A Day at the St. Louis Zoo

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I’ve travelled to a lot of zoos. But By far, the St. Louis Zoo in St. Louis, MO is the best. After checking into my hotel, I walked to the zoo, about 1.4 miles. Along the way I stopped at the Turtle Playground in Forest Park. The playground has giant sculptures of turtles; Turtles you can climb, turtles you can crawl into and turtles everywhere for photo opportunities like this one.

There are lots of reasons why the St. Louis Zoo is so wonderful.

1. Variety of Animals

Every possible animal imaginable can be found at the zoo. There are Sea Lions, Elephants, Cheetahs, Kangaroos, Bears, Penguins, Reptiles, Tigers and practically everything else on the planet. Like most zoos, the animals are arranged geographically.

This was one of my favorite photos from the Cheetah Exhibit.

2. Well Designed Exhibit Areas

Most zoos have only one viewing spot for the entire exhibit. This zoo has multiple points to view the animals. If it happens to be hiding behind a rock or in a tree – like the lion was – you can walk around to get a better view. In many instances the barriers were invisible, allowing visitors to get up real close and take great photos, free from the zoos of yesterday which had iron bars surrounding the enclosures.

One of my favorite exhibits was the Hippo Exhibit. There was a corner that was above the enclosure, enabling you to look at the Hippos from a “land” perspective”. Then, down below there were a generous amount of clean, wide, tall underwater viewing panes. The hippos swam endlessly up to the guests. It was great.

The zoo has a certain charm to it. I believe it was built for the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. The buildings were aged, but not old-looking. It had the feeling like I was walking through the zoo you only see in the movies. Winding paths, towering trees and new animals to discover at every bend made for a relaxing and peaceful stroll in the afternoon.

3. Cost

The St. Louis Zoo doesn’t cost a dime. It’s completely free! Can you believe that? There aren’t a lot of attractions that are free anymore. This is a rarity. I asked a zoo attendant how this could be and he explained that the zoo admission is paid for by city taxes. Even better than that, not too long ago the residents of St. Louis voted to continue playing higher taxes to ensure that the zoo remains free. Thank you St. Louis!!!

Just outside the zoo is the rest of Forest Park. One could easily spend the day wandering through the park. It’s a great place to take photos or even have a picnic. For a few extra dollars the zoo has a train ride, carousel and Sea Lion Show. If you’ve enjoyed reading about the zoo, I’ve posted some of my best photos from the day on my Flickr site too. Be sure to check them out.

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