Xcaret Park Xcaret Park trip report 12/29/2022

SwampDonkey

SwampDonkey

In the Swamp
Premium Member
5+ year member
I had the opportunity to visit Xcaret on a cruise ship excursion from Cozumel. Broadly I thoroughly enjoyed the park, but the combined ferry from Cozumel and bus ride from Playa Del Carmen took valuable time away from touring the park. In the end we only had about 3 hours to explore the park - there is no way one can see everything in the park in that time, even with rushing through it. The parts that we were able to explore:

  • Animal habitats
  • Aviary
  • Butterfly House
  • Ruins
  • Aquarium
  • Beach
Even to see those things we had very little time to actually stop and explore, we did not stop to eat lunch (choosing to walk and eat) either.

This is probably the absolute best stop for animals that one will be able to enjoy while in this region of the Yucatan. Most of the animal habitats were very well done, on par with most AZA zoos, with the exception of the tiny dolphin enclosures. The aquarium is nicely done, but quite small.
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The shining jewel (from an animal perspective) is the massive aviary. Even if birds are not your "thing" you will be able to appreciate this building. The design is like a massive covered cylinder and has you starting in the canopy and walking concentrically around the cylinder until you reach the forest floor where there is a large stream, pond, and there is even a large swinging bridge at the top. There are several side aviaries for golden eagle, king vulture, quetzal, and toucans. Inside the rainforest aviary are dozens of species from macaw and parrots, oscillated turkey, and smaller birds as well as various wading birds such as American white pelicans, rosette spoonbills, and ducks.
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The jaguar habitat has the distinction of being a open air island set in a grotto. I have never seen jaguar exhibited in anything other than fully enclosed habitats using nets, glass, etc.
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There are also various habitats for Bairds tapir, spider monkey, brocket deer, white tailed deer, flamingo, various macaws, puma, green and hawksbill turtles, etc. There are supposed to be manatee, but I did not see any (although it is entirely possible that I missed them). All of these habitats are done well and the animals seemed happy.
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The aquarium has various tanks with reef fish, but nothing spectacular really. They have two large nurse shark tanks and a shark show. The shark tanks were well done. The worst part about the whole facility are the dolphin pens, which are much too small. Allegedly it is not part of Xcaret, but logically it is located in the same park and part of your admission, so it may as well be a part of the aquarium that it is located beside.
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If you like animals and are in the area, this is a must stop. I would dedicate an entire day if you are able, a half day will not allow you enough time to see the whole place or really get good time in just the animal areas.
 
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Ah, I remember this place. I've been to Cancun several times, but I've only been to Xcaret once because I was the only person in my family who wanted to go :(. I actually saw a wild coati while I was on the boat ride, so that was cool! It's a really neat place, and I'd love to go again now that I'm older.
By the way, did you see any raccoons or perhaps a grison? I saw the former in an exhibit near the tapirs, but I believe the latter was kept there at one point.
 
Thanks for the review. The aviary appears to be stunning and in general I've heard good things about this park. Although, the dolphin pool in your photo is obviously small and outdated.
 
Corangurilla said:
Ah, I remember this place. I've been to Cancun several times, but I've only been to Xcaret once because I was the only person in my family who wanted to go :(. I actually saw a wild coati while I was on the boat ride, so that was cool! It's a really neat place, and I'd love to go again now that I'm older.
By the way, did you see any raccoons or perhaps a grison? I saw the former in an exhibit near the tapirs, but I believe the latter was kept there at one point.
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I did not see a grison, I did see the raccoon habitat, which was indeed right after the tapir and before the deer - but no racoons were out the two times I passed by.
 
snowleopard said:
Thanks for the review. The aviary appears to be stunning and in general I've heard good things about this park. Although, the dolphin pool in your photo is obviously small and outdated.
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Yeah, the dolphins are in one large pool that is split into 4 or 5 small pools. I don't know why they keep them separate. Supposedly there are manatees in that area as well, but I did not see them or a pool being used for them as dolphins were in all of the pools I saw.

The aviary is incredible, it is probably the best aviary I have been to. I have not been back to Miami Metro since the aviary was rebuilt following Andrew, but I can compare it to SDZ, ZooTampa, and NCZ and this is the best IMO.

The quetzal were incredibly difficult to see and photograph as they are kept behind a glass wall and the glare is terrible. I had to lean over the plantings about 2ft and put the phone/camera against the glass to get that photo, and you can still see the glare.
 
When I visited in 2019 there were about 6 manatees on display in a large set of pools between the big cats and the aquarium if I remember correctly, nowhere near the dolphins. I agree the aviary is superb.
 
Tetzoo Quizzer said:
When I visited in 2019 there were about 6 manatees on display in a large set of pools between the big cats and the aquarium if I remember correctly, nowhere near the dolphins. I agree the aviary is superb.
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AH, that makes sense, I totally missed that area of the park - we ran out of time by then. I just looked at the map and you are correct, that is where they are. The little picture of the shark on the map looks a lot like a manatee to me, which is what confused me at the time.
 
Does the park still house Peccary? as I am planning a trip in June during my holiday to Mexico and that was one of the species I wanted to see.
 
Xcaret is a large park and the animal habitats are spread out. Swamp donkey did miss some due to his time limits. There are manatees in a large pool near the stingrays. Sadly the grisons have been replaced by common raccoons on a small island.
. There are also Mexican black howler monkeys both free ranging and in an enclosure. In the mornings they are quite vocal.
Xcaret has collared peccaries but not white lipped. They are near the orchard garden.You have to look for them.
The dolphin pool is indeed quite limited.Most dolphin enclosures in Quintana Roo are outdated.
The large walk through aviary is recent and replaced a very outdated bird section. Xcaret has a great breeding record for birds, but the quetzal are not one of the successes. Males have proven difficult to maintain. Zoomat and El Nido remain as the mexican collections that have bred quetzals.
The Yucatán brocket are an interesting deer that can only be found in collections in this region. The deer in the photo seems to be a Yucatán white tail deer due to its horns. Xcaret has both species.
The Xcaret map has its limitations but it is quite useful.
 
carlos55 said:
Xcaret is a large park and the animal habitats are spread out. Swamp donkey did miss some due to his time limits. There are manatees in a large pool near the stingrays. Sadly the grisons have been replaced by common raccoons on a small island.
. There are also Mexican black howler monkeys both free ranging and in an enclosure. In the mornings they are quite vocal.
Xcaret has collared peccaries but not white lipped. They are near the orchard garden.You have to look for them.
The dolphin pool is indeed quite limited.Most dolphin enclosures in Quintana Roo are outdated.
The large walk through aviary is recent and replaced a very outdated bird section. Xcaret has a great breeding record for birds, but the quetzal are not one of the successes. Males have proven difficult to maintain. Zoomat and El Nido remain as the mexican collections that have bred quetzals.
The Yucatán brocket are an interesting deer that can only be found in collections in this region. The deer in the photo seems to be a Yucatán white tail deer due to its horns. Xcaret has both species.
The Xcaret map has its limitations but it is quite useful.
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Thanks for all the information! Unfortunately we did not see any monkeys, they were signed in the habitats, but not out when we were there. Out of happenstance I am going back to the area later this year, so perhaps we will see some then, although I don't think we are going to get to go back to Xcaret that time.
 
carlos55 said:
There are also Mexican black howler monkeys both free ranging and in an enclosure. In the mornings they are quite vocal.
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Where exactly is the howler monkeys exhibit? I have visited several times and have seen a spider monkeys exhibit, but never saw howler monkeys. I have heard about free ranging ones, and have seen them in one of the resorts I used to stay in while in the area.

The collared peccaries are actually easy to miss. I think you can only see them if you take the long walk towards the river boat right, quite away from other animal exhibits.

I agree with all other comments. The aviary is gorgeous and definitely in the same league (if not better) with Miami’s Wings of Asia or San Diego giant aviaries. Unfortunately, as @carlos55 mentioned, they only have a female quetzal (I would love to photograph a male…). A few years ago, one of the sections appeared to be dedicated to hummingbirds but I haven’t seen a single one there, and this year I saw a pair of toucans there instead.
 
I saw the enclosure with Mexican black howler monkeys in 2019 when fellow zoochater Azamat Shakelford also saw them (see gallery). It seems that the howler monkeys in that exhibit have now left Xcaret for another collection or may have passed away. Since howler monkeys are very territorial, it is not likely that the pair on the island could be integrated into the free ranging troop. It is a pity that Xcaret no longer has them , because this species is not kept in zoos outside of Mexico and Central America , unlike the Mexican spider monkeys which are in various zoos worldwide. At least the free ranging group remains, which are much easier to hear than be seen. I will post some photos on this later.
I also suspect that if Xcaret ever recieves another pair of quetzal they will not kept on exhibit.
 
carlos55 said:
I saw the enclosure with Mexican black howler monkeys in 2019 when fellow zoochater Azamat Shakelford also saw them (see gallery). It seems that the howler monkeys in that exhibit have now left Xcaret for another collection or may have passed away. Since howler monkeys are very territorial, it is not likely that the pair on the island could be integrated into the free ranging troop. It is a pity that Xcaret no longer has them , because this species is not kept in zoos outside of Mexico and Central America , unlike the Mexican spider monkeys which are in various zoos worldwide. At least the free ranging group remains, which are much easier to hear than be seen. I will post some photos on this later.
I also suspect that if Xcaret ever recieves another pair of quetzal they will not kept on exhibit.
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Thanks! I saw a young male howler this December in Valla Zoo in Valladolid, and also photographed (and heard on multiple occasions!) a free-ranging troop a few years ago. Very interesting species!
Pity about quetzals. I did see a male once in Dallas World Aquarium behind the scenes, and couldn't take a decent photo. Hope to see them at El Nido or ZooMat in the future... (El Nido is probably more likely, as it is in the vicinity of Mexico City, which I have plans to visit)
 
zoo_enthusiast said:
this year I saw a pair of toucans there instead.
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Is that the area they call the Toucan Aviary (or something similar)? They had keel billed toucan in there when I was there, possibly other species as well, but that is all I saw in the 15 second walk through.
 
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