My Thoughts on the San Diego Zoo
San Diego Zoo entrance; picture taken by: Anieka Sarmer
I had heard many praises about how wonderful the San Diego Zoo was from people who had been there before, including a friend who is local to San Diego. I had heard about their conservation efforts and how their zoo is one of the best in the world. So although I’m not a fan of zoos, when I traveled to San Diego for a week with my friend, we were both determined to go; and we did. We spent an entire day there, with an Uber dropping us off at around 11 and picking us up around closing time. The zoo is massive, and we saw pretty much all that the place has to offer. The San Diego Zoo has a student discount that you can’t access online, so we booked our tickets at the ticket counter and grabbed a map. We starred all the animals we wanted to see and planned out our route, in order to make sure we at least could see our favorites. We ended up seeing all the animals we wanted to and actually somehow succeeded in walking around the entire zoo; not once, but twice. By being able to delve into all the San Diego Zoo has to offer for as long as I did that day, there are parts of the experience that I really enjoyed, and there are experiences that I really didn’t.
My Favorites at the Zoo
The Scenery:
The Capuchin Enclosure; picture taken by: Anieka Sarmer
The gardens and the landscaping is absolutely breathtaking, especially when you take into account that San Diego is a desert and almost never gets any rainfall. When we walked through the lost forest to visit the tiger, gorillas, orangutans, and other creatures, I felt like I was really walking through a natural rainforest. The zoo has a wide variety of plant life that they pride themselves on and care for almost as much as they care for their animals.
The Guided Bus Tour:
There is a guided bus tour, which is 35 minutes long, and takes you all along the perimeter of the zoo. We hopped on that, which gave us a good look at how far everything was from each other and what we really wanted to prioritize. I’d say this isn’t something that you have to do when coming to the zoo, especially if you’ve been there before. However, if you’re new and want to learn more about the zoo and what they do, the guided tour is an option for you.
The Aerial Skyfari:
View from the Aerial Skyfari Lifts; picture taken by: Anieka Sarmer
The Aerial Skyfari Lift that takes you from the entrance of the zoo all the way to the Northern Frontier at the other side, gifts you breathtaking views of the park. We used this at the very end of our stay when we were extremely tired and ready to leave; not wanting to have to walk all the way back across the zoo. We ended up getting back to the entrance in less than five minutes and we got to see a beautiful view of the entire zoo, as well as the surrounding Balboa Park and San Diego city in the distance.
Conservation Information:
Elephants playing at the San Diego Zoo; picture taken by: Anieka Sarmer
The San Diego zoo has information at every animal enclosure about the species’ conservation status, as well as information on how they’re being protected in the wild. The zoo also has broader information on the conservation of the planet as a whole. This is something that I strongly appreciate, as being someone who cares extremely for the environment and the animals that live in it.
The Wildlife Safari Park:
Although I didn’t get to go to the Wildlife Safari Park, I would love to go there when I get another chance to visit San Diego. We weren’t able to experience it because we lacked transportation to get there, but next time I would rather go there. It’s still slightly better than going to a zoo, while still getting to see wildlife. The Wildlife Safari Park, which is a 1,800 acre enclosure about an hour outside of San Diego in the San Pasqual Valley that houses 3,000 animals, is where you can take guided safaris and roam with the wildlife. I would much rather see these animals free in the wild, but the Safari Park does have a considerable amount of land and the profits go towards the Zoo’s conservation efforts.
What I Despised About the Zoo
The zoo is still a zoo. It sounds silly — obviously it’s a zoo. However, I had heard about how amazing and huge the place was, and how much they care for the animal’s needs. Due to those praises, I was expecting a little more than what there was. One comment that I will make however, is that no matter how “luxurious” the San Diego Zoo is praised for being, it is still a zoo, which is a reality I re-experienced when I was there. These animals are in cages, and not very big ones at that. There were four adult giraffes, plus a baby Giraffe in one enclosure, which was probably about 50 yards long and only about 25 yards wide.
Giraffe Enclosure, San Diego Zoo; picture taken by: Anieka Sarmer
The large wildcat enclosures were even less and although most of the cat species socially stay isolated from each other naturally in the wild, the individual enclosures were definitely less than 50 yards on all sides. This is a space that I found extremely claustrophobic for a creature who has territories in the wild that go on for miles.
What really bothered me was the Cheetah enclosure. Two or three cheetahs were contained in an enclosure similar to the size of the Giraffe enclosure, where the length was roughly 50 yards (if I’m being generous) and the width had to have been only 20 yards. This distressed me severely watching these animals, who in the wild, run at speeds reaching 70 mph, not even being able to run the length of a football field because they’d run out of space.
Cheetah Enclosure, San Diego Zoo; picture taken by: Anieka Sarmer
As someone who advocates for animal rights and wellbeing, coming to the zoo and seeing most of these wild animals in enclosures about the size of my house or less made me feel irritable and sad. I had come to the zoo because I had heard about how amazing and special it was, but honestly my friend and I weren’t impressed with the structure of the enclosures at all.
However, this is not me arguing that people shouldn’t visit the San Diego Zoo. These are my personal opinions about the zoo based on my experiences which may not reflect the experiences or opinions of others. I personally have never been a fan of zoos and made this visit an exception because of the hype around it. I am also aware, however, that there is a lot of good the San Diego Zoo does globally with the money they receive through their visitors. As someone who loves animals and wants them to have a place on this planet, I believe that looking at the bigger picture is key here and the work the zoo does worldwide makes more of a difference for the future of wildlife conservation.
Butterfly Enclosure, San Diego Zoo; picture taken by: Anieka Sarmer
I’ve linked all three of the San Diego Zoo’s websites down below if you would like more information on this establishment, or are thinking of visiting either the zoo or the Safari Park. Although I had mixed feelings about the zoo, it was still an experience I enjoyed and that I learned a lot from.
Check out my previous blogs for more content on the San Diego area. Also, follow my instagram @aniekasarmer for updates on new blog postings and future destinations.
Now go out and experience!
— Anieka ♡
