The Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa is one of the more creative zoos that we’ve visited, starting with the drive into the parking lot. They have a very large snow leopard sculpture upon arrival in the gift shop, and you immediately walk into an aviary with many colorful birds. In the zoo they have several ways to interact with animals that aren’t common at all zoos. Despite being on the smaller side, this zoo is very engaging and worth the trip.
Highlights:
- Camels – As you pass under the sign for the Blank Park Zoo, look to your right to see some camels walking around – a great way to engage visitors before they’ve even gotten out of their cars
- Seal/Sea Lions – they do demonstrations multiple times per day of their seal and sea lion which are both engaging and enjoyable
- Ostriches – this is the only zoo that we’ve been to that allows you to feed ostriches – you should try it because you might not have another chance to do this anywhere else
- Tiger Exhibit – the tiger exhibit has a play area for kids to act like they’re driving a safari truck, and through the glass window the tigers can come over and it is like you’re driving the tigers – this happened to my kids and they talked about it for months
Lows:
- Savanna – I was disappointed in the hoofstock at this zoo because they kept them all separate despite being in the same section of the zoo. Some remodeling here could create a very nice savanna area
- Space – While I appreciate that the camels are kept in an area where they have enough space, some animals (like the lions) don’t appear to have enough – would like to see them expand some of these exhibits
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