Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Zoo in South Australia

This weekend just gone, I have been very spoilt! My husband drove over one thousand kilometres to take me to both the Adelaide city Zoo and the Monarto open plains Zoo which is the largest open plains zoo in the Southern Hemisphere. My son paid the entry fees for both of us to be able to enter both zoos.

My husband and I had a wonderful time! We were very impressed with the natural habitats created by both the Zoos for the animals. The Lion enclosure at Monarto Zoo is so huge, that in fact, the whole of Adelaide Zoo would fit inside it. Mind boggling!

I was able to meet Akky the Sun Bear, up close in his night enclosure who is 30 yrs old this month. What a privilege that was! My favourite animal is now at Adelaide Zoo!!!! The female Maned Wolf has been a recent addition to Adelaide Zoo and unfortunately she was sleeping the day away in her den. We saw her lovely face and huge ears though. Wang Wang and Funi the Pandas were huge and quite active. They are beautiful. The Red Panda shot up his tree as he heard all the noisy children coming, so I didn't see him. Too many more animals to mention, but all of them are amazing in their own ways.

Monarto is a fantastic open plains zoo which allows animals to live and graze in very natural surroundings. Their latest addition is a baby Giraffe who was born less than a week ago. The buses that drive you through the animal enclosures... have good windows for looking and photographing through, but, the weather was not good for taking photographs sadly, as it was very overcast, with low light and rain.  

Monarto has been breeding many species to help assist introducing them back into the wild. Their Przewalski's Horse herd, has been very successful in breeding and the species is now no longer extinct in the wild. Fantastic to hear positive outcomes in the animal world.

Of course I shall have to collect the figures of all the creatures that live at both zoos!

Sounds interesting :) do you have pics?

I want to congratulate you for having that special experience and that you wanted to share with us. Pictures could enrich a lot your post and it could be a way that you could use to share better your joy with us.

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I'll give it a go. Please forgive me if sizing is wrong etc.

What a great experience !

And what a wonderful family you have

I googeled these two places, and am very impressed, because unfortunately I can open the link you sent.
Monarto open plains Zoo is HUGE !!! Were you driven round in a bus ?

Adelaide Zoo looks very beautyful, and lots of interesting species

Oh sorry Susanne! I am a complete doofus when it comes to technology. I shall try and figure out how to post pics properly one day. They weren't that good to be honest, as the sky was dark and the drizzly weather just obliterated some pics.

Yes my hubby and son are wonderful! I am very grateful to 'my boys'.

There are buses that run constantly around and through the exhibits in Monarto. You can jump on a bus as many times as you like... or even just stay on for countless loops. Each time you go on a bus trip, you see the animals doing something different.

We walked some of the beautiful bush tracks and were able to take some photos of the Black Rhino, Zebras, antelope, ostriches and Giraffes... but then the skies opened and it was too wet to keep walking! So the next bus that came along, we jumped on. The Painted Dogs were stunning and were more active in the cooler weather. (Years ago, the last time we visited, it was nearly 40C and simply too hot for everyone and everything.)

They have a retired pair of Scimitar Horned Oryx who are allowed to do as they please in their very own large paddock, even though they are no longer part of the breeding program. So, of course at the zoo shop I had to buy the Collecta Figure. :) The herd of bison were enjoying the cooler weather and were cantering around and even running their shaggy heads through the mud. I also found a figure of a Bison in the shop, which just had to come home too!

Adelaide Zoo is beautifully landscaped! The two Aviaries are wonderful to walk through or sit on a bench in, surrounded by greenery, running water and birds everywhere!

There are Meerkats at both zoos and they are a crowd drawer. I loved the Asian Otters at Adelaide Zoo, washing their food before they ate it. The lions at Adelaide Zoo are not as lean and muscular as their counterparts in the open plains Monarto, but are very easy to take photos of. I'm sure the big male was showing off to the people watching him! Until that day, I'd never seen Tigers in real life before, so I was very happy that we were able to see one. I have various Tiger figures from different brands, but they don't prepare you for the sheer size and presence of the big striped cats in the flesh!  

Ahhhr ! I wished I had been there

Thankyou for describing your adventure, - actually better than pictures