Riverbanks ZOO and Garden

Last week I was so excited to begin my new travel series to Savannah, Georgia!  I explained in my last post that we took a road trip and made a pit stop in Columbia, South Carolina to spend the night and visit the Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Garden.  In last week's post I covered the botanical gardens, and this week I will talk about their amazing zoo!

My husband and I try to visit the local zoo wherever we travel.  I love to see the different designs of the zoo in each state.  This was a beautiful, charming zoo.  It was so pretty!  How often can you say that about a zoo?  It was very well designed, clean, and well-kept.  I really loved all the tropical plants and flowers too!

This is the sign that greets guests as they enter the zoo grounds.  I really like the sentence underneath the title.  That mission statement is definitely reflected in the beautiful grounds and loving care of the animals.

Read the little sign on the lower a left.  Isn't that beautiful?

Riverbanks zoo and garden is 170 acres and is home to more than 2,000 animals.  

For a smaller zoo, the zoo had almost every animal you'd expect to see at a zoo.  All the animal environments were re-created to be as natural as possible and esthetically pleasing. We loved the koalas.  There were three of them, and they were all asleep...aren't they always?  Have you ever seen a koala in a zoo when they weren't asleep?  I haven't.  I was surprised how close we were able to get to them.  That really helps to see these sweet little creatures.

Ya'll know I'm a huge bird lover, so I was thrilled to enter the aviary and see these beauties.  You could buy food and hand feed them too!

Bamboo, along with palmetto trees was everywhere in this zoo.  We can't grow bamboo in Wisconsin, so I'm always fascinated with it when I travel.

These sweet llamas were my favorite!  They were so friendly.  Their fur was so soft.  This was part of a small kids area which included a petting zoo, and pony and train rides.  In addition to these attractions there is also a water park, a rock wall, sky high safari, and a zip line...so your child will not run of things to do!  These are not included in the general admission, but you can buy a wristband for $20 which provides unlimited daily rides and attractions along with admission to the zoo/botanical gardens.

I wanted to take this one home with me.  I just loved his/her eyes!

They did have some larger animals like zebra, giraffes, elephants, and gorillas.

This alligator was so huge!

There were so many restaurants and places to eat in this zoo...I was actually surprised at the amount of choices.  I've never seen that before.  We stopped at one restaurant so I could enjoy a glass of ice tea.  I loved sitting on the patio and listening to the birds sing with my husband.

When my husband was taking this picture, another elephant surprised us and joined the frame!  I had no idea till I saw the picture!

Isn't this little creature a cutie?

Though they did have bigger cats, they were all sleeping/hiding when we were there, so we couldn't get a descent photo.  This cat though made up for it because he woke up right when we got there, stretched, and went for a walk on a tree limb.  It made me miss Jackson.

There were several large gorillas.  Some were hard to spot as they hid in the tall brush quite effectively, but this one, seemed to enjoy the attention!

If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend stopping in this zoo.  There is so much more to see there than what I covered here.  They have an aquarium and a seal area (with demonstrations) too!  They are open daily from 9-5 (except Thanksgiving and Christmas).  The cost is $15.95 for an adult and parking is free!

Next week I'll begin my coverage of Savannah starting with the beautiful historic home we stayed in "Printmaker's Inn".

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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