Animals are our son’s passion and at 12-years-old, he insists he wants to be a professional zookeeper when he grows up. In addition to driving him to his position as a volunteer animal caretaker at the local museum multiple times each week, my husband and I enjoy taking him to zoos, aquariums, sanctuaries, etc. Besides making memories for our little family, each experience provides new educational opportunities for our son and seems to cement his career choice even further. My professor-by-trade husband calls it “research”. I just call it fun!
We visited this zoo on a recent vacation to California. We had three days scheduled in San Francisco and, considering the number of fabulous choices of fun in the area, the zoo was NOT on my top list of things to do. But my husband and son argued for it and I’m really glad we made it work. We actually managed to thoroughly explore the zoo and still had time in the day to check into our downtown hotel and then take a trolley down to the wharf for some sea lion fun, a yummy dinner and Ghirardelli sundaes for dessert.
NAME: San Francisco Zoo {aka: San Francisco Zoo & Gardens}
LOCATION: San Francisco, CA {within walking distance to the beach!}
HOURS: 9am-5pm, every day
ADMSSION RATES: {Adult Admission} $23.00; {Seniors 65+} $19.00; {Children 4-14} $17.00; {Children 0-3} FREE; {SF residents} discount of $3
DESCRIPTION: The San Francisco Zoo is home to over 2,000 exotic, endangered and rescued animals representing more than 250 species. It sits on 100 acres of land that is truly like an oasis in one of the biggest and busiest cities in the nation. Its history dates back to 1929 but it has undergone extensive changes to keep up with the times and to showcase their commitment to conservationism. It is currently undergoing some major changes and have added/will be adding a new Madagascar Center, Great Ape Passage and Snow Leopard Expansion.
DESCRIPTION CONTINUED: They have an amazing three-acre, mixed-species exhibit that brings animals closer to the public than ever before. The open-landscaped exhibit is home to a variety of savannah creatures all living together including giraffes, zebras, kudu, crowned cranes, ostriches, and Marabou storks. The unique design creates the illusion of being in the middle of the savannah while surrounded by the animals. Our son said, “it’s like we’re part of the exhibit!”
DESCRIPTION CONTINUED: In addition to the animals mentioned above, some of our other favorites included the lemurs {another amazing exhibit!}, otters, wolves, grizzly bears, koalas, gorillas and one bald eagle. There is also a really nice South American Tropical Rainforest and Aviary, which is essentially a reptile house and aviary combined into a gorgeous building complete with free-roaming birds, a 15 foot green anaconda {not free-roaming, thank goodness}, various other snakes, lizards, frogs, turtles and a two-toed sloth {which I wish was free to roam right into my arms.}
SIZE: 100 acres and 2000 animals equates to a large zoo in my opinion.
ACCESS: Though I consider it a large zoo, it is easy to get around because it is neither hilly nor complicated. There is definitely a lot of walking to be done if you plan to do the entire zoo but it is laid out nicely with exhibits bunched together into meaningful groups. We experienced a little confusion due to the current state of their expansion….not in the sense of detours and construction but in the sense of “is this exhibit complete or are they still working on it? Are we supposed to be seeing something here?” {NOTE: SFZoo is a paperless zoo. There are NO PAPER MAPS whatsoever to be found. You can print one from the website prior to your visit or do what we did and snap a picture of their displayed map and simply refer to it as needed.}
PARKING: {Weekdays} $11; {Weekends/holidays} $13.00; We missed the turn into the parking lot {it comes up super fast once you turn off of the Great Highway} and ended up following a bunch of others and parking for free on the street. Despite the added walk-time, I am glad we didn’t try to use the paid lot because it seemed that many people who did could not find a spot.
GIFT SHOP: The gift shop seemed a bit small for the size of this zoo but we still managed to add to our son’s animal collection {with a koala} as well as purchase two beautiful mosaic pieces to remind us of our special visit.
SPECIAL EXPERIENCE: {Mexican Gray Wolf Animal Connection} Because of a sign that we saw while standing in line to buy tickets, we planned our visit around what was advertised simply as “Mexican Gray Wolf”. Our family has a particular fondness for wolves so we were excited to see this “Animal Connection” scheduled during our visit. We had no clue whether a keeper would be feeding the animals while we watched or whether there would be a howling exhibition but we definitely wanted to participate in whatever the wolves were offering. We arrived at the wolf enclosure early and discovered a very nicely sized habitat that was home to three Mexican Gray Wolves. We spent the extra time reading all about them and watching their interactions with one another. Eventually, an animal keeper came up behind us and gave a brief, but seemingly thorough report on the three wolves. We learned that, though these particular wolves are probably never going to be introduced back into the wild, they remain a part of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. Therefore, they are kept away from as much human interaction as possible. Their food is provided without the wolves seeing any humans in order to protect the wolves’ natural instincts to hunt, as opposed to learning to associate food with people. The zoo also discourages any howling by guests with the hopes of preserving that form of communication between the animals. The keeper stayed around long enough to answer any and all questions from the small gathering of guests. She was even kind enough to stick around even longer so our son could inquire as to the path she took to become a zookeeper. I’ll admit, I was a bit disappointed at first that we weren’t going to get to “meet” any wolves or at least watch them eat, but once the purpose of the recovery program was explained, it made wonderful sense and I was happy to observe from afar.
ENJOYMENT RATING: ♥♥♥♥♥ This zoo was a rather pleasant surprise for all of us. I’ll admit that I had not planned on making it a part of our SF itinerary because there are so many other classic San Fran things to do. But, this turned out to be a very enjoyable and educational afternoon. So many of the animals were very active and provided much entertainment. From the gorilla carrying branches around on his head to the penguin purposely swimming against the manmade water current, there just seemed to be something entertaining and/or interesting to find everywhere. But one of our favorite experiences was watching the Giant Rhea {similar to an ostrich} chasing the Guanaco {a type of llama} around their pen at a very fast clip!
EDUCATION RATING: ♥♥♥♥_ 1. Though I wish they would advertise a few more details of what takes place during each specific Animal Connection, we did find this zoo’s list of opportunities to see/learn more to be fairly extensive. We thoroughly enjoyed the Mexican Gray Wolf experience but we also found ourselves lucky enough to happen upon the keeper feeding the river otters. That was highly entertaining and educational! 2. Their website is easy to use and offers information on each of their animals, though it would be even better if they had an easy-to-print document for each animal as well.
ENCLOSURE RATING: ♥♥♥♥♥ The San Francisco Zoo offers some of the most unique animal enclosures we’ve seen. Not only are they innovative… {What we saw of the Great Ape Passage, which was still under construction during our visit, looked like giant hamster travel tubes that the apes will be able to use to go from one part of their exhibit to another. The tubes will literally take them ABOVE the heads of the zoo’s visitors!}…but they are also very interactive for the guests while being naturally comfortable for the animals. The new Lemur Forest is the biggest outdoor lemur habitat in the country and offers a dozen different places to view the large variety of fuzzy and funny creatures. And, as I already mentioned, the exhibit replicating the African savannah that houses several different animals is seriously one of the best zoo experiences out there. But, we also enjoyed the simple, peaceful home of their bald eagle. He was rescued after an injury in the wild and now calls the lush trees and nearby water of Eagle Island at the San Francisco Zoo his home.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: If you live in the area or are making plans to visit San Francisco, I would definitely make time to include the SFZoo on your itinerary. I’m actually a California Native {San Diego} and have made more than two dozen trips to the Bay Area over the course of my life but I had never ever been to the SFZoo until now. I think that it is probably an overlooked gem in a tourist town filled with so many other fun things to do but it is truly worth at least part of your day!
CONTACT INFO: www.sfzoo.org/Sloat Blvd/Great Highway San Francisco, CA/ (415) 753-7080
