviaries), Victoria crowned cranes, and Andean condors. There was an empty aviary that recently held barn owls.
The dome and curved design of steel fencing is common in the zoo for primates, birds, and some carnivores.
Eagle Owl dome:
Andean Condor cage:
We saw the Wings of Wonder show, which was really well done and kept to a tight 15 minutes. They had great horned owl, harris hawk, burrowing owl, and turkey vulture. The show was well done and educational.
After the bird show we headed to Base Camp, where there is a huge playground and an adjacent petting zoo area named Papa Steve's Farm. Typical farm animals. You will also find the Siberian Tigers in this area. They have a large yard with several climbing areas and a nice pool to cool off in.
Leaving the playground you can go down the Primate Path or straight to Silent Forest. We went to Primate Path and backtracked later for Silent Forest. Primate Path houses lar's gibbons, two siamang enclosures, and a cage for ring-tailed lemur. The gibbon enclosures are quite nice with plenty to climb on and swing from, both the siamang and lar's were brachiating around their enclosures. The lemur enclosure needs to be replaced.
Lar's gibbon:
Siamang enclosure #1:
Lemur dome:
Leaving the primates takes you into the "Silent Forest" area. This area had enclosures for South African Lion, American Badger, red fox, and African Leopards. It is kind of hard to tell where Silent Forest ends and Big Cat Trek begins as there is no sign. In one of those areas there are Grey Wolves, Jaguars, and Caribou. Caribou are definitely in Big Cat Trek along with snow leopards, serval, and clouded leopards.
The carnivore enclosures here are far from terrible, but they leave something to be desired.
South African Lion:
African Leopard:
Clouded Leopard:
Continued in next post.
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