Potawatomi zoo Reviews

A must visit in South bend. Enjoy. Ride the train, feed the El pacas and traverse the zoo in less than two hours.

A great stop if you're visiting South Bend. Lots of animals, some I've seen before and some I haven't. A peacock walking amongst the people and kangaroos hopping across our path were neat surprises.

Went on a chilly rainy fall day. Hardly anybody was here so made for a peaceful zoo experience. I was not expecting to see any animals but a few were out. The entrance is under major construction but we were still able to get around it to see all the animals.

Great zoo for little kids! Spent 3 hrs there, wore my toddler out. Food is reasonably priced and good.

Really on the rise lots of great new.attractions and actively working towards preservation and health of all animals

It was ok, had fun with my kiddos. Was harassed about a mask even though I have a medical reason.

Nice little zoo,very child friendly,but a little on the expensive side.

This is hard to rate. Most zoos in towns of this size have more. But as senior citizens, this was very easy to get around. We had pleasant couple hours. Price was not a bargain for what was there. Still it was in the fair price range. There are places to set for awhile and watch animals. They were even comfortable. Not for everyone. We enjoyed it.

Lots of changes going on so some of the animals were not out. Should be great when it's done!

Loved it! Some animals were sleeping and some were hiding. But still enjoyed it!

The new gift shop and entrance is really nice, but they need to upgrade some of their exhibits.

So I've been there 3 times with my daughter each time the carousel ride was free bc shes 2 and under today I had to pay and when asking why they said it depends on who is doing the carousel that day weather or not you have to pay that's so stupid it's so inconsistent

Great zoo. Lots of animal variety, well organized, fair entrance fee, and very clean. Definitely worth a trip.

Fun zoo, good atmosphere, friendly staff, nice variety of animals with good photo chances.

A perfect member club allows news and event updates clean safe something for everyone, love my zoo time with kids and fun park keeps getting better

It was fun but due to the cold most of the exibits were closed

Small enough for 3 young children, but fun enough to make a day of it.

The only reason I m giving this a 1 star is because it s required to leave a review. I have lived in South Bend my entire life. Growing up my family and I have quite often visited this zoo. I remember it always being small but the animals back then seemed healthy to say the least. I recently have revisited this zoo for the first time in over 7 years and it was utterly deplorable. The large cats did NOT have adequate enclosures. The lions had a long narrow concrete cell with no toys for stimulation, moving water and no natural foliage. The tigers lived in a small concrete cage with an empty dry pool, a patch of dirty to lay on and no natural foliage either. The leopards and snow leopards at least had foliage in their exhibit. However it was astonishingly small for a LARGE cat species. The leopards were both pacing back and forth along the front of the cage due to obvious signs of stress, boredom and anxiety. The koi/carp ponds were extremely over crowded. The prairie dogs were malnourished with patches of hair missing and abscess visible on them. The crocodile exhibits along with the pond near it had trash and kid toys floating in the waters, real healthy right? I have been to many zoos, unfortunately this will not be one me or my family will be returning too anytime soon due to its terrible conditions. It s nice to hear the zoo is using the 1.9 million dollar donation they received to upgrade the zoos entrance instead of doing much needed upgrades in their exhibits.

An amazing place for kids and adults to go. The newly renovated area are looking amazing.

Good small zoo. Good time for the kids and some pretty cool animals for everyone to enjoy.

Animals are beautiful, it is seen that they are well cared for, beautiful photos can be taken

It's a smaller zoo, only took an hour and half to walk through.

It was o.k. nothing spectacular to brag about. Good place to get good exercise and see some animals.

Love coming here, the selection of animals is as vast as ever. Clean park and beautiful area. The tiger exhibit is always worth going to see. Plenty of shade for hot days and plenty of spots for refreshments as well as a nice place to sit and eat right next to the flamingos.

A lot of the exists were closed , locating staff to buy tickets for the train and carousel was impossible and the prices were pretty high on everything the zoo was clean but again a lot like 6 out of 10 were closed, the kids were pretty disappointed

It's a fun place for the kids and family but the zoo boo event was to much when they charge 8 dollars for kids and 10 dollars for the adult why charge the adult they Re not getting candy at least for the high price they should give out more candy?

This is a great zoo. Lots of shade, great activities and great selection of animals

Zoo has a new look they are putting in some awesome new attractions. It's a michiana must see.

If you like zoos, this one is great. New exhibits, cheap membership, fun events.

This is a very clean smaller zoo with a variety of different animals. There's also a train ride and a beautiful carousel here. There is an extra fee for the rides. I believe it's two dollars per ride or you can buy an attraction pass of 15 rides for 20 dollars, a savings of 10 dollars. I took my kids here and now my kids take their kids here. We always have a great time! There's a hands on animal farm where you can feed and pet goats. There are donkeys, cows, and llamas at the farm too. Then when you're finished touching/feeding the animals, there's a nearby hand washing station. The zoo is under construction in a few areas right now with a couple of detours, but the staff are doing a great job of helping zoo attendees have a great time visiting the zoo. I can't wait to see how nice the zoo looks once the improvements are finished! I just love this zoo! Its nearby and has plenty to offer. I highly recommend Potawatomie Zoo!

This is an amazing zoo, I go at least once a week in summer months!

I love the animals but I like spending time with the grand children even more

Love the value from the zoo. Live in indianapolis and its super expensive to go to the indyzoo. This zoo is more intimate, cheaper and look forward coming every year. What happened to the bats though?

Awesome... Sound proud that South Bend has the oldest Zoo in Indiana

Very nice zoo for kids. Free parking and low cost of entry.

Great zoo for the whole family and wonderful animals to see!

It's nice to be able to get out and enjoy seeing the animals on a warm day! They ask that you wear masks indoors and when not possible to social distance but that wasn't a problem.

Currently under construction which is why I gave 4/5 stars, it's a nice small zoo with a park and splash pad in the same parking lot. They have a small petting zoo and playground within the park next to their gift shop. It is worth getting the membership if you are a family of 3 and go more than 3x a year.

Least covid safe zoo I've been to. Only one set of bathrooms open with a huge line. Gift shop was packed to the point it was hard to exit. No hand sanitizer aside from the petting zoo. They were also doing face painting.

Park employees were nice. I liked the mini donuts. The lady running the stand was very knowledgeable.

No paper park maps, asked a few people.

Parking is a nightmare. Just absolutely horrible. Free parking but it's slanted parking but the lines need to be repainted. Had to weave around to get out. It was a mess.

The worst was most animals were not even out, maybe due to it being colder, but we saw about 20 animals, mostly in the petting zoo. I came to see the red pandas and they were sleeping. I at least got to see them.

They tore out half the zoo to make room for giraffes but they don't have many animals out because of this.

We just went to Washington Park zoo in Michigan city and it was a much better zoo for covid safety.

And they had animals!

I love how the zoo says it is opened until 5pm today so we take our kids there and apparently they are not open and only having a special camp event for other kids. So just left with my kids crying thanks. How about put it online if you aren't going to be open.

Zoo was okay, small. I was more upset that I personally came to this zoo due to them having a nursing center/room and it was closed. Although I had looked it up online and it said nothing about it being closed. I did ask the counter if it was going to be an issue with nursing my baby, and the gentleman at the counter told me that his superiors suggest I go in the bathroom to feed the baby. We left directly after. If things like this will not be available might I suggest posting it online or outside the entrance. After paying to go with my family, I had to leave just to nurse my infant.

Really great zoo. Lots of varieties of animals. Great fun for the whole family.

Came for the winter days. There was some exciting new construction going on (it was the of season) and this small little zoo just wowed me. Great collection of animals. And the lion even came out and have us a great roar. Definitely coming back.

They have a decent variety of animals here considering it is a relatively small zoo. They are in the middle of some renovations and have plans to introduce some new exhibits in the near future. If you live nearby, get a season pass. It's worth it, especially for the kids! It even gets you discounts at other zoos across the country, which we've been able to use a few times.

Nice, small zoo that has come quite a long way in recent years. They don't have too many large animals but it is nonetheless a cool place to take the kids in the warmer months.

Throughout the year they also have unique events (such as Zoo Brew, a beer festival).

The cats were mostly active, and the tiger tried to eat me. :-) The lions roared, the snow leopard had his paws through the enclosure fence, and the amur leopard was moving. The gallopogus tortoise had the slowest game of tag ever, but were still faster than any we'd ever seen. A staff member came out with an opossum. While this zoo is small and geared toward children, we enjoyed ourselves.

Smaller zoo with lots to offer. Great for kids young and old

This is a great zoo... not very big but a lot of bang for your buck plus extremely kid friendly!!! Ride the train - it's worth it!

It is small but there are different types of interesting animals. I love lions!!

This is a very nice zoo and continuously improves with new animals and new structures. Worth spending a few hours there, especially if there's a little one in the family.

My kids had a blast and so did we! The park was very clean and staff was very friendly.

Always great place for kids. Carousel and train cost extra, but reasonable. 9 & 6 yr old love the place! Go several times a year. Afterwards go to playground on other side of parking lot if kids still have unused energy. Splash pad there too so bring towels. Just take off shoes and socks and send them in. Then take exhausted wet kids home.

The zoo has gone downhill lately. Workers are rude. Vehicles thought the pedestrian areas. Prices increased on food for farm animals and fish ($.50 for THREE pellets from the dispenser). Only positives are the train operator and employees by the alligator and turtles.

It's small but robust. My kids love it and the animals seem happy and healthy. This is a great zoo for the whole family.

A great place to go! Always clean and need, kids never get tired of going!

Our kids love it. Perfect for that few hours of toddlers attention span and then nap time

It might be small compared to a larger city zoo, but for our town its absolutely perfect. It's always clean and the animals seems happy, well feed and safe. I enjoying going with my daughter and granddaughter

We adore this zoo! I grew up going here all the time and now as a mom we buy a membership just about every season as well! We have even had a birthday party here and it was a great expierence!