Today I visited the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Sanford, Florida. It's a nice place, but the botanical gardens are much better than the zoo. The zoo is a little outdated in that most of the animals are in cages (zoos now have the animals free-roaming). The cages were clean and roomy, but they were still cages. A few of the animals, such as the elephant, jaguars, and kangaroos were free-roaming. All in all, it's a beautiful place with lush gardens and a lot for kids to do.
(Click on photos to enlarge.)
This is a fun water area for kids. It was very cute!
There is a boardwalk around the entire park. Very nice.
This was one of the best butterfly gardens I have
ever seen. This time of year, there aren't butterflies
around, but there were plenty of flowers and a little pathway
to walk around. It was nice!
See, this cage is just WRONG. Nobody
has cages anymore.
There was a nice pair of jaguars
There was a nice Australian exhibit with kangaroos and emus.
This was a FANTASTIC blue magpie; too bad the
bars are in the way of the photo.
Lots of barnyard animals that you could get close to.
Kids were petting this animal.
Nice black cayman
There was a pretty pair of bald eagles.
This area was great for kids. There was
a merry-go-round and a little train to ride all
around the park.
This train was SO CUTE!
The botanical garden aspect of this place was
magnificent. Beautiful flowers and gardens all over.
I love the bamboo all over the place.
