I hate to admit it but I’ve lived in Southern California for 12 years and have never been to the San Diego Zoo. It was always on our list of places to visit when we had time, but we live less than 5 minutes from the LA Zoo so it seemed like we needed a good reason to go out-of-town for a zoo.
The San Diego Zoo is 102 years old and it seems like the people who run it have a real passion for teaching kids about animals and their habitats.
Visiting the Africa Rocks exhibit was just the reason we needed. San Diego Zoo’s Conrad Prebys Africa Rocks spotlights the amazing biodiversity found on the African continent, with unusual and striking animals ready for their rise to fame. It takes you from Savanna to Sea and gets you up-close with African Penguins, lemurs, baboons and more.
Chan has never really been into zoos but she does love animals and it’s important for me to expose her to many different kinds of creatures from around the world. It’s also one of the reasons why I love the show Wild Kratts on PBS.
She does love animals and adventures so I knew she’d be up for a road trip. We went on a weekday and I expected it to be packed because it’s summer break. But we easily found parking and walked right in. Tickets are a little expensive so plan to stay the entire day so you can get your money’s worth.
We grabbed a map and found where Africa Rocks is located and made our way through a tropical forest to get there. I was immediately taken by how big it is. There were so many places to see the animals and nature that it’s almost worth another trip to see it all. There’s an option to take a bus all around the zoo. It’s about a half hour round trip ride and leaves from the entrance. We decided to skip the bus tour and walk to our destination.
Africa Rocks takes up about a quarter of the zoos space or more and it’s beautifully done. Ushering you into each new habitat are rock formations unique to their regions—from the craggy granite outcroppings of the kopje, to the jagged, layered tsingy rocks of Madagascar, to the smooth, wave-worn boulders of the South Africa coastline. I imagine this is the ROCKS part of Africa Rocks.
We made it to the elephants just in time to watch them eat. But Chan’s favorite parts were the tigers and leopards. I’m guessing that’s because she’s obsessed with cats. She also loved the meerkats because…kats.
We stopped for a quick bite on our way to the giant waterfall. This is a spectacle you don’t want to miss when you’re there. It’s a huge waterfall that you can walk under and cool off. And trust me, you’re going to want to find as many places to cool off as you can because it gets HOT.
My favorite stars of the Serengeti were the baboons. Chan was cracking up at their red butts and it was so funny to watch her get so much joy out of discovering something new about these primates. It took us about 3 hours to visit all of Africa Rocks and that includes stopping for lunch and a ton of pictures. We probably could have gone through it quicker but why would we?
We ended our day with a Skyfari ride over the zoo which I have always wanted to do. You can see for miles around and get an idea of just how big the zoo is from overhead. It’s a lot more green than I thought it would and very clean. The line for Skyfari was pretty long so prepare to wait a while for that one especially if you go later in the day.
Our last stop was for the most incredible funnel cake covered with strawberries that I’ve ever had and a quick pop into the petting zoo. Perfect way to the end a day talking about animals by getting to pet some of them.
Adult tickets to the zoo are $54/pp and $40 for kids 3-11. The Africa Rocks exhibit is open now and worth your time if you are looking for a day trip with a side of education and history.
