The San Diego Zoo is world renowned for its horticulture and varied selection of animals. Their website boasts that: “The San Diego Zoo cares for more than 4,000 individual animals representing 800 different species. Its collection of animals, as well as its plant collection of over 6,500 species, is acknowledged as one of the finest in the entire world.” Perhaps the cost of caring for all of the exotic animals is the cause for the price of adult tickets to be an expensive $32, and children’s tickets at just about $20. However, if you love wildlife, then the price will be well worth it.
When visiting this zoo be sure to bring your comfortable walking shoes and plenty of sunscreen for San Diego’s sunny days. The park advises that animals are more active in the early morning and late afternoon. During my family’s visit to the zoo, we were fortunate enough to see the koala bears, panda bears, lions and polar bears being very active. Many of the other animals were alert and awake.
The zoo is very large, and I highly recommend purchasing the additional transportation or bus ticket even if you are not sure you will use it. We set out with great intentions to walk the entire park, but were very grateful that we purchased the bus ticket about mid-day when our legs grew weary. There are several busses that will take you on a guided 35-minute tour that shows many of the animals in their habitat. The tour guides are very knowledgeable and friendly. In addition, there are express busses that you can hop on that will take you to five locations throughout the park. This is really helpful as some of the paths are very steep and might be a little challenging for older adults or young children. Although we ran out of time, one of the zoo staff said that the skyfari aerial tram offers a spectacular view of the park and parts of San Diego.
Shopping at the zoo is a unique experience as they have theme stores throughout the park that are within or very near to the major exhibitions. For example the “Arctic Trader” store is right next to the Polar Bear exhibit. At the arctic trader you can purchase polar bear stuffed animals, hats and other souvenirs. The Ituri Forest Outpost has fun and unusual items with an African theme. Finally the Panda shop near the Panda exhibit has panda T-shirts, postcards and other cute bear items.
All in all the San Diego Zoo was a great experience for the entire family.