Zoos with transportation rides

The Alligator Lad

The Alligator Lad

Active Member
I visited Disney's Animal Kingdom about 6 months ago, and after going on the Kilimanjaro Safari and the train that takes you to Rafiki's Planet Watch, I was wondering if any other zoos have attractions like these? I know that the Night Safari at Singapore has a tram ride and that San Diego Zoo Safari park has a zipline, but apart from that I can't think of any.
 
The Alligator Lad said:
I visited Disney's Animal Kingdom about 6 months ago, and after going on the Kilimanjaro Safari and the train that takes you to Rafiki's Planet Watch, I was wondering if any other zoos have attractions like these? I know that the Night Safari at Singapore has a tram ride and that San Diego Zoo Safari park has a zipline, but apart from that I can't think of any.
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ZSL Whipsnade and Cotswold wildlife park both have trains which run on tracks laid around the zoo.

Dudley zoo has a land train which runs on a set route as does Banham, Hamerton and Colchester. Dudley also has a chair lift.
 
Chester has the Lazy River boat ride around the Islands section of the zoo. There used to be a monorail ride, but that was dismantled some years ago.
Islands: Lazy River cruise boats

Islands: Lazy River cruise boats

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The front boat has passed one of the barless orang enclosures. The second one is passing the...
At Longleat, there is boat trip around the ornamental lake to view the gorillas and colobus monkeys, visitors can also buy portions of fish to feed the sealions that follow the boat.
At Drayton Manor theme park, the children's train is themed as 'Thomas the Tank Engine' and a section of the track goes through the zoo.
 
Of my local zoos Marwell Zoo has a road train and Beale Widlfe Park has a train.

Longleat offers boat rides on the lake where their sea lions are.kept.

Not within the zoo itself, but one of the most interesting one was when I went to Taronga Zoo in Sydney. The zoo is located on a hill the other side of the estuary from main part of the city. One way of entering the zoo is to take a boat from the city centre (which goes under the harbour bridge and past the opera house) and then a cable car (which goes over the zoo) up to the main entrance at the top of the hill.
 
There's actually loads of zoos with transportation rides. I'll provide 5 examples:

Kolmarden Zoo (Sweden) has a 30-minute gondola ride:

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Oakland Zoo (USA) has a 4-minute gondola ride:

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Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (USA) has a Skyfari ride:

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Wildlands Emmen (Netherlands) has a boat ride through an Asian indoor jungle and even through a mock-rock tunnel:

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@Mr Gharial

Hannover Zoo (Germany) has a boat ride through its African zone:

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@Daniel Sörensen
 
snowleopard said:
Wildlands Emmen (Netherlands) has a boat ride through an Asian indoor jungle and even through a mock-rock tunnel:

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Rimbula is an Asian-inspired jungle, but I wouldn't say it's Asian. It has lemurs, spider monkeys, and a large variety of free-roamers from various continents. Wildlands works more with Biomes than continents.

Personally I love how it goes right past the Asian elephants and Spider monkeys, making for a very nice showcase.

Some additional photo's:
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Asian elephant habitat

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The beautiful rockwork surrounding the boat ride

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Spider monkey islands
 
Mr Gharial said:
Rimbula is an Asian-inspired jungle, but I wouldn't say it's Asian. It has lemurs, spider monkeys, and a large variety of free-roamers from various continents. Wildlands works more with Biomes than continents.

Personally I love how it goes right past the Asian elephants and Spider monkeys, making for a very nice showcase.

Some additional photo's:
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Asian elephant habitat

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The beautiful rockwork surrounding the boat ride

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Spider monkey islands
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Sorry to divert the thread, but the boat ride is in my view probably the most disappointing thing in Wildlands…

It only passes two exhibits (spider monkeys and elephants), who both can be viewed better from the footpath. The roofs over the boats prevents from any good views on the spider monkeys (and any free roaming birds) because they are usually high up. The views on the indoor elephant exhibit is inexplicably hampered by rockwork and quite a lot of time the elephants aren’t even in this part of the exhibit. And for too much of the time, the views from the boat are at straight mock rockwork. So much more could have been achieved.

Back on topic, many zoo’s have transport thingamybops. Some just to showcase some animals and return to the same point, some to bring you from one end of the zoo to the other.

Zoom Gelsenkirchen has a boat ride, Pairi Daiza a train ride (on rails). I’m trying tot remember an example of a zoo with a hop-on, hop-of kind of transport through the zoo… I have seen at least one or two, just can’t remember where.
 
The Minnesota Zoo used to have two big "transport attractions", one large and one small.

The larger one was the monorail, which opened in 1979 and closed in 2013. It was a 25-minute ride, half of which encircled the Northern Trail (moose, camels, bison, a lot of hoofstock basically) and half of which cut through some of the undeveloped land owned by the zoo. Half-animal ride, half-nature ride. It has since been converted to the Treetop Trail, 1.25 miles in length.

The smaller one (and by far the less documented one) is that there used to be a tractor ride that ran between the Family Farm and the "main zoo". A little bit of a haybale ride- two carts connected to a tractor that guests could sit on to go to and from the farm. It was really nice as it's a bit of a hike. I wanna say it's been at least 5 years since it operated but I really couldn't say for certain.

Como Zoo has the Soaring Eagle zip ride, which offers a "panoramic bird's eye view of Como Town, Como Zoo, and Como Park" but it's technically part of the attached theme park Como Town so I'm not sure if I'd count it as a zoo feature. The zoo part now has these... scooter things?... "Scooter pals fur-wheelers" is what they're called. Five bucks down + 35 cents a minute. They seem inconvenient and like an insurance case waiting to happen.
 
The Alligator Lad said:
Oh boy, rentable E-scooters at a zoo. That's a disaster waiting to happen.
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Oh absolutely. I've seen them at the mall too but that feels much more reasonable- lots of flat terrain, restricted to people-free areas, all on the ground floor. But a zoo?! Just a nightmare in my opinion. I don't think they go fast enough to fling yourself over a barricade or anything, but I can't imagine the animals are made any more relaxed by seeing a big moving cartoon bear/lion/etc.
 
I know of a few along the US east coast (and one out in the midwest) that I have done.

The North Carolina Zoo has the Zoofari, which is similar in principle to Disney's Kilimanjaro Safari, although it operates on a limited schedule. The ride goes into their 36-acre Watani Grasslands habitat (home to Rhinos, Antelope, and, presumably in the future, ostriches), lasts about an hour, and utilizes open-air buses. The ride only runs April-October, and only on Thurs-Sun (along with select holidays) with a limited amount of tours per day. It's an upcharge attraction, and requires you to travel all the way to the zoo's central Junction Plaza to purchase a ticket. They do also offer private tours.

I do the Zoofari everytime I visit the NC Zoo and I always have a good time. It especially allows you to get some great views of their antelope and rhinos that aren't possible from just the foot paths owing to the size of the enclosure.

GatorLand USA has their Stompin' Gator Off-Road ride, where you ride in a large-wheeled buggy that travels through backwoods and through an alligator enclosure. The ride carries the park's trademark "Southern redneck" humor and is themed around the story of a hillbilly defending his land from a theme park tycoon. It was quite silly, but charming.

ZooTampa has their Expedition Wild Africa Safari, where you ride in an open-air bus that circles the zoo's Africa zone. It does not go into any enclosures, but it does provide some alternate views of their animals, and it's also the only way to see their Patas Monkeys.

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo also has a railroad, although unlike the examples above, it has two stations. Up until the opening of Asian Highlands, it was the only way to see their Indian Rhinos (as was the case when I visited in 2017).
 
Are we including any zoo railroad or just those that specifically pass animal attractions? I've been to multiple zoos with small children's trains but have not rode them so unsure which are worth mentioning.

Brookfield Zoo had a steam train, the Brookfield, Salt Creek & Western, that went on a railroad around the perimeter of the zoo from 1967 to 1985 that is still fondly remembered in some circles. I believe the train was restored and operates at a Steam museum now. It was famously the only way to view the Bison exhibit then held west of the Salt Creek Wilderness / Indian Lake / Swan Lake area of the zoo. It was deconstructed during construction of the current Seven Seas dolphinarium which had to be built over where the track lay. More info on this page.

The train was succeeded by the 'Safari tram ride' which mostly goes along the visitor paths slowly, allowing guests to view the exhibits more closely. I don't do a lot of in-zoo transportation but on one occasion with family we took the safari tram to get them off their feet for a bit and for a casual visitor I think it's very good for what it is. Just a bit redundant for a zoo nerd unless you need off your feet.
 
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