I had very high hopes for this zoo - I went as a child, and somehow I had it in my mind that it was this amazing and wonderful zoo. In some ways, it was great. But in other ways, I felt like it left a lot to be desired.
Some reviews online called it the "birdiest" zoo ever - and this was true - the zoo had tons of birds.
A sun bear, napping
This little guy only wanted to walk around!
Posing on a Komodo dragon - the zoo has lots of amazing photo ops and statues made for kids to climb and pose on. Andrew enjoyed these.
He also enjoyed the carousel, or Miracle-Go-Round, as he called it. This was in their newly renovated Zootennial area. It was a beautiful part of the zoo, with tons of birds and large trees shading a pond area.
He lucked out and got the giraffe!
Benny kept looking in every time we passed Jonathan with the camera, so I had him point out at something (one of his new hobbies), and it worked!
My cute boys!
Look at those teeth!
Once we got to their "Africa" area, with all the large animals, the post-storm coolness had turned into sunny, humid, and hot! Many of the animals were inside their "barns" to avoid the heat, and so we didn't get to see much. I read online (and this may have colored my view of the visit) that they only have one of each of the animals, which is true. To me, their habitats didn't look that appealing either. This was their 100 year celebration (Zootennial), and there had been a lot of construction done in preparation. The Zootennial area was beautiful and new, but many other parts of the park were older and/or under construction. Many of the concession stand areas were closed, and this was a bummer when we were all eager for a drink!
I read online that they had a lorikeet feeding area, and I was so excited to take Andrew there. Jonathan and I had done this before at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio (an amazing zoo!) and I thought Andrew would really enjoy it. We bought our food and headed in, while my parents watched Benny outside.
Although there weren't as many lorikeets as I was expecting, they were certainly eager for food and hopped right on our arms to eat. Andrew loved watching them, but wasn't that excited about having it on his arm.
You can see that one landed on Jonathan's arm while he was taking photos and I had two sharing one cup of nectar. I certainly enjoyed this part of the zoo!
Pretty bird!
Some thoughts about the zoo -
This was a nice, big zoo that has tons of animals to see. Both boys (and all the adults) enjoyed it. Some of our favorite things were the lorikeet area, the Zootennial Plaza, and the reptile house. Andrew was so excited to see the snakes, so we had to go there first! They had tons of snakes and lizards, and many were moving around, so it was really entertaining for him (and us!). The zoo is large, and really does have an impressive amount of animals. It is divided somewhat into regions, with animals native to that region being grouped together - the Africa area, the Amazon area, etc. We waited in the gift shop while Jonathan got the car, and they had a lot of things in there, some for reasonable prices. Luckily, there were these machines spread throughout the park that made colorful molded plastic animals. Jonathan got a giraffe for Andrew and we gave it to him as we left the park. It only cost $2, and Andrew still felt like he got a treat, without us spending an arm and a leg at the gift shop.
Some negatives - Many things at the zoo seemed closed when we were there. Some things were under construction, and some may have been closed due to the rain (like the butterfly house and the toddler/small child area... bummer!). To me, the Africa area left a lot to be desired. We went to the Waco Zoo last year, and although it is much smaller and with much fewer animals, it seemed much nicer in terms of the animal habitats. I'm certainly no animal expert, but some of the animal habitats at the San Antonio zoo seemed a little sad! Perhaps the biggest con of the San Antonio zoo in Andrew's eyes was what it was lacking - a giraffe! Prior to going on the trip, I had looked up the zoo and scoured the map trying to find the giraffes. Doing a little further research, I found out that they didn't have one! A funny story about that - The boys and I were at my parent's work for lunch one day before the trip. I was talking to my mom about the zoo and I said that I was concerned because they didn't have a g-i-r-a-f-f-e. Andrew looks at me and goes, "It's a giraffe!" Haha, good spelling Andrew!
I think we all had a good time although the rains had definitely flooded some of the areas with mud and gravel. We will have to try again in the spring or fall.
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