When we were younger, visiting The Bronx Zoo was something
my family would often do. Now that I'm
older, and married with a four year old, making a visit to the zoo is an
enjoyable experience with a hint of nostalgia.
The memories I made visiting the zoo with my parents and siblings, I can
now recreate and share with my own family. This summer, we've done just that.
Most recently, we had special visitors; my husband’s brother
and his wife visited from England, and let’s not forget Uncle Curtis! After a while of figuring out what we should
do with them one weekend, my husband and I figured a trip to The Bronx Zoo
would suffice. One Saturday, my husband
and I took a 30-minute drive to the zoo with our daughter, my mother-in-law,
and three out of town guests to visit the zoo’s 265 acres of wildlife habitats
and attractions.
We arrived at The Bronx Zoo by 2:00 p.m., which left us with
only 3.5 hours to tackle the massive zoo. Thankfully, with the help of my
husband, our crew had a plan; he and his brother picked out the most appealing
attractions for us to first visit.
Upon entry into The Bronx Zoo, we stopped by the Bison Range
before heading to the World of Birds. Prior to entering the doors of this
exhibit, a guide handed our daughter a worksheet eight different birds found in
the exhibit that she must identify on her own while walking through. Of course,
she enjoyed it, as well as everyone else in our party who helped her look for
the birds.
The birds were cool, but what’s a zoo visit without big cats? Naturally, we headed over to Tiger Mountain
where we saw two large tigers. We were
all thoroughly impressed that at least one of the tigers was active, and we
even caught it taking a dip in the water to cool off.
After that, we strolled over to The World of Reptiles. Out
of all of the exhibits I think this was the most underwhelming for our group.
Plus, it didn't help that this exhibit in particular was hotter than the
temperature outside, which was around 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
My brother-in-law was excited about visiting the Birds of
Prey exhibit so we spent some time there as well after visiting
Madagascar. After visiting those two
exhibits, The Bronx Zoo’s closing time was quickly approaching, which meant we
had to make our way back towards our exit.
Here, we ended up encountering the Sea Lions. There was a large bull making his presence
known by running the smaller sea lions around the pool while expressing his
dissatisfaction of sorts with large groans.
And with that, we exited.
The Bronx Zoo by no means is an adventure that can be
tackled in just a few hours. It’s definitely a trip that should be broken up in
a few days. In fact, out of all of my visits to this zoo, I don't think I've ever
viewed it in its entirety, hence the reason why that in my 30’s I'm still eager
to visit this zoo, and my husband and I are happy to entertain out of town
guests here, too.
The Bronx Zoo
2300 Southern Boulevard
Bronx, New York 10460
Admission: Adult
- $19.95 | Child (3-12) - $12.95 | Seniors (65+) $17.95
General admission
is FREE all day on Wednesdays at the
Bronx Zoo. Please consider making a donation to help support our operating
costs, and to aid their work in caring for animals here in New York and around
the world.
Disclosure: Complimentary tickets were provided to The
Bronx Zoo. No compensation provided for this post. All opinions are my own and
are honest.