West or North?

TheOnlineZoo

TheOnlineZoo

Well-Known Member
I'm planning a six day road trip in late October, and I want to hit as many new zoos as possible. I'm in Austin and have seen all but two of the zoos in Texas. I used to live in Atlanta, and I have seen most of the zoos in the southeastern U.S. That leaves north or west.

My priorities are:

1. New zoo
2. New species
3. Good photo opportunities
4. Volume of species

I've narrowed the route down to these two options. I'd like your input on which one would be more rewarding. I am not locked into these exactly itineraries, but I am limited to six days and have to end up back in Austin. Also please let me know if there is a second animal attraction in one of these cities that would be worth visiting in the afternoon.

West
El Paso Zoo, El Paso, TX
* Reid Park Zoo, Tucson, AZ
* Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ
Phoenix Zoo, Phoenix, AZ
Rio Grande Zoo, Albuquerque, NM
Hillcrest Park Zoo, Clovis, NM
Abilene Zoo, Abilene, TX
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=...gmbVEhjF61WnUS0abXQ&oq=Tucson+&mra=ls&t=m&z=6

North
Oklahoma City Zoo, Oklahoma City, OK
Tulsa Zoo, Tulsa, OK
* Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita Falls, KS
Kansas City Zoological Park, Kansas City, MO
Little Rock Zoo, Little Rock, AR
* Caldwell Zoo, Tyler, TX
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=...&oq=wichita&mra=dpe&mrsp=6&sz=7&via=6&t=m&z=6

* I have visited these before.
 
My quick answer would be to say "North", and I've visited 11 out of the 13 zoos in the past few years. The two that I've not been to are the two smallest: Hillcrest Park and Abilene. Of the "West" zoos that you've not been to Phoenix is quite good with many excellent exhibits while El Paso is small and can be seen in 3 hours but is also very enjoyable. However, "North" has 4 zoos that you've not seen that certainly have extensive animal collections and Oklahoma City and Kansas City are sprawling, vast zoos that also have a number of terrific exhibit complexes. I have reviewed all of the zoos and if you would be interested in reading my thoughts then please send me a private message.
 
snowleopard said:
"North" has 4 zoos that you've not seen that certainly have extensive animal collections and Oklahoma City and Kansas City are sprawling, vast zoos that also have a number of terrific exhibit complexes.
Click to expand...

Thanks! This is exactly the kind of info I was looking for.
 
I'm going to differ and say go west. Not because I think the zoos are better, but in late October some of the zoos you mention may not have all of their warm-weather animals on display since it's starting to cool down in late October (at least in Kansas).
 
I agree with everything above. Even though I volunteer at one of the zoos on your west list (Reid Park), it seems the north has many more big hitters (even though I have not been to most of them).

But, as just mentioned, weather could be a factor. The west will be beautiful in late October while the north could be either good or bad. Of course some of my best zoo photos and experiences have been in "bad" weather, so it's a tough call. You do not have Wildlife World on your west list (in the greater Phoenix area). It is an odd mix - some really bad exhibits but also some good ones - but overall I like it and the species list is unsurpassed. The aquarium section of it is also open until 9pm.

If you do choose west, if you plan to be at Reid Park on a Tuesday (my usual day there) I may be able to arrange at least some kind of personal experience. You can PM Team Tapir to see what I did for them, though it would likely be something different next time.
 
Arizona Docent said:
You do not have Wildlife World on your west list (in the greater Phoenix area).
Click to expand...

Thanks for letting me know about this facility. I will eventually make it to Phoenix, even if not this fall, and I will make sure to hit that one, too.

Arizona Docent said:
If you do choose west, if you plan to be at Reid Park on a Tuesday (my usual day there) I may be able to arrange at least some kind of personal experience.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer. I visited Reid Park Zoo in May 2012 before a five day birding trip in southeast Arizona. It was small (I photographed every animal in 2.5 hours), but was really high quality. I definitely plan to go back someday, and I'll take you up on that offer.

My wife was able to rearrange her time off to be a complete week, so we now have nine days (including both weekends) for this trip. I have physical limitations to consider, so I doubt we will fill all nine days, but we have considered adding Omaha, Sioux Falls, Des Moines, and/or Minneapolis to the North trip. In addition to the zoos, that would give me two new states and my wife four.

The good thing is that since I will be driving, I can adjust my plans if the weather does not cooperate.
 
I am leaving in fifteen minutes, heading north. Due to physical and financial constraints, we scaled back to four days and I will only make it as far as Tulsa. But still, I will get three or four zoos, one aquarium, and one wildlife park, four of which are new for me.

We've added the Dallas Zoo to the list even though I've been there many times because they have cheetah cubs! They only make one appearance a day at a keeper talk, so I am crossing my fingers on that one.
 
I had a great time on my trip, but it was overcast and humid the whole time. As a result, most of the photos aren't as nice as I would like. I am very obese, and I was extremely tired by the middle of the second day, so I didn't cover as much ground as I would have liked.

Day one started with Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch near Denton, TX north of Dallas. This facility is kind of a dump, but it was on the way and I had never been there before. They do have a few unusual animals, including both Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos, but neither are viewable by the public. They also have a pair of Pere David's Deer (which I've only seen three other places) and White-fronted Lemur Eulemur fulvus albifrons (which I haven't seen anywhere else). We also got to touch a young Swamp Wallaby and a Red Ruffed Lemur (which held my wife's hand - very cute).

Forty minutes up the road was Frank Buck Zoo in Gainsville, TX. I had been there once before, which is good because we arrived 30 minutes before they closed. It's a small zoo with a nice giraffe/zebra exhibit in the middle and a bunch of old steel cages for almost everything else. The coolest animal there is a Geoffroy's Cat, but it is in one of the steel cages, so it is very hard to photograph. We hurried through the zoo in 35 minutes and only 178 photos. :) From there we drove up to a point between Tulsa and OK City where we stayed two nights.

Day two started with the Tulsa Zoo. This zoo looks really small on the map, but it is deceptive. For one thing, there is a good deal of space between some of the exhibits. The biggest factor, however, was the series of four buildings (water, forest, desert, cold) which took longer to see than I expected. They also have a pretty nice rainforest building which we almost missed. It was a nice medium-sized zoo, but I don't remember any unusual animals.

After getting lost in a highway detour and having a late lunch, we finished the day at the Oklahoma Aquarium in Tulsa. The medium-sized aquarium was nice, but nothing spectacular. The best feature (for me at least - my wife didn't care about this) was that a very high percentage of the animals were identified on the signs. Most aquariums are seriously deficient in this area. The whole aquarium only took us an hour. Even if I had not been tired, I can't see spending more than an hour and a half there.

Day three was at the Oklahoma City Zoo. I was VERY impressed with this zoo, but I was so exhausted from two days of walking that I did not do it justice. Highlights were four Okapi, baby Red River Hogs, and Indian Rhinos (which I have seen several times, but I still think are cool). I learned later that they have baby Red Pandas, but we only saw one adult. I skipped the herpe building because it was up a steep hill only to learn that we had to climb the steep hill anyway further down. I just didn't have the strength to go back to it. I will definitely have to go back when/if I get my weight under control (planning to have surgery next year, so crossing my fingers on that). After the zoo, we drove down to Dallas.

Day four was at the Dallas Zoo. I have been several times before, but they have two baby Cheetahs (3 months old now) so we had to go again. It rained very hard overnight, but there was a window of no rain from sunrise until noon, with the cheetah presentation happening at 11:00. We did a quick tour of the Wilds of Africa, ending at the place where the cheetahs would be. To our surprise, one of the cheetahs and their companion lab puppy came out fifteen minutes early on leashes, walking around the area. They told us that this was the first day they had brought a cheetah out on a leash while the public was present, and that they are trying to acclimate the cubs to being around people. Because of this, they only brought one of the cubs, but it was nice to see the leash training. (The cheetah cub did NOT like being on a leash.)

After that, we walked back towards the middle (the zoo is split into two major sections) trying to decide if I had the strength to walk a bit more or if we should call it a day. As we approached the entrance, it started raining, and that made our decision. We had 200 miles left to drive, and it rained all of the way home.

I have only loaded a few of the photos, and I am not sure when I will have time to finish. But if you want to see some of the babies (and some I've taken in the past), check out my new Animal Babies theme page: The Online Zoo - Baby Animals. This page includes the Cheetah, the Red River Hogs, and a Diana Monkey juvy from Tulsa Zoo. It also has one of the Sumatran Tiger cubs from the San Antonio Zoo which were mentioned on a different thread.
 
Congratulations on touring 5 zoos and an aquarium in a week, and I appreciate your thoughtful mini-reviews. Dallas and Oklahoma City are two very large, terrific zoos that I'm a major fan of, and Tulsa I definitely was not that impressed with but the rainforest complex is definitely above average. It was also nice to read about the two crappy zoos as I've never visited them, as well as the Oklahoma Aquarium which I've heard from many people is solid without ever rising even close to greatness. Road trips are an awesome way to tick off a few wildlife attractions and hopefully the next time around you won't be so tired and thus will enjoy your walking a little more.:)
 
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