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Winter Trip - January-April 2017
Riverbanks Zoo & Gardens
Our first stop on the 2017 winter trip was at the Riverbanks Zoo & Gardens in Columbia, South Carolina. We found this zoo on the internet and decided it would be a good place to visit. The zoo's website recommended some hotels, we selected one that was an easy 5 minute drive each way to and from the zoo. Though this is a zoo and botanical gardens we spent so much time really enjoying the zoo we did not have time to get to the botanical gardens, since it was early January there probably was not a lot in bloom anyway and we made the decision we would prefer to spend all the time available at the zoo.
We were able to get discount tickets at the motel. When we arrived at the parking area there was a staff lot on the right that had a lot of cars in it. Visiting parking was on the left, there was one other car in the lot. It was 9:00 AM, opening time, but as we walked around to the entrance we were wondering if we had the right time, it did not appear to be open. As we walked by the ticket booths, each with a closed sign in the window, we really began to wonder. Then Dale noticed the gates were open and a ticket taker was at the gates, so we entered the zoo. When we first walked in it did not look like much to see, we looked at the map and noticing there was more or less a path around the outside with some zig zag paths into the middle we decided to go clockwise around the zoo.
After about an hour, we decided that we were enjoying this zoo visit more than any other with the exception of our first visit to Busch Gardens, Tampa. Some of the highlights:
- Many different animals throughout the zoo
- A walk-through area with no fences between us and the kangaroos & the wallaby
- Conservation Outpost, tunnel containing many different types of animals
- Aquarium/Reptile building that looks small from the outside, but contains several large areas of displays
(Pictures)
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may 20 2017