Texan zoos: travel advise

Y

Yero

Active Member
15+ year member
Hi, all. I am travelling from Europe to Austin, Texas in September 2011 for work, and want to plan a small zoo trip beforehand. I don't want to spend to much money, so want to keep it short, but still want to get to see the most interesting places.

For now I was thinking about going to Dallas Zoo (day1); Not very sure about this one - many enclosure that look nice (elephants, gorillas, chimps), and they seem to have some interesting smaller primates that are not common or absent in Europe. But for the most, not that many rare species? Or am I wrong?
Dallas World Aquarium (day2): I want to see the three toed sloths, the toucanets, peruvian cock of the rocks and other birds. Do they actually still have yapoks (cant find them on ISIS), jabirus,
Fort Worth Zoo (day 3): I want to see their bonobos, gerenuks, texan wildlife and MOLA.
I am still in doubt whether I should add a day 4 for San Antonio Zoo. Is that worth an extra day? Is it more interesting perhaps than Dallas Zoo? Seem to have loads of rarely seen species, but many behind the scenes (topi, tsessebe)...
Any of you guys can offer some more tips or advise (public transport? or better to rent a car), other places that are nearby and also or perhaps even more interesting? Any advise would be most appreciated.
 
Dallas zoo has an AMAZING African section in general (Okapis, birds, chimps, monorail, gorillas, elephants, giraffes, lions, cheetah, zebra, antelope). Best one on your list.

THEN two superb asian enclosures for otter and tiger.
 
My advice, rent a car. I've tried looking into the public transport, and it is non-existent. Unless you are a die-hard photographer, then DWA and Fort Worth can easily be done in the same day. DWA does still have all of those animals plus some other rarities. As for San Antonio, I would recommend it as well. The topi and tsessebe I think are the same animals, just weird ISIS listings. Collection-wise San Antonio is better than Dallas, but exhibitry Dallas is far better. For the really adventurous I have done San Antonio and Houston in the same day. I don't recommend it for a 1st time visitor.

If you can combine DWA and FW into one day that would leave you with another day. Here is what I would do.
Day 1 San Antonio
Day 2 Gladys Porter in Brownsville
Day 3 Dallas
Day 4 Ft Worth and DWA

The Brownsville to Dallas drive is a long one, but it can be done in one day. If you don't tire easily.
 
San Antonio is a bit of a drive from Dallas/Fort Worth (I think like 3 1/2 hours) and is ok, but not great. JBNBSN99 must have a secret desire to be a long haul trucker, because no one in their right mind would suggest driving from Dallas to Brownsville (Gladys Porter) in one day. I drove from San Antonio to Brownsville, a shorter drive, and still broke it up by spending the night halfway.

If you skip San Antonio and stay in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, you do not need a car to see those zoos. The Dallas light rail stops directly in front of the Dallas Zoo, there is a commuter train that runs between Dallas and Fort Worth every couple hours and it is only a fifteen minute bus ride from the station in Fort Worth to the zoo. Dallas World Aquarium is right downtown - you can walk if your hotel is downtown or just take light rail. I would also recommend a full day at Dallas and a full day at Fort Worth. I realize JBNBSN99 lives there and knows a lot more about both zoos, but to try both zoos in the same day is not worth it in my opinion.
 
@Yero - I will be there in September also. Do you know what dates you will be at the zoos - maybe we can meet. Here is my itinerary:

Sept 4 - Caldwell Zoo
Sept 5 - Cameron Park Zoo
Sept 6 - Fossil Rim Wildlife Ranch
Sept 7 - Fort Worth Zoo
Sept 8 - Dallas Zoo
Sept 9 - morning only at either Dallas Zoo or Dallas World Aquarium

(I will be renting a car for the first three days to go to the zoos outside of Dallas and then returning the rental car and using light rail and bus for the second half of the week.)
 
@Yero:
Ouuuh, another one looking for rarely seem zoo species... take care that you won't be considered as a zoofreak...:)

To be honest:
I've been on vacation in Texas a couple of years ago (It was wonderful by the way).
According to the time you can spend for your zootrip, I would recommend you also Dallas Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo, World Aquarium Dallas, San Antonio Zoo and/or Houston Zoo (it depends on from where you start your zoo trip). If you like Marine Mammals then combine San Antonio Zoo with Sea World San Antonio. If so, then take your swim shorts with you. Fall in Texas is mostly hot (isn't it jbnbsn99?). As I was in SW San Antonio, I could refresh myself in a beach like adventure pool - great).
Like jbnbsn99, I would recommend you to rent a car (although you have to pay a parking fee then at most of the zoos). Compared to most European countries it is cheap. And although Arizona Docent gave you an excellent tip for the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the public transport system in other bigger cities of Texas is behind the level of most european metropols. Specially in Houston, where even the residents don't know, which Busline can bring you to the zoo.
For the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, cheap/moderate motels can be found along the freeway between both cities (at least as I was there).
During my stay in Texas, I was also thinking about visiting Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville. But I gave up the idea, because I thought the drive would be to long/far even from San Antonio (I estimated about 4.5 hours driving time, breaks not included).
Also I recommend you: Take a hole day for every zoo. They all deserve your regard. And you don't want be stressed in your free time either, don't you?

Hope I could help.
 
Thanx you all! Many of your tips were very useful!

Right now I think I'll fly to Dallas, do Dallas Zoo, World Aq and Ft Worth, all by public transport, take a day for each, then go to Austin for the work (probably will have to take a plane to get from dallas to austin it seems?) and after the conference, take an extra day to visit San Antonio Zoo (will rent a car) and fly back home from Austin. Still not sure if I'd combine SA Zoo with Sea world, probably not to avoid costs rising. The only critters I'd like to see are the Hawaiian monk seals. Saw most of the other large sea mammals anyway, on my zoo trip last year in Japan ;-)

Am looking forward to seeing all these places (and yes, the rare species)!

Arizonadocent, it would be nice to get in touch, but I'll probably arrive only the 11th, so meeting up won't be possible...
 
Yes, Texas that time of year will still be fairly hot. Early September we can still be in the upper 90's if not occasionally hitting 100.

Honestly, I think renting a car in Dallas and driving to Austin would be cheaper. It is an easy drive and only a few hours. I say that and I have to remember driving long distances is something that we Texans take for granted.
 
Thanks jbnbsn99, I think I will rent a car indeed - it seems to be only 3,5h drive from Dallas to Austin, so that should be easy enough, even for a European living in a tiny country like Belgium :) And I am not so keen on flying anyway. I don't suppose there is anything interesting to see on the road from Dallas to Austin?
 
The Cameron Park Zoo in Waco is along the way from Dallas and Austin. It's a smaller zoo, but the African and native exhibits are very good, as is the herpetarium, and they recently opened an Asia section. You can cover the whole zoo in about 90 minutes. Website here: www.cameronparkzoo.com.
 
I wholeheartedly agree. The zoo in Waco is one of my favorites. Most everything is well done. Nothing really exotic species wise, but the whole zoo is less than 20 years old.
 
Thanks again for the tip - it does look rather good on the website, and with Guenther's dikdiks, Gerenuks and Coyotes they have at least three rather large mammal species that are not present in Western-European collections (I know they are in the other zoos in the area I want to visit, too - but I'll probably include this one on my journey) and they have apes- hurray hurray!
 
Hi guys, just returned from Texas, and had a great time visiting Dallas World Aquarium, Dallas Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo and Cameron Park Zoo - all with public transport (which was NOT an easy thing to do in Texas). Really enjoyed Dallas WAQ: bird collection is incredible! Enjoyed Texas Zoo: impressive reptile collection, some remarkable primate species; a shame the impala and elephants were not/no longer mixed on Giants of the savanna; and the monorail was a BIT of a bummer; Fort Worth Zoo had a gas leak, so had to wait at the entrance for a while, but really enjoyed the Texan exhibit and MOLA of course; finally decided to go to Waco by Greyhound to visit Cameron Park Zoo: very impressive, especially the North American exhibits and African savanna optical combinations (giraffe+gerenuk+kudu+crowned crane+marabu / White rhino/ African elephant); was not too impressed with the "large" orangutan enclosure. It wasnt bad, but not really brilliant either. But I had a great day in each of the zoos. Thanks again to all of you who gave travel advise!
 
I didnot see the yapok, unfortunately (it was always sleeping although I stood guard near the exhibit for a long time); neither did I see the titi's at Dallas Zoo; and I missed the black footed ferret in Fort Worth (exhibit seemed to be abandoned, and is no longer listed on ISIS) and the Mexican prehensile tailed porcupine in Cameron - but still saw plenty of animal (sub)species you don't see (often) in Europe, such as :

- three-toed sloth, all the toucanets and arracaris, the orinoco crocodiles, cotton tails, red-backed sakis, nomùinate subspecies of emperor tamarin, the jabiru @ dallas WAQ;

- red-flanked duiker, (a glimpse of) gerenuk, the white alligator, mona guenons, collared lemurs, east african eland, virginian opposum @ dallas zoo;

- gerenuk, red wolves, white tailed deer, gharials + loads more reptile species @ forth worth zoo

- more gerenuk, guenthers dikdik, jamaican fruit bat, white tailed deer @ Cameron Park Zoo
 
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