I had the opportunity to spend the better part of the day at this zoo recently. Overall this is a great zoo, the fact that it is free is wonderful. There were some parts that looked a bit in need of renovation, but overall there is little to complain about here.
The top reason for my visit was the Asia Trail and Amazonia sections, neither disappointed. We arrived just after opening and went straight to Asia Trail and the pandas. All the pandas were out and active, climbing rocks, trees, and just doing their thing. The panda pavilion area is nicely done and the habitats look great. The immersion of Asia Trail is good, most of the zoo's themed sections are done well with immersive rocks and plantings. The sloth bear habitat is great, it really puts some of the other's I have seen to shame (I am remembering ZooTampa's sloth bear, current sun bear, habitat here)
The indoor small animal house was expansive, there were really a ton of exhibits. Overall they are standard indoor small animal enclosures, nothing overly exciting. The most interesting to me was the white-faced saki as I had not seen them in the past.
The Great Ape house was decent, on the better side of indoor ape enclosures. None of the gorillas or orangutans were doing anything particularly active at the time we were there.
The reptile house was the only place they were limiting the amount of people at any given time, we had to wait a minute or two to go inside. There are a LOT of herps in there, far to many to really take in without spending an hour or two just in that house. The small komodo dragon habitat is OK, but not great, but it was in the trees which is natural for small dragons. The outdoor alligator habitat was well placed at the entrance.
The lions and tigers were all out, which was great. The tiger habitat is better than the lions, it has plenty of elevation changes, water, plantings, etc. The lions are OK, but nothing to really write home about.
Amazonia does not disappoint. The plants, fish, reptiles, etc. are all great. This is, IMO, the premier exhibit at this zoo. I first saw this back in the 90s and it still holds up as a exceedingly well done exhibit.
Up next was North America, which was decidedly empty of animals by the time we got there in the early afternoon. Temps had reached the high 90s, so the mist area was welcomed by my son. The only animals we were able to see were the seals and sea lions. Both habitats are nice, but the sea lion fence destroyed the immersions of the area.
Africa was done OK, nothing really special about it. It has Grevy's zebra, cheetah, addax, ostrich, and sitatunga all in their own enclosures/yards.
Lastly there are some random yards for American plains bison and Prezwalski's horse. I was really happy to se the P horse as I had not seen them since they left ZooTampa quite some time ago.
In conclusion, this is probably a zoo that cannot be missed in a city full of "can't miss" destinations. Any zoo fan would do well to make a trip to DC to visit the zoo, as well as the city.
The top reason for my visit was the Asia Trail and Amazonia sections, neither disappointed. We arrived just after opening and went straight to Asia Trail and the pandas. All the pandas were out and active, climbing rocks, trees, and just doing their thing. The panda pavilion area is nicely done and the habitats look great. The immersion of Asia Trail is good, most of the zoo's themed sections are done well with immersive rocks and plantings. The sloth bear habitat is great, it really puts some of the other's I have seen to shame (I am remembering ZooTampa's sloth bear, current sun bear, habitat here)
The indoor small animal house was expansive, there were really a ton of exhibits. Overall they are standard indoor small animal enclosures, nothing overly exciting. The most interesting to me was the white-faced saki as I had not seen them in the past.
The Great Ape house was decent, on the better side of indoor ape enclosures. None of the gorillas or orangutans were doing anything particularly active at the time we were there.
The reptile house was the only place they were limiting the amount of people at any given time, we had to wait a minute or two to go inside. There are a LOT of herps in there, far to many to really take in without spending an hour or two just in that house. The small komodo dragon habitat is OK, but not great, but it was in the trees which is natural for small dragons. The outdoor alligator habitat was well placed at the entrance.
The lions and tigers were all out, which was great. The tiger habitat is better than the lions, it has plenty of elevation changes, water, plantings, etc. The lions are OK, but nothing to really write home about.
Amazonia does not disappoint. The plants, fish, reptiles, etc. are all great. This is, IMO, the premier exhibit at this zoo. I first saw this back in the 90s and it still holds up as a exceedingly well done exhibit.
Up next was North America, which was decidedly empty of animals by the time we got there in the early afternoon. Temps had reached the high 90s, so the mist area was welcomed by my son. The only animals we were able to see were the seals and sea lions. Both habitats are nice, but the sea lion fence destroyed the immersions of the area.
Africa was done OK, nothing really special about it. It has Grevy's zebra, cheetah, addax, ostrich, and sitatunga all in their own enclosures/yards.
Lastly there are some random yards for American plains bison and Prezwalski's horse. I was really happy to se the P horse as I had not seen them since they left ZooTampa quite some time ago.
In conclusion, this is probably a zoo that cannot be missed in a city full of "can't miss" destinations. Any zoo fan would do well to make a trip to DC to visit the zoo, as well as the city.
