Brandon Feusner

Review of Memphis Zoo

We loved our trip to this zoo. The first thing tha...

We loved our trip to this zoo. The first thing that immediately stands out before you even enter the zoo is how impressive the design and theming is with a gorgeous Egyptian themed entrance welcoming you to the zoo. The staff at the ticket windows were helpful and friendly which is always a great start. As for the zoo itself there are definitely "older" and "newer" sections of the zoo. The older section which includes the Tropical Bird House, Once Upon A Farm, Penguin Rock, Aquarium, Round Barn and Pelican Pool give a good nostalgic zoo feel but feel like they do not fit with the remainder and the zoo that is so impressive. The aquarium although smaller and older had a very impressive collection of species. The Cat Country, Primate Canyon and African Veldt were older exhibits that were well designed and still worked well with an impressive variety of animals. The Dragon's Lair exhibit is very impressive with 3 adult Komodo Dragons. I do wish they could improve the theming of that building to better fit a "Dragon's Lair", but the size and shape of their animals more than made up for it. The Herpetarium featured a huge variety of reptiles and amphibians including some of the most active and colorful animals I've ever seen. We really enjoyed the theming of the Animals of the Night exhibit with the great lighting to show off these unusual animals and loved the variety of animals, however there was such an overwhelming smell of urine in the building that you could barely enjoy it. The China, Zambezi Hippo Camp, Northwest Passage and Teton Trek exhibits were some of the finest I've ever seen in a zoo not just from the design and theming, but also for the variety of species and the all encompassing views you get of the enclosures from all different angles. The Cat House Cafe was a great place to eat and it was awesome to see the gibbons come right up to the glass beside your table as you ate. The food is a bit pricey, but still affordable compared to other zoos we've been to. We will definitely return to this zoo in the future and highly recommend it to others. They have a wide variety of animals, amazing geographically themed exhibits, most importantly (except for the one Panda on exhibit that looked sickly) all the animals looked amazingly healthy and active.