Zoo, Atlanta

The best part of our new zoo is the new ape habitat and also the lions areas....really much better than alot of zoos around the world---more natural looking than just bars. The snake and reptile house is also a favorite. Located in Grant Park and near the Cyclorama for a full afternoon's visit.

3 more images

Notice it's not the Atlanta Zoo but rather, Zoo Atlanta!
It's nothing spectacular compared to other large city zoos with the exception of being able to see pandas. They've had good fortune helping the pandas have babies, too. There's also a group of about 10 gorillas including some young ones.

I am a native Atlantan, and remeber the really bad days of the Atlanta Zoo. I have just returned from the Zoo in 2006 and am in Awe. I have been all over the world and this is a world class Zoo. People assume - without oging - that if the Zoo is in Atlanta it's no good. They are idiots! The people are actually enclosed and the animals roam free. Go early in the AM before it gets hot - choose what you want to see the most and go there fisrts. We had the gorilla habitat all to ourselves at 9:30 on a Saturday AM. We saw TAZ the silverback run down the hill beating his chest; we saw lots of moms and babies; we watched the animals eat, we watched the bachelor males playfight. Go to one of the training sessions to see how the handlers examine the animals daily and of course check the feeding schedule. The nice thing is that the zoo is small enough to be manageable. The zoo offers good lesons on how to live in our world with the rest of nature. After seeing a zoo as bad as it could be, I cried to see what my city had accomplished. God bless them for the good work they've done!!!!!

Zoo Atlanta is located in Grant Park. The Zoo has been undergone a transformation from a bunch of caged animals to a more open and natural environment.

The current highlight at the Zoo are Two Giant Pandas. The Exhibit is well done and you get a pretty good view of them. There are also the standard Lions, Tigers, Elephants, Giraffes, and Gorillas. Most of the new exhibits provide a great view although the Gorillas are hit or miss and the Tiger is very difficult to see unless he's in the water.

Grant Park is great for a Picnic although there is a McDonalds on site. Adjacent to the Zoo is the Cyclorama which is a 360 degree mural of the battle of Atlanta during the Civil War.

Grant Park is 131 acres of park about 2 miles SW of downtown Atlanta. Half the park is typically what one expects in a park - walking trails, playing fields, old fountains, etc. I spent a couple of hours wandering through the old-growth forest on a Sunday morning before my plane left Atlanta

Part of the park is leased to Zoo Atlanta. Zoo Atlanta is a small zoo on 37 acres with some cool animals - an African theme with lowland gorillas, giraffes, black rhinos, etc. As well the asian exhibit has two giant pandas.

Entrance to the zoo in 2004 is $16.50 for adults. Allow a 1/2 day to see everything. Its website is http://www.zooatlanta.org

Also at Grant Park is the Atlanta Cyclorama - a civil war museum which features a 360 degree painting. You view the painting from a revolving platform while being provided with narration, etc.

Entrance to the Cyclorama in 2004 is $6.00 for adults. Allow an hour to see it. Its website is http://roadsidegeorgia.com/site/cyclorama.html

Today this nationally recognized animal habitat is home (for ten years from 1999 until 2009) to two giant pandas, Lun Lun and Yang Yang, on loan from the Chengdu Zoo in China. Primates run free in the Ford African Rain Forest and the people are contained to an intricate maze of pathways. It is quite different from the Grant Park Zoo that was named one of the ten worst zoos in the country in the early 1980's. The dramatic turnaround was witnessed with great interest not only by the citizens of Atlanta and North Georgia, but by the entire world. The turmoil brought international fame to Willie B., a silverback gorilla who came to represent both the zoo and its recovery.

This is really a nice zoo. Not huge, but very managable. Animal habitats are natural and large enough. Doesn't have quite the variety that other larger zoo's may have, but this is a very pretty walk, and would take about 4 hours to do right. Great tiger and lion enclosures.

This is a great zoo, definitely check it out if you are in Atlanta. One of the few zoos in the US with giant Pandas.

A pretty good zoo... the kids will love the train around the zoo. All will love to watch the pandas frolic.

While the Atlanta Zoo is not nearly as impressive as other zoos around the world, it's still nice to take a day trip to see the critters here.