Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo - 7.5 hours (Zoo/Aquarium #17 for the road trip)
Having veered off course and driven 9 hours from Indianapolis to just outside of Omaha I was hoping that the zoo would be excellent. I simply felt that it was worth going out of the way on the road trip to see a zoo that has some highly regarded exhibits, and to be honest my wife and I were absolutely blown away by the true greatness of the BIG THREE displays of captive wildlife. I put those words in capitals because Omaha has gone out of their way to create stupendously overwhelming buildings. There are parts of the zoo that are terrible (the seemingly obligatory bear grottoes and the antiquated cat complex) but overall Omaha is a lock to make my top 5 zoos in North America list. The sheer quality of the big three are unsurpassed by almost any other zoo in the continent, and perhaps the world. I personally have gone on record here saying that the San Diego Zoo is my choice for #1 zoo in North America, and while I still believe that to be true my honest response is that San Diego doesn't have anything that can come close to Omaha's big three standouts. The Bronx's "Congo Gorilla Forest" and Detroit's "Arctic Ring of Life" are 2 other truly awesome adventures.
The Big Three: Omaha's "Lied Jungle", "Kingdoms of the Night", and "Desert Dome".
The Best:
Lied Jungle - probably the best rainforest building on the planet. I've been to buildings in Montreal, Central Park, the Bronx, Brookfield, Minnesota, Denver, Zurich and many others...and none are really close contenders to the Lied Jungle. Some people point out the flaws (of which naturally I can understand) but even with those minor flaws this exhibit goes above and beyond "Tropic World" in Chicago or "Jungleworld" in the Bronx. The clouded leopard, malayan tapirs and baird's tapir all have too little land, and there might be a couple of other tiny quibbles such as the space for the lemurs. But the fact that the jungle trails pathway is made out of dirt and contains the odd rock for authenticity, that I had to keep ducking to miss being hit by hanging vines and branches, that there was a tiny bridge that was soaking wet from a waterfall, that the entire building actually reeked of an actual rainforest...the attention to detail is amazing. As I said earlier, Zurich Zoo's Masoala rainforest is #2 on my list, but nothing equals Omaha's massive creation. Top-notch, immersive experience that cannot be touched by anything else. If anyone bashes it, then what is better?
Kingdoms of the Night - best nocturnal house on the planet. I've never even been into a nocturnal house in any zoo in Europe, but I can tell all you readers that no one can produce anything even remotely close to this multi-roomed, underground lair that feels as if it never ends. Every time my wife and I left one bat cave, swamp or mixed-species exhibit there was a door into another, darker cavern. Sheer brilliance on every level, and arguably gives the Lied Jungle a run for its money in terms of Omaha greatness.
Desert Dome - another incredibly overwhelming building. Are there some flaws here? You bet: the bobcat, serval and mountain lion exhibits are painfully small (all types of cats get shafted at both Omaha and Cincinnati)...but all in all this is another unequalled building that has no parallels. Not many zoos actually have desert biomes in the first place, but to see rock hyrax apparently free a few feet from my head, or to see hundreds of tons of red sand off the pathway, or any number of other experiences elevates this exhibit to the top of its class.
If I stopped this review right here then Omaha would be one of the most innovative zoos in North America. Someone could show up, spend hours at the big three exhibits, and then leave satisfied for their $11 entry fee. The best jungle rainforest, the best nocturnal house, the best desert building...all with a handful of flaws but all more than likely the best of their kind in the entire world. With those 3 the zoo already had leapt into the upper echelon of quality zoos.
Other excellent exhibits:
Orangutan Forest - not really much of a forest at all, and I feel that normally this type of habitat wouldn't appeal to me due to mountains of mesh...but it totally works for the apes. There were at least 6 orangs and one gibbon split up between two separate but side-by-side exhibits that allowed for loads of brachiation. I'm sick and tired of seeing orangs sitting on the ground in zoos (a big problem everywhere from San Diego to Seattle) and so to spend lots of time seeing the magnificent apes climbing up the mesh walls was exciting. The enormous, 65-foot trees (complete with multiple branches) allowed for lots of climbing and appealed to me. The actual land space isn't much, but in terms of height this might just be one of the tallest orang exhibits in the entire world.
Scott Aquarium - brilliant penguin exhibit (could the tide be turning for decent penguin habitats after Omaha and Indianapolis?) where it was actually snowing! Snow was pouring out of a large hole in the roof, and probably 40% of the land mass was covered in the white stuff. The pool was deep and fairly wide, and this was another great exhibit at the zoo. Also in the aquarium were lots of colourful tanks and displays featuring eels, sea horses, sharks octopus...and a huge amazon habitat with squirrel monkeys and massive freshwater fish.
Gorilla complex - I'm not completely sold on this maze-like exhibit, with lots of older male gorillas playfully wrestling with each other in the many outdoor and indoor habitats. The bubbles that popped up into the enclosure allowed my wife and I to feel as if we were inside with our relatives, and there was a glass tunnel both overhead and below our bodies that featured close-up shots of gorillas. Innovative designs elevated this series of interlinking enclosures, and while there are better gorilla habitats out there this one was still cleverly done.
Free Flight Aviary - is this another one of the biggest and best in the world? An enormous, 4-acre aviary with 120 species of birds. One problem was that the signs were mouldy, dilapidated and barely hanging on...but the sheer size of the netting was staggering. What's with Omaha and size?
Butterfly & Insect Pavilion - top-notch pair of joined buildings that were enjoyable to stroll through. Not quite at Cincinnati's level, but much better than the silly tents that numerous zoos have for their butterflies.
Wild Kingdom Pavilion - many smaller species of mammal, reptile, amphibian and fish in a kid-friendly setting that was loaded with informative signage.
Koi Pool & Monkey Island - squirrel and spider monkeys packed onto an island, and surrounded by a couple of thousand koi fish. That's right, a couple of thousand! An entertaining sight, with the monkeys creating lots of havoc amongst themselves and people purchasing handfuls of fish food for the chaos below.
The Average:
Paddocks - haphazard arrangement, with sable antelope, cassowaries, red river hogs and emus in side-by-side, basic grass fields. The 4 white rhinos had a decent couple of enclosures that allowed them some privacy from the public.
The Worst:
Bear Canyon - typically awful bear exhibits for 4 different species. Sad that as the zoo continues to spend millions on expansion plans the bears continue to pace their concrete pits and go slowly insane. It's such a joy to find the elusive high-quality, substrate-packed bear exhibit...but there's none of that here.
Cat Complex - loads of signs advertising the fact that this is the biggest cat house in North America, but it's far from the best and arguably one of the all-time worst. Every kind of conceivable large feline crammed into concrete boxes. Interesting that not a single cat was found to be pacing, as EVERY DAMN ONE OF THEM was laying on its side with its belly going up and down as they panted for air. It was scorching hot in the hallway, and so who knows how boiling hot it was in the sterile, bare, brutally warm exhibits. It's hard to know what was more disturbing: these big cats gasping for air as their bellies heaved, or all of the pacing smaller species in Cincinnati?
Elephants - two exhibits for two african elephants (from what I could see) that will eventually be much bigger and better if the zoo follows through with their proposal to construct a massive set of new elephant habitats.
The Future:
There is a long pathway that is now shut down in preparation for 2009's "Madagascar" exhibit, which judging from photos online will be a long building that also has many outdoor islands/exhibits for a variety of lemur species. Will Omaha go all out and now build the largest Madagascar habitat of its kind? We'll have to wait and see...
Overall:
How does one go about ranking Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo? It has 3 absolute knockout exhibits that are the very best of their kind, and I honestly believe that those 3 simply have no equal in the zoo world for their specific categories. There are also impressive orangutan and gorilla habitats, a terrific insect display and a decent african veldt (giraffes, crowned cranes and ostrich). However, the cat and bear sections are atrocious, and the many other paddocks that surround the upper portion of the zoo are all average at best.
I find it difficult to believe that anyone I've ever met can provide me with a better rainforest building, desert dome or nocturnal house than the ones that are showcased at the Omaha zoo. This zoo has its faults in terms of space issues for big cats and bears, along with some of the larger animals in its knockout exhibits...but surely this is a top 5 zoo in North America? I know that some of you will agree wholeheartedly, and that others will rank the zoo a little lower, but the important thing is that reviewing zoos is a subjective experience and thus we all have a slightly different opinion. At least Omaha doesn't settle for mediocrity, and goes all out in a quest for greatness.
