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Cleveland Zoo Visit

Our summer vacation this year was a mainly tour of Historic Homes and Botanical Gardens in 7 Eastern and Midwest States. But while we were in Ohio, we stopped into the Cleveland Zoo and spent a few hours admiring the animals.

This big zoo houses 3,000 animals of over 600 species on abut 180 acres of land. The zoo is divided into several themed areas such as the tiger and bear exhibit, the African plants, a shark exhibit and wonderful rain forest display with fabulous displays of Australian animals.

Not only are there loads of animals to see, but the ground are beautifully landscaped with more than 10,000 plants, a gorgeous central fountain and large waterfall.

The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is home to 3000 animals and over 10,000 plants

The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is definitely a place to add to your list of places to visit in Ohio when you next travel there.  Grab a cup of coffee and check out what we saw on our recent tour.

If you, too, love to visit zoos, be sure to check out my post on the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens

Touring the Cleveland Zoo

One of the highlights of the zoo for me was the rain forest house.  A general zoo admission covers both the animal exhibits which are outdoors as well as the indoor rain forest exhibits.

They were lush with lots of greenery, a great Australian exhibit, and loads of unusual snakes. While we were there, both the koalas and tree kangaroos were visible.Koala and tree kangaroo in the rainf orest exhibit of the Cleveland Zoo

We had a real treat at the Tiger Passage exhibit.  Two large tigers were enjoying the sun just feet above us!Tiger passage at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

My husband and I lived in Australia for 15 years and loved the Australian exhibit. It was beautifully landscaped and featured kangaroos, many Australian birds, wombats and lots of Australian looking artifacts on the grounds.

We enjoyed the walk through aviary since it gave us a chance to get very close to the parrots.  The grounds were landscaped with ENORMOUS hibiscus flowers!Aviary at the Cleveland Zoo Australia exhibit

My daughter has always loved bears.  So, of course, I took a lot of photos of the bear exhibit.  It was large, very rocky and had a pretty good sized pool for them to swim around.Brown bear exhibit

She squealed when I sent her this video of Mr. Brown bear going for a swim!

The giraffe exhibit gave the animals lots of room to roam around. They were enjoying a feed while we watched.Giraffe Exhibit at the Cleveland Zoo

Normally I don’t like to see elephants at zoos, since most of them have small enclosures. The Cleveland Zoo gave them a very large area and we managed to get a close up view.Elephant exhibit at the Cleveland Zoo

Half of the rhino exhibit was closed while we were visiting but we still got a chance to get a good look at one of the rhinos.Rhino exhibit at the Cleveland Zoo

Not only were the enclosures for the animals full of plants but the grounds themselves were beautifully landscaped. Everywhere we looked there was something of interest to enjoy!Landscaped gardens at the Cleveland Zoo

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The Cleveland Zoo houses 3,000 animals of over 600 species on abut 180 acres of land. It is well worth a visit if you are in this area of the country. Head to The Gardening Cook for a virtual tour of the zoo.🦓🐻🦒🐵 Share on X

For another great family day out, be sure to check out my post on the Albuquerque Aquarium. The kids will love this one, too.

If you enjoy zoos and manage to get to Cleveland, be sure to drop in. The zoo is fairly large with a good amount of walking, but there are plenty of seats to have a rest if you need one. It’s a great family day out. The basic admission is reasonable and they have a few add ons as well.

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