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San Diego Zoo Review
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San Diego Zoo 
- Address: 2920 Zoo Dr., Balboa Park, San Diego, CA | Map It
- Phone: 619/234-3153; 888/697-2632 Giant panda hotline
- www.sandiegozoo.org
- Category: Zoos/Aquariums
- Location: Balboa Park
Fodor's Review:
Balboa Park's -- and perhaps the city's -- most famous attraction is its 100-acre zoo, and it deserves all the press it gets. Nearly 4,000 animals of some 800 diverse species roam in hospitable, expertly crafted habitats that replicate natural environments as closely as possible. The flora in the zoo, including many rare species, is even more costly than the fauna. Walkways wind over bridges and past waterfalls ringed with tropical ferns; elephants in a sandy plateau roam so close you're tempted to pet them.
Exploring the zoo fully requires the stamina of a healthy hiker, but open-air double-decker buses that run throughout the day let you zip through three-quarters of the exhibits on a guided 35- to 40-minute, 3-mi tour. There are also express buses, used for quick transportation, that make five stops around the grounds and include some narration. The Skyfari Aerial Tram, which soars 170 feet above the ground, gives a good overview of the zoo's layout and, on clear days, a panorama of the park, downtown San Diego, the bay, and the ocean, far past the San Diego-Coronado Bridge. Unless you come early, however, expect to wait for the regular bus, and especially for the top tier -- the line can take more than 45 minutes; if you come at midday on a weekend or school holiday, you'll be doing the in-line shuffle for a while.
In any case, the zoo is at its best when you wander its paths, such as the one that climbs through the huge, enclosed Scripps Aviary, where brightly colored tropical birds swoop between branches just inches from your face, and into the neighboring Gorilla Tropics, one of the zoo's bioclimatic zone exhibits, where animals live in enclosed environments modeled on their native habitats. The zones look and sound natural, thanks in part to modern technology: the sounds of the tropical rain forest emerge from a 144-speaker sound system that plays CDs recorded in Africa.
The zoo's simulated Asian rain forest, Tiger River, has 10 exhibits with more than 35 species of animals. The mist-shrouded trails winding down a canyon into Tiger River are bordered by fragrant jasmine, ginger lilies, and orchids, giving you the feeling of descending into an Asian jungle. Tigers, Malayan tapirs, and Argus pheasants wander among the exotic trees and plants. Ituri Forest -- a 4-acre African rain forest at the base of Tiger River -- lets you glimpse huge but surprisingly graceful hippos frolicking underwater, and buffalo cavorting with monkeys on dry land. In Sun Bear Forest playful beasts constantly claw apart the trees and shrubs that serve as a natural playground for climbing, jumping, and general merrymaking. At the popular Polar Bear Plunge, where you can watch the featured animals take a chilly dive, Siberian reindeer, white foxes, and other Arctic creatures are separated from their predatory neighbors by a series of camouflaged moats. The lush, tropical environment at Absolutely Apes, where orangutans and siamangs climb, swing, and generally live almost as they would in the wild, is lined with 110-foot-long and 12-foot-high viewing windows that offer a unique opportunity to view these endangered apes close up.
The San Diego Zoo houses the largest number of koalas outside Australia, and they remain major crowd pleasers even though they are overshadowed by the pandas and especially the baby pandas that result from the work of the zoo's department of Conservation and Research for Endangered Species. Their first success was Hua Mei, born at the zoo in 1999, the first giant panda cub born in the United States to survive to adulthood. Hua Mei's mother, Bai Yun, then had a second cub, a male, Mei Sheng, in August 2003. Two years later, in August 2005, Bai Yun and Gao Gao, her mate, became the parents of the cute-ster Su Lin, a female. And in August 2007, Bai Yun gave birth to her fourth cub. At press time, the cubby's gender was not determined, since zoo keepers want the mother and cub to bond without human interruption. The cub was just four ounces when it was born, or the size of a stick of butter! The zoo estimates the cub will be on view no earlier than December 2007.
Hua Mei and Mei Sheng (who left in October 2007) now live in China, but Su Lin, the new baby cub, and their parents are generally available for viewing from 9:00 to 4:15 each day at the Giant Panda Research Station. Note that only three are on view at one time. Note, too, that all pandas in the U.S. are on loan from China, and even babies born here pass to China's control after their third birthday -- by the time of your visit, China may have decided that Su Lin, who turns three in August 2008, should come home or be sent elsewhere. Whatever happens, expect lines at this exhibit to be unbearably long, so arrive early. (Call the panda hotline for up-to-date information.)
For a hands-on experience there's the Children's Zoo, where goats, sheep, bunnies, and guinea pigs beg to be petted. There are two viewer-friendly nurseries where you may see various baby animals bottle-feed and sleep peacefully in large-size baby cribs. Children can see entertaining creatures of all sorts nearby at the Wegeforth National Park Sea Lion Show in Wegeforth Bowl and at the Wild Ones Show in Hunte Amphitheater, both put on daily.
The zoo's newest exhibit, opened in mid-2005, is Monkey Trails and Forest Tales. Spanning three acres representing African and Asian forests, this is the largest and most elaborate animal habitat in the zoo's history. You can follow an elevated trail at treetop level and trek paths on the forest floor, observing some of nature's most unusual and threatened animals and birds, including African mandrills, Asia's clouded leopard, the rare pygmy hippopotamus, Visayan warty pigs from the Philippines, weaver birds that build the most elaborate nests of any species, not to mention flora such as endangered mahogany trees, rare, exotic orchids, and insect-eating plants.
The zoo rents strollers, wheelchairs, and cameras; it also has a first-aid office, a lost and found, and an ATM. It's best to avert your eyes from the two main gift shops until the end of your visit; you can spend a half day just poking through the wonderful animal-related posters, crafts, dishes, clothing, and toys. There is one guilt-alleviating fact if you buy too much: some of the profits of your purchases go to zoo programs. Audio tours, behind-the-scenes tours, walking tours, tours in Spanish, and tours for people with hearing or vision impairments are available; inquire at the entrance. Lastly, when you've finished here, you haven't seen it all until you've seen the San Diego Wild Animal Park, the zoo's 1,800-acre extension to the north at Escondido.
- Cost: $22.75 includes zoo, Children's Zoo, and animal shows; $33 includes above, plus guided bus tour, unlimited express bus rides, and round-trip Skyfari Aerial Tram rides; zoo free for children under 12 in Oct.; $59 pass good for admission to zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park within 5 days
- Open: July-Sept., daily 9-9; Sept.-May, daily 9-4; Children's Zoo and Skyfari ride generally close 1 hr earlier
- Credit Cards: AE, D, MC, V
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