Guadalajara Zoo

This is one of the cleanest I've ever visited. For the adventuress at heart, they have opened a Shark tank, and for 200 pesos they provide a wet suit, and lower you into the water, protected by a steel cage, great for under water photo ops.

CBob - Did you recognize any of your forum members behind cages at the zoo? I thought that's where some of them are let out of for the day to post here. LOL

It's a great zoo,we go often.

I could sit for hours and watch the Orangutangs...used to at the Toronto Zoo. They make me LOL at their antics.

It is a great zoo. Is the Panda still there?...Looking fordward to taking the grand kids in August.

According to this GUADALAJARA REPORTER from July, 2010, the panda was on loan for 6 months: http://guadalajarareporter.com/news-mainmenu-82/guadalajara/27170-pandamania-hits-city-zoo.html

There is a crow by the Bird Cages in the back who obviously was raised by
humans or was a pet. Very fun to interact with if he is in a social mood. I
also find you can get real close to the wolves sometimes by sitting by the
chain link fence and waiting for them to come over. Don't raise your hands
just sit there and maybe they will walk over and check you out. While some
would call this a hazard NOB I find it wonderful and rewarding.

It is a great zoo and the cuban sandwich is not bad for institution food.
Check out the gorge at the back of the zoo.

Z

We visited the zoo for the first time last week and were quite impressed with the size, the variety of animals and the maintenance of the facility.  We made the mistake of not planning an all day visit and ended up cutting ourselves short on the experience.  Since the facility is on a hillside, comfortable shoes and being in condition to take the hike is a must.  Should one find themselves at the bottom without the energy to make the climb back up, there is a train on rubber tires that follows a winding path to the bottom and back to the top.  We did ride the Sky Zoo chairlift which gives riders an overall aerial view of a sizable portion of the zoo:
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We also took advantage of the Safari Masi Masa transport which takes you through the Africa section but a word of warning: this transport is severely lacking in shocks and one's back takes a real beating bouncing around on the metal bench seats:
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Guadalajara Zoo photo album: https://plus.google.com/photos/118146709599975173363/albums/5980287313001327537

Thank you for sharing your visit, Cheena. This compares very favorably with the San Diego Zoo and its Wild Animal Park (now called Safari Park or something like that) in Escondido. After 6 years living down here I need to plan a visit to the Guadalajara Zoo.

Lady O:

The San Diego Zoo is the "gold standard" against which most zoos are measured. Since Kathy's profession is to oversee gift shops at zoos and aquariums in Southwestern and Central US locations, she has more familiarity with this type of facility than the average person and she was quite impressed. The Guadalajara Zoo is accredited by AZA (Association of Zoos & Aquariums) which conducts rigorous inspections to make sure facilities abide by certain standards. We had heard some minor negative comments about cleanliness prior to our trip but saw absolutely no evidence of any issues.

In our estimation, the City of Guadalajara should be proud of this facility and continue with their excellent efforts!

Thanks, CheenaGringo, for this up-to-date report. My friend Antonio is planning to take his wife and son up to the zoo for Pedrito's fourth birthday next week. I was thinking about giving them a gift certificate to go see the Lego movie down here around the lake, but this seems like much more fun, so I'll now happily give Pedrito money for the zoo.

I was there with friends a few years ago and while we all enjoyed it, I have to admit I had a hard time getting around after a while. But none of my friends were willing to shove my big butt into one (or three) of those little kids' pushcarts and haul me around.

Nice to hear that the zoo has gotten even better!

Thanks for the photo album, Neil. Am I correct that the best photo op for that safari trip might be sitting on the left side of the vehicle? Looks like most of your pics were taken in that direction. We're planning a trip there this week, in fact. Looking forward to it!

Heather

Lucky & Heather:

Here is a photo of the rubber tired train that starts at the very top and follows the path down and back up:
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As for which side of the Safari transport to sit on, you can probably flip a coin because the animals wander wherever they wish.  In our case we sat in the very back seat on the right side as the seats were full of a large school group of kids really enjoying their experience.  With the back pain achieved from bouncing on the far rear seat, I would probably suggest a seat closer to the front.  We had seen other transports with far fewer riders that would allow movement from side to side.

Here is a link to the prices for various packages:
http://www.zooguadalajara.com.mx/paquetes

While we purchased the PAQUETE DIAMANTE, we ran out of steam before visiting the Aquarium portion.

the aquarium part isn't really worth it. but hey I live in Vancouver.