Entertaining Out of Town Guests at The Bronx Zoo

 Press Trip

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.

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.