Zoos within driving distance of Norfolk, VA?

[biggest_dreamer]

Coming fresh off the heels of my trip around Texas two weeks ago (which I intend to write up a mini review of, possibly as soon as later today) I'm already setting my sights on next summer's journey. Basically this is the followup to this thread.

Unfortunately, since I'm tying these trips to a conference my wife attends, I don't get much say in where to go - Norfolk certainly wouldn't be my first choice for zoomaxxing, but it is what it is. Ideally I'm looking for some locations within ~4 hours of travel, which will allow me to visit and return the same day, and then I'll fill up a week with such excursions. This isn't the most elegant way to do things I'm sure, but it works with that cards I've been dealt, and the format worked pretty well for Texas. Anyway, here's what I've found so far (note that I'm not actually actively considering all of these, especially as you go further down the list):

1. Virginia Zoo (Norfolk, VA) - Well, that's the obvious one. I've been here before (twice in fact, but I remember basically nothing from the first trip) and would be happy to return, but I'm also hoping I can figure out what else is feasible more so than this being strictly a trip to repeat zoos. Still, this one's all but guaranteed to happen unless I somehow come up with a treasure trove of places I haven't seen yet.
2. Virginia Aquarium (Virginia Beach, VA) (~30 min away) - Another easy one, but aquariums typically do considerably less for me than zoos, especially if I'm going on my own. Still, the proximity makes it an easy consideration.
3. Metro Richmond Zoo (Richmond, VA) (~2 hr away) - A seemingly polarizing facility, and more so than that, potentially one I will have already visited before this trip (I'm going to DC in October and possibly stopping by here on the way). Will it be worth visiting again less than a year later? I kind of doubt it, unless I'm really hurting for things to do.
4. Smithsonian's National Zoo (Washington, DC) (~3-4 hr away) - As with the last one, except this one is definitely happening during my October visit. I could see myself much more inclined to return here though, especially if they have pandas next year but don't yet before I visit this year. Solid "maybe".
5. Sylvan Heights Bird Park (Scotland Neck, NC) (~1 hr 45 min away) - This is the perfect contender, really. Widely lauded facility that I've never been to before, and a nice, relatively short drive. This is probably the biggest lock so far.
6. Maryland Zoo (Baltimore, MD) (~4-4.5 hr away) - This one seems to be on the outer edge of feasibility, but I think I can and should make it work. Probably a safe consideration.
7. National Aquarium (Baltimore, MD) (~4-4.5 hr away) - Is this possible to double dip with Maryland Zoo in a single day, considering all that driving? I'm doubtful, and as an aquarium, I don't think it's going to be appealing enough to loop back or try to stay overnight for. I think if I do a dedicated aquarium it's most likely to be Virginia for sheer ease of access.
8. North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island (Manteo, NC) (~2 hr away) - Seems more feasible than National Aquarium, at least. I've never been to any of the NC Aquariums and haven't heard much about them which makes me assume they aren't worth going out of my way for.
   
9. North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores (Pine Knoll Shores, NC) (~4 hr away) - As above, except now even further away. Maybe I could try and hit them both in a day for laughs? The third and final one is just too far away to even humor, though.
   
10. Brandywine Zoo (Wilmington, DE) (~4.5-5 hr away) - Is this Delaware's best zoo? It seems extraordinarily small. And yeah, I get it, small state, no shade, but it's just too far away to justify with no heavy hitters to its name. I think it's not even in the running.
11. Philadelphia Zoo (Philadelphia, PA) (~5.5 hr away) - Outside of the range I'm trying to limit myself to, but it's still incredibly tempting. Certainly more so than Brandywine. This is a strong "maybe" assuming I'm feeling up to the extra driving once push comes to shove.
12. Cape May County Park & Zoo (Cape May, NJ) (6+ hr away) - Ah, this just highlights the practical limitations of Zootierliste's proximity search. That site suggests that this zoo is much closer than it is in reality because it, I assume, looks at the straight line distance between the two points rather than the actual road distance. This one isn't going to work as it involves driving out of the way to go along the coast.
13. North Carolina Zoo or Greensboro Science Center (Asheboro/Greensboro, NC) (~4-4.5 hr away each) - Feasible and appealing, but with these I'm starting to travel back towards home (northwest-ish South Carolina), and could actually do either of these as a day trip from home with the same travel time (plus I've already been to NCZ, and GSC is probably going to be my next random day trip). No need to dedicate vacation time to them.
14. Duke Lemur Center (Durham, NC) (~3 hr away) - Can't do this one without my wife, we've talked it up together so much that it's simply not an option to do first solo and that's the only reason I'm even mentioning it.

For Texas, this was so much easier because almost every major zoo in Texas was a ~4 hour drive from my home base of San Antonio (RIP El Paso you never stood a chance). No coasts or mountains to circumnavigate, just the flat infinite vastness of Texas. Here I'm having to look across multiple smaller states, sometimes with conflicting distance information, so I'm sure there's bound to be things I'm missing. I'll consider smaller collections or less reputable places if they have some truly appealing species (which for me is primarily novel/uncommon mammals), but on the whole I generally prefer places with appreciable exhibitry. But certainly all suggestions are welcome.

 

[USZOOfan42]

I have only been to national and Roanoke island aquarium, the aquarium was quite impressive for its size.

 

[Smaggledagle]

Metro Richmond Zoo (Richmond, VA) (~2 hr away) - A seemingly polarizing facility, and more so than that, potentially one I will have already visited before this trip (I'm going to DC in October and possibly stopping by here on the way). Will it be worth visiting again less than a year later? I kind of doubt it, unless I'm really hurting for things to do.

Metro Richmond recently opened up a new area for lemurs, tapirs, and monkeys in April so it might be worth it.

 

[Chlidonias]

Ideally I'm looking for some locations within ~4 hours of travel, which will allow me to visit and return the same day, and then I'll fill up a week with such excursions.

Zootierliste has a radius search function, which might help with showing collections of which you are unaware.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

Zootierliste has a radius search function, which might help with showing collections of which you are unaware.

I was trying to use this, but it wound up giving me multiple false positives (suggesting Cape May and others were substantially closer than they really were, I assume because it checks straight line distance and not road distance) and also just a whole bunch of tiny places without much info on them out there, so it's a bit tough to sift through manually. I was mainly just hoping to get some human input on the less obvious places.

 

[SusScrofa]

Personal opinion, unless you plan on overnighting in these areas, DC or anything north of it isn't worth visiting for a day trip from Norfolk. Too far and really bad traffic in the northeast.

One option you forgot is Virginia Living Museum. Its close to Norfolk and they have a live animal collection, though I don't think its very large.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has a very small animal collection that includes wolves and some birds, but nothing notable as far as I'm aware and it would only be worth visiting if you were into roller coasters and similar rides.

In Richmond there is also Robins Nature Center and animal trails @ Maymont mansion. Its similar to Magnolia Plantation and Charles Towne Landing in that its a small native zoo within a larger attraction. Not really worth a visit just for the zoo but they do have botanical garden and some other stuff. The nature center costs $8 but the rest is free.

Salisbury Zoo is an option if you take an alternate route into Maryland but its a small zoo that recently lost AZA accreditation and I doubt its worth the 2.5 hours it would take to get there.

OBX Lizard Land is a reptile zoo in North Carolina less than an hour from Norfolk, so if you go to Sylvan Heights and want to take a long route or decide not to push north into DC its an option.

NOVA Wild (formerly Roer's Zoofari) is near DC and they used to have African Civets but the last USDA report shows nothing interesting besides somewhat rare Tayra and I don't think the quality is that great though could be wrong. Only worth even considering as an option if you plan to overnight near DC.

North Carolina Museum in Raleigh is nice and free but the collection is small. Its the only place I'm mentioning that I've actually been to.

Aloha Safari is out of the way and is a pretty shabby looking facility from the same owner of Zootastic Park, but they might still have some rare species there. About an hour from NC Zoo.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

NOVA Wild (formerly Roer's Zoofari) is near DC and they used to have African Civets but the last USDA report shows nothing interesting besides somewhat rare Tayra and I don't think the quality is that great though could be wrong. Only worth even considering as an option if you plan to overnight near DC.

Okay, this one's really caught my attention because African civet is a "drop everything" type species for me. I do see where USDA listed two African civets in February 2022, didn't list them in June 2022, and then either hasn't done a "full" inspection since then or the place has almost no animals left. Either way, the civet would really be the make or break factor here. If there's any chance that they have civets come next year (a huge if, but what felt like some bigger "if"s just paid off in my Texas trip) then this place takes top priority, no matter how low quality they are.

And thanks for the rest of this list too, this is exactly the sort of human touch I was looking for.

 

[SusScrofa]

Okay, this one's really caught my attention because African civet is a "drop everything" type species for me. I do see where USDA listed two African civets in February 2022, didn't list them in June 2022, and then either hasn't done a "full" inspection since then or the place has almost no animals left. Either way, the civet would really be the make or break factor here. If there's any chance that they have civets come next year (a huge if, but what felt like some bigger "if"s just paid off in my Texas trip) then this place takes top priority, no matter how low quality they are.

And thanks for the rest of this list too, this is exactly the sort of human touch I was looking for.

You're welcome. If you really want to see African Civets that badly you should look into Tigers For Tomorrow in Alabama. They apparently keep the species and it might not be too far from your home in SC. The place looks a bit dodgy, though. When I move to Atlanta soon I may try to take a trip there at some point to document it, once I'm psychologically prepared.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

You're welcome. If you really want to see African Civets that badly you should look into Tigers For Tomorrow in Alabama. They apparently keep the species and it might not be too far from your home in SC. The place looks a bit dodgy, though. When I move to Atlanta soon I may try to take a trip there at some point to document it, once I'm psychologically prepared.

Nice, I'd actually dug a bit to see if there were any rare viverrids hiding anywhere in NC, SC, Georgia, or Tennessee (there’s a few small spotted genets around but that’s it, really), or even Texas prior to my trip, but never actually looked to Alabama. Looking into the place, their hearts seem to be in the right place but they’re still ultimately keeping big cats in what looks like little more than kennels. Bleh. Why's it always gotta be places like this that end up with the really interesting stuff (I mean obviously if it was just at every old AZA place it wouldn’t be interesting in the same way but still).

 

[Astrotom3000]

That's a pretty good and comprehensive list you got. I don't really have much to add in terms of actual facilities, but there are a few pointers I wanted to provide. I don't know how many of these you plan on visiting, but here are some comments for some of the facilities I have visited that you either seemed unsure about or never visited.

• Sylvan Heights Bird Park - I cannot recommend this facility enough. It's hands down the best non-AZA facility I have visited. The collection is phenomenal and would give just about any elite zoo a run for its money. They have several walkthrough aviaries and plenty of rarities to go around. Plus, it's within 2 hours of your base (which is my threshold for day trips since I tend to spend all day at most of these facilities, Sylvan Heights included).
• National Aquarium at Baltimore - I understand you are leaning towards the Virginia Aquarium based on distance, but if I were to pick between the 2, National Aquarium would win out handily. It is currently my #1 aquarium and is one of the more unique aquariums I have visited. The Australia exhibit alone makes it worth it for me due to its collection of rarities. Funnily enough, I am also in the midst of writing a review and species list for this facility. Speaking of which...
• Virginia Aquarium - Even then, I still think the Virginia Aquarium is a solid facility. Now that they have finally reopened the South Building, you can get the full experience. I would also recommend checking out their dolphin tours.
• North Carolina Zoo or Greensboro Science Center (Asheboro/Greensboro, NC) - I love these facilities dearly, but if I were you, I'd maybe leave them off this one. Like you said, you would be traveling very far towards home to visit these. You could maybe visit one on your way to Norfolk and then visit the other on the way home, if your itinerary allows. Otherwise, I'd save them for another time.
• Smithsonian's National Zoo - The pandas seem all but certain to return, so definitely consider getting that Giant Panda credit if you haven't. You may never know when the next opportunity will come (I was lucky to see them in Atlanta back in 2022).

Also, if you plan on doing any of the Philadelphia, Smithsonian, or Baltimore facilities, I would be extra diligent with planning those. Those facilities are either at or over your 4-hour drive threshold. But keep in mind that, on top of driving however many hours to get there, you also have to deal with the traffic these cities generate (and, in the case of the National Aquarium, find parking), and that can easily add a non-negligible amount of time to your drive. I actually got to visit all of those facilities in the past few months, and experienced the traffic firsthand. It can get hairy up there. And most of this was during the week (Philadelphia was on a Sunday, but even then, I still did hit a little traffic).

Also some comments regarding facilities that @SusScrofa mentioned;

One option you forgot is Virginia Living Museum. Its close to Norfolk and they have a live animal collection, though I don't think its very large.

This is at most an hour away, probably closer, in Newport News. It's entirely native-focused and I counted about 155 species that were signed/displayed. I personally enjoyed that facility very much and have actually written a review of it. It's a very solid native-focused facility even if it did have some flaws (such as some signage issues).

North Carolina Museum in Raleigh is nice and free but the collection is small. Its the only place I'm mentioning that I've actually been to.

This is a facility I am very familiar with. They have somewhere in the neighborhood of ~120-130 species on display. Most are native North Carolina species, but there are some exotics as well. It's a very solid nature museum and I visit it regularly. In fact, I live just a 1/2 hour away, so naturally, it's my most visited collection. That being said, it's hard for me to recommend it for this trip given your criteria.

On the one hand, Raleigh is around 3 hours from Norfolk, give or take, so it's within your day trip parameters. The museum can be toured in just a few hours, though of course, that will depend on your pace. This means the 3-hour drive should not be too much of an obstacle. Raleigh is not a busy city and has plentiful parking near the museum. Also, they just opened a new Dinosaur exhibit this past April.

On the other hand, it may not be enough to carry an entire day (as much as I like visiting this place, I personally wouldn't drive 3 hours just for this museum only), so I'd recommend combining it with other attractions in Raleigh, such as the IMAX theater or the NC Museum of Art. Up until recently, I would have also recommended combining the Museum of Natural Sciences with the adjacent Museum of History, but the latter will be fully closing to the public later this year to undergo a 2-3 year renovation and redesign. So it will be fully closed next summer should you decide to visit Raleigh.

 

[TheGytrash]

I agree with those who recommended the Virginia Living Museum. It is AZA accredited, I believe, and has a boardwalk trail with outdoor exhibits (both a big aviary and several mammal exhibits) and indoor aquarium/terrarium exhibits.

Also, I know you said you're not much of an aquarium fan, but if you do go to the Virginia Aquarium, it's a little different from some other aquariums. It's formally the "Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center" and I tend to think of it as more of a 'marine science museum/aquarium' because it has less of an emphasis on fish tanks and more on recreating biomes, including big species like seals, otters, komodo dragons, sharks and rays, etc. and has more science exhibits, too.

I actually went there as a little girl with the my Girl Scout troop using the cookie money we raised and even took a whale watching boat ride (offered by the aquarium) as part of our visit and it made a big impression on me.

 

[Antimony96]

1. Brandywine Zoo (Wilmington, DE) (~4.5-5 hr away) - Is this Delaware's best zoo? It seems extraordinarily small. And yeah, I get it, small state, no shade, but it's just too far away to justify with no heavy hitters to its name. I think it's not even in the running.

By process of elimination, yes.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Sylvan Heights Bird Park - I cannot recommend this facility enough. It's hands down the best non-AZA facility I have visited. The collection is phenomenal and would give just about any elite zoo a run for its money. They have several walkthrough aviaries and plenty of rarities to go around. Plus, it's within 2 hours of your base (which is my threshold for day trips since I tend to spend all day at most of these facilities, Sylvan Heights included).

^^^This. Sylvan Heights is an amazing place if you are at all into birds. The remoteness of the facility is a bit of a detriment, but even people with a passing interest in birds would find it interesting. FWIW, just a small correction, basically every exhibit is a walk through aviary, although they have some nice side aviaries as well. Their cassowary exhibit is by far the largest I have seen.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

So half a year later, and halfway to the trip, I’m trying to figure things out somewhat more specifically now that I know a few more details about the trip. Looks like I’ll have potentially 7 whole days to take advantage of, not including the day before and after for travel. Here’s what I’m thinking for each day, not necessarily in this order:

1. Sylvan Heights Bird Park - No explanation necessary.
2. Virginia Zoo, Virginia Living Museum, and Virginia Aquarium - This seems like a potentially packed day, but none of these facilities seem particularly large from what I’ve gathered (or remember, in the zoo’s case). This can probably be split across two days if necessary. But you all really sold me on the Living Museum, it seems really neat especially for how close by it will be.
3. Metro Richmond Zoo - I honestly enjoyed this place more than I expected to. I don’t think I’d mind devoting another day to it.
4. National Zoo - I’m very much not looking forward to driving in DC again (seriously, I wonder if I should park in a less busy area and then Uber to the zoo…), but I missed half of the Asia Trail, several bird exhibits, and all of Africa during my last visit, so I think I can justify returning to this one too. I really enjoyed it, and honestly driving in DC is the only reason I’d be even slightly on the fence.
5. Philadelphia Zoo - So far my only new facilities in this list are places that have more specialized collections, and I really want to visit at least one new “proper” zoo during this trip. I’m thinking the move will be to actually get a hotel for one night near the zoo, so that I won’t be traveling both to and from Philadelphia in one day. It looks like if I take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, it’s just a 5 hour drive. Seems doable.
6. Adventure Aquarium, National Aquarium, and/or Maryland Zoo - Not sure how to prioritize these, and I’m certainly not trying to do all three, but I’d like to hit one or two on my day back from Philadelphia. Adventure Aquarium is basically right there beside Philadelphia Zoo, so it and its infamous hippos seem like an easy stop. I’d like to try and hit Maryland Zoo on my way back to Norfolk too, so it seems like those two might be my goal, if they can realistically be done on a single day if I’m starting off right next to Adventure Aquarium (need some more research). National Aquarium seems like by far the better facility, but I also worry that it would wind up taking a good deal longer to get through.

If I do each of these as its own day, I’m left with one leftover that I could feasibly use to split the Virginia Zoo/Aquarium/Living Museum day across, which also lets me stick a “lighter” day on either side of the Philadelphia hustle.

I’ll continue looking into things but I think I’m pretty happy with this list given what I’ve got to work with.

 

[Astrotom3000]

2. Virginia Zoo, Virginia Living Museum, and Virginia Aquarium - This seems like a potentially packed day, but none of these facilities seem particularly large from what I’ve gathered (or remember, in the zoo’s case). This can probably be split across two days if necessary. But you all really sold me on the Living Museum, it seems really neat especially for how close by it will be.

If I were you, I'd try to split these 3 facilities over 2 days if possible. Trying to do all of them in 1 day seems like a major challenge. They are at minimum a 35 minute drive apart from each other, and the traffic around the Hampton Roads area isn't exactly the lightest. Also, while they are not large places, they're not exactly pint-sized either (especially now that the Aquarium has fully reopened their South Building). Depending on your pacing, any of these could take a half-day. If you are heading in a general North-to-South direction, maybe do the Zoo and Aquarium in one day, then hit the museum on the way to your next destination?

National Aquarium, and/or Maryland Zoo

A tip regarding the Baltimore facilities; the National Aquarium seems to operate on longer hours than most facilities. I visited on a Friday in May when they were open 9am-9pm. If you time your visit to Baltimore on a day with long hours like that, you could probably do the zoo and aquarium in one day, as the aquarium's longer hours will give you more flexibility.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

Would Brandywine Zoo and Philadelphia Zoo be feasible on the same day? I'm only even considering Brandywine since it seems like I'd basically be driving past it on my way to Philadelphia, and I assume I will never have another reason to visit Delaware so I kind of want to hit the closest thing it has to a notable zoo if the opportunity is there. It seems very small, and only has a single new species for me (southern pudu), so I feel like it should be an hour or so tops, right?

I do agree that splitting the three Norfolk area facilities across two days is probably the move. Virginia Living Museum looks like it could be combined with, say, Metro Richmond Zoo, which keeps me from spilling over into my still vacant day 7.

Although the longer day 7 stays open, the more likely I am to consider a second overnight stay further outside of Norfolk... I wonder what opportunities that might open...? My wife suggested I could go to Bronx, but I'm pretty against that. I expect that whenever I make it to Bronx, I'll want it to be at minimum one if not two dedicated days, no travel, not tacked onto an existing trip, wife in tow, not involving me driving in NYC. Time to play around with the ZTL radius tool some more, I guess.

 

[NSU42]

Lots of smaller places that could be added to these days if you are looking to truly maximize the number of zoos you visit. If your only really looking at larger places or AZA places, this likely won't be helpful. Also depends are your pacing and how long you spend at each zoo.

2. Virginia Zoo, Virginia Living Museum, and Virginia Aquarium - This seems like a potentially packed day, but none of these facilities seem particularly large from what I’ve gathered (or remember, in the zoo’s case). This can probably be split across two days if necessary. But you all really sold me on the Living Museum, it seems really neat especially for how close by it will be.

I have done these places all in one day before without an issue, but only one of the buildings at the Virginia Aquarium was open when I went. Could be much tighter time wise, but I think it is still doable.

3. Metro Richmond Zoo - I honestly enjoyed this place more than I expected to. I don’t think I’d mind devoting another day to it.

Could combine with Maymont as someone already said, but could also maybe get to one of the smaller zoos in Virginia that is west of there to combine it with.

5. Philadelphia Zoo - So far my only new facilities in this list are places that have more specialized collections, and I really want to visit at least one new “proper” zoo during this trip. I’m thinking the move will be to actually get a hotel for one night near the zoo, so that I won’t be traveling both to and from Philadelphia in one day. It looks like if I take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, it’s just a 5 hour drive. Seems doable.

You could almost certainly do Adventure Aquarium in the same day you do Philly, but other options are the Elmwood Park Zoo in the Philly area, which is a small AZA zoo. The already mentioned Brandywine is not far as well. There is also a place called Upper Schuylkill Valley Park not far by that is a rescue for local wildlife. Honestly, I could probably do Philly, Elmwood, Brandywine, & Upper Schuylkill all in the same day without a problem, but other ZooChatters would think that is to much.

6. Adventure Aquarium, National Aquarium, and/or Maryland Zoo - Not sure how to prioritize these, and I’m certainly not trying to do all three, but I’d like to hit one or two on my day back from Philadelphia. Adventure Aquarium is basically right there beside Philadelphia Zoo, so it and its infamous hippos seem like an easy stop. I’d like to try and hit Maryland Zoo on my way back to Norfolk too, so it seems like those two might be my goal, if they can realistically be done on a single day if I’m starting off right next to Adventure Aquarium (need some more research). National Aquarium seems like by far the better facility, but I also worry that it would wind up taking a good deal longer to get through.

See above for Adventure. If combined with Philly, National & Maryland are quite easy to do in the same day.

Others within your radius that have not been mentioned here.

• Virginia Safari Park - Safari area is pretty standard, while the walk through zoo is better. Only place in the country with the King Cheetah variety.
• Elmwood Park Zoo - mentioned above, but again a small AZA zoo in the suburbs of Philly. South America area is excellent.
• Upper Schuylkill - See above.
  
• Luray Zoo: A Rescue Zoo - Small place, but interesting enough. A few uncommon reptiles species.
• Natural Bridge - This place is infamous for the conditions and treatment of their animals, but to each their own if you decide to visit. I have not been.
• Mill Mountain Zoo - Small zoo that is or was AZA accredited. Again, nothing that is really noteworthy, but a nice enough place.
• Plumpton Park Zoo - Non-AZA and I've never been, but it would be on the way to/from Philly.
• Catoctin Wildlife Park - This place has a similar reputation to Natural Bridge. I did go this past September and it seemed like they were trying to improve. They had already moved many species out of the crappy conditions found in the front of the zoo and were currently building exhibits for the ones still there. Could potentially combine it with National, but again, depends on your feelings towards places like this.
• Greensboro Science Center - AZA zoo & aquarium that is quite nice.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Mill Mountain Zoo - Small zoo that is or was AZA accredited.

They were AZA, now they are just ZAA.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

snip

Lots of good info and suggestions there. I think my biggest problem is that there are just not very many zoos in this area with novel species for me, which I guess just might be my #1 motivator for seeking somewhere out. A lot of those zoos seem compelling enough, but I really struggle to figure out which ones might be worth trying to work in compared to the others.

Virginia Safari Park seems compelling for their king cheetah, but I also intend to visit Japan next year, which will include a visit to Tama Zoo which also keeps them, so that one's a bit less urgent than it might otherwise be.

I was under the impression that Natural Bridge Zoo had shut down entirely. It looks like I was just making the next logical step after so many of their animals got seized, but it didn't actually happen. Either way, I'm okay with leaving this one outside of consideration. Catoctin does seem to be at least a bit better off, so I'll at least play with that idea a bit more.

I think Mill Mountain Zoo is a bit too far for what it offers, even if I could combine it with something else.

I actually have plans to (finally) visit Greensboro Science Center this coming weekend, assuming it doesn't get rained out. It being a feasible day trip from home was why I never considered rolling it up into this trip.

Everything else sounds at least interesting and has potential. I'll do some itinerary Tetris and see just how many places I can squeeze in.

 

[NSU42]

Lots of good info and suggestions there. I think my biggest problem is that there are just not very many zoos in this area with novel species for me, which I guess just might be my #1 motivator for seeking somewhere out. A lot of those zoos seem compelling enough, but I really struggle to figure out which ones might be worth trying to work in compared to the others.

Virginia Safari Park seems compelling for their king cheetah, but I also intend to visit Japan next year, which will include a visit to Tama Zoo which also keeps them, so that one's a bit less urgent than it might otherwise be.

I was under the impression that Natural Bridge Zoo had shut down entirely. It looks like I was just making the next logical step after so many of their animals got seized, but it didn't actually happen. Either way, I'm okay with leaving this one outside of consideration. Catoctin does seem to be at least a bit better off, so I'll at least play with that idea a bit more.

I think Mill Mountain Zoo is a bit too far for what it offers, even if I could combine it with something else.

I actually have plans to (finally) visit Greensboro Science Center this coming weekend, assuming it doesn't get rained out. It being a feasible day trip from home was why I never considered rolling it up into this trip.

Everything else sounds at least interesting and has potential. I'll do some itinerary Tetris and see just how many places I can squeeze in.

Totally get it. It absolutely depends on why you visit zoos in choosing to go to any of those places. I tend to be a person that wants to visit any zoo possible in order to get the "zoo experience" of the place. While I appreciate and get a rush from seeing new, unique species, a certain species held at a zoo is rarely the main driving force for me to visit a certain zoo.

Just wanted to mention them in case you were unaware of them and still looking for more places to potentially combine on certain days.

In regards to Natural Bridge, if memory serves they have been raided before this most recent one, but they always manage to hang around somehow.