Day Trips

The San Antonio Zoo gets better with each visit. It's such a wonderful place to share with children. Watching their faces light up as they explore the paths in the animal park makes the price of admission a real bargain.

The first time I visited the zoo must have been around 1980. The Fort Worth Zoo was my local zoo until I moved to Austin. Then the animals of the Alamo City became a once-a-year treat.

I remember thinking on those earlier visits that the place looked old, which is not a criticism as much as it is an observation of the park's resilience. Two of the enclosures cut into the limestone cliffs with a moat instead of a fence date back to 1929. The zoo pioneered cageless exhibits that give visitors unfettered views of the animals. The continuation of the open environment throughout the park is one of the things that makes the San Antonio Zoo special.

Home to more than 3,500 animals representing 600 species, visiting the zoo is like going on safari around the globe. Among the exhibits is one of the largest bird collections in the world. It seems like our winged friends are everywhere. In the birdhouses, visitors get to walk among the free-flying birds.

On every visit, it seems like there is something new at the zoo. This year, the zoo opened an addition to the Africa Live! exhibit. The new space almost doubled the African animal exhibit, which includes breeding programs for elephants and lions.

Besides being a tropical garden where one can take a walk with the kids, the zoo has been a research and educational facility nearly from the start. The zoo has more than 250 species that are threatened or endangered in the wild. The breeding program helps support the worldwide self-sustaining captive animal populations of the black rhino, dama gazelle, Komodo dragon, native Texan Attwater's prairie chicken, and 30 other species.

After a day of exploring the animal kingdom, don't forget to have your picture taken on the Entrance Hill statue of a pride of lions at the front gate. Made by San Antonio sculptor Bob Guelich, the bronze art has become an iconic symbol of the park. Thousands of visitors have rubbed the head of the lion cub for good luck, and now the ears shine like a new penny.

The zoo began in 1914 with a menagerie of buffalo, deer, and local homeless animals. The San Antonio Zoological Society took over operation of the facilities in 1932. Since then it has garnered an illustrious reputation and is included on most lists of the Top 10 zoos in North America.

The San Antonio Zoo is in Brackenridge Park at 3903 N. St. Mary's St. in San Antonio. The animal park is open every day of the year from 9am to 5pm. For more information, call 210/734-7184 or go to www.sazoo-aq.org.

986th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of "Day Trips" 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.