While on vacation it can be hard to find things for the whole family to do that everyone will enjoy. As animal lovers, our family enjoys going to different zoos to see all the different animals we may not get to normally see at our local zoo. We are blessed to live in an area where we have access to not only ZooKnoxville, but we also have Little Ponderosa Zoo which is a non-profit rescue for exotic and domestic animals. If you are in the area, and you have not been to Little Ponderosa, you need to. It is an amazing experience! Not long ago, they had a fire and they are still in the process of rebuilding but that does not stop them from opening up to the public. Being open to the public is actually very crucial for them in order to stay open and finish rebuilding. They are accepting donations in order to finish rebuilding and if you’d like to give, please click here. All that being said, while we were in Tampa we visited ZooTampa at Lowry Park.
We were able to do this and many other local attractions thanks to CityPASS Tampa Bay. With CityPass, you get discounts on tickets to attractions in the area. For the Tampa Bay area, you could visit Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, The Florida Aquarium, ZooTampa at Lowry Park, Clearwater Marine Aquarium, and Museum of Science and Industry OR Chihuly Collection for about 51% less than if you bought each of those tickets individually. CityPASS is available in other cities as well. This is something that our family will definitely be using again.
Birds
One of our favorite things about ZooTampa at Lowry Park is all the Aviaries they have. These are netted in areas that guests can enter to be up close to the birds without netting separating you from the birds. A few of the birds like the flamingos and an eagle were just in fenced in areas without any netting to enclose them. The eagle was missing a wing from what we could tell. ZooTampa had a sign out stating they were able to have this eagle on display was because he was unable to survive on his own in the wild or else it would be illegal for them to have him.
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Primates
The primates are always one of my favorite attractions at a zoo. They are so expressive and usually hilarious to just sit and watch. Several of the primates at ZooTampa recently had babies so that was pretty exciting for us to see the momma’s loving on their little bitty babies. Of course, like any mom though, they were very protective of their babies and were trying to shield them from the crowd.
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Reptiles
ZooTampa has several different types of alligators and crocodiles. They also have some large lizards, several types of turtles and tortoises. The reptile Justin and I was most excited about was the Galápagos tortoise. When they hatch, Galapagos tortoises only weigh about 3 ounces. In 30 years, they will grow to weigh 600lbs, making them the world’s largest tortoise species!
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Large Cats & Dogs
Like this subheading says, this section is all about the large cats and dogs (wolves) on exhibit at ZooTampa. Several of these exhibits though were either under construction or the animal was inside for one reason or another so we didn’t get to see too many. The ones that were on exhibit though were still fun to observe.
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Large Animals
ZooTampa has several large animals on exhibit. This is everything from bears to elephants and almost anything between. The large animals are always a hit at any zoo because as humans, we often feel like we are the top dog. So when we see an animal that is 10ft taller than us and several hundred pounds more than us, it is humbling. At least to me anyway. In this sections, I can’t name a favorite attraction. I love them all. I love the rhino, the giraffe, the zebra, the elephants.
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Fish
No zoo would be complete without some sort of fish exhibit. Not everyone goes to both the zoo and the aquarium when on vacation so it only makes sense. ZooTampa has a wonderful array of fish species. I was able to enjoy their fish exhibits slightly more than I was able to enjoy The Florida Aquarium exhibits. This is only because the zoo was not quite as crowded as the aquarium on the day we went.
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Other
ZooTampa has several other exhibits that I have not mentioned so far in this post. This is everything from horses to wallaroos. Please enjoy!
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In Conclusion
If you find yourself in Tampa, I highly suggest you go ahead and get the CityPASS and go to as all or as many of those attractions as possible. ZooTampa in Lowry Park is a definite must see when in the Tampa area. We are extremely glad that we went. Our entire family had a wonderful time. Anyone who travels with several other people knows just how difficult is it to accomplish that. I am looking forward to going back one day to see the exhibits that were closed due to construction or cold weather. There were so many animals that we missed and a lot of shows with the animals that we just did not have time for in this visit. Please enjoy these pictures of our family as we enjoyed the zoo!
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If you find yourself in the Tampa area, don’t forget to check out our article, 4 Spectacular Restaurants in the Tampa Area, for some great restaurant options!
Thank you so much for reading! We hope that you enjoyed this post! If you are wondering, yes BroLee is pretending to hold a camera in a few of those pictures. If you liked this be sure to share it and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on our latest posts. Don’t forget to check us our on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest! Thank you again and God Bless!
