I was headed to a conference in Saint Louis and had to make the most of the trip all the way there – so the weekend before the conference I headed to Omaha, Nebraska to check out the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium as it comes up on just about every single ‘top zoo in the USA’ list! No pandas of course, but still plenty to see and enough to easily fill a whole day of animal watching^
The zoo is very large and set over a huge expanse of land, you’ll sure get your steps and a good workout in because there’s a couple of hills around, particularly up from the lake towards the elephant and giraffe houses. I ended up walking around twice, both before and after lunch, so got 2 visits to most of the areas to see if I could spot some animals I hadn’t seen the first time around. I walked, but there was a train that could take you around a section of the park and a ski-lift type cable car as well. I stopped for lunch in the Durham Treetops Restaurant, it was pretty standard zoo food that you get in most places and I had some macaroni cheese with fries, plus a drink and thought it was reasonably priced. For it being a Saturday it wasn’t too busy at all, none of the seating areas at the cafes looked busy, there are plenty to choose from. There are a couple of gift shops around on the map, I went to the main one at the entrance on my way out – great selection of souvenirs to buy. I took an Uber to get to and from the zoo, it was around 10 minutes from the centre of Omaha and I never had to wait to long for one to arrive. Google Maps said there was a bus I could have taken and that would have only been around 15 minutes as well, however I couldn’t clearly see a bus stop on street view so I wasn’t sure about taking that option.
Desert Dome & Kingdoms of the Night
I worked my way clockwise around the park from the entrance, so first stop, the Desert Dome and subterranean Kingdoms of the Night. I think this was my favourite area. Apparently it’s the world’s largest indoor desert – I’ve been to the dome in ZooParc de Beauval before, while I would say it’s felt larger, they’ve both gone for different themes, which I appreciate. And here I saw some great species that I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen before, and a really good range of animals as well. You enter and work your way around the mountain that’s in the middle of the dome, the exhibit spaces were cleverly fitted into the landscaping, using the rock-work to suit the different animals in the different areas. In here I really liked seeing the bat-eared fox and the African wild cat which was the first time I had seen either of these species. I also really liked how the peccary and ocelot spaces were done – the peccaries were in a large open space with overhanging rocks at the back, and ontop of those rocks were were the ocelot space wasn’t (didn’t see but really tried!). There was also a very good bird selection in here, loved the tiny owls, especially the burrowing owls.
Then after looping around the desert, you can head downstairs into the Kingdoms of the Night, which is the world’s largest nocturnal exhibit. As expected, it was dark down here so I really didn’t take any photos. It was quite cool in terms of architecture which a great cave structure. I really liked the swamp area, it was done really well and there were staff there helping to point out the alligators who lived there. I especially enjoyed seeing the beavers here, I’ve been trying to see beavers in their various zoo homes for a few years now and this was my first success! These guys are super cute and I saw some in their cave home and one even in the water.
Hubbard: Gorilla Valley & Orangutan Forest
Heading out of the Desert Dome I headed down the hill to the Hubbard Orangutan Forest and Gorilla Valley. From where I came from I was on the top level of the Orangutan Forest, here you can view two outdoor netted areas, I only saw the Siamangs in this outside area on the 2 occasions when I visited here. But they were very popular, there was always a crowd watching. The design of the orangutan building was really nice, I headed inside on this level then went downstairs where you walk along the indoor area, which was where the orangutan’s were always hanging out. They had lots of options in here with climbing and caves, and I was lucky to see one of them super close up.
After leaving here I headed into the Gorilla Valley, less themed of a building but still clever with the layout of habitats in here. There were several different outdoor and indoor spaces, it was made to look like one continuous space, but did house different groups of animals, which I quite liked. One my first time through I only saw the gorillas inside, including a very impressive silverback, but on my second visit in the afternoon once the sun had come out a bit a few of the boys in the bachelor group had now come outside and were sitting right up against the viewing windows enjoying the sunshine on a chilly day. Also in this house there were some Abyssinian ground hornbills which were cool to see getting fed, and also what I think were gibbons, which caused some hilarity among a few children who were watching when one decided to hang right at the window and pee right in front of the children! Overall there was lots of inside space here, so a good option to hang out if it’s cold or rainy – plus seating, toilets and plenty of education.
Owen Sea Lion Shores
This is a small area of the zoo but is incredibly themed and looks beautiful, the landscaping and scenery here really was great, and I really like this area. Here are both sea lions and harbor seals (2 firm favourites of mine^) and you had above the water and below the water viewing options as well as a seating area. The water was huge and there were lots of different view points to watch from. On the weekends across the late Spring to early Autumn there are training sessions so I watched one of these, and I was the only person there! That was very cool. The two keepers brought the harbor seals out of the water and did their checks, asking the seals to go into different positions and then they got some fish afterwards. It didn’t last long, but after the two were loving swimming around so I quickly headed to the underwater viewing to see them and that was great too. Again lots of education in this area too. On both times that I stopped by here it was very quiet, so I found it enjoyable to just stand and watch.
Asian Highlands
The Asian Highlands was the next area I visited and had amazing theming to it, the whole area from paths between exhibits and the animal areas themselves just looked great. And this area definitely had some ‘highlight’ animals for me, even if I didn’t get a good look or photos of them all! The first yard looked like it was built for red pandas but there were no red pandas there, but they would fit perfectly with the area, however the tufted deer in here were very cute and were sadly being missed by most people walking in, so I was happy to stand and watch this little one enjoy some pumpkin. The sloth bear and Amur tiger were next on the trail, I only saw the sloth bear on my second trip around the area and he was right at the back of his hilly home, it was quite a tricky one to get photos at, and I saw the tiger on my first trip around, who was enjoying a snooze in a cosy looking bed. There are also snow leopards here and I really liked their rocky mountainside home, it was perfect for their camouflage because I couldn’t see them at all and a toddler pointed one out to me! I still couldn’t see it well enough to get an in-focus photo! For sure the takins were a highlight, I really like takins, they’re my favourite hoofstock animal and they just look so cute^ There were quite a few living here and they also had a great hillside home here with a mix of rocky terrain and grass. I bought a fridge magnet of one of these guys for my collection.
Scott African Grasslands
This was probably the least themed area and actually I think it was my least favourite area – while I went a second time to the elephants and giraffes, I didn’t do a second round on most of the animals here. I didn’t end up seeing several of them, there was no sign of the cheetahs which I would have liked to see and when I was at the lions it was very busy with kids so difficult to get a good view or many pictures. The giraffes and elephants were mostly inside the whole day – there was a nice sized giraffe herd and when I was there in the afternoon the keepers had gone in to fill up enrichment items with snacks for them and the giraffes were very happy to receive these. It was quite a small area inside for viewing, which made taking photos quite difficult. The elephants had a larger space for you to stand and see them inside, they again got some enrichment in the afternoon and one did come outside – they had a huge outdoor yard so would have been great to see them make use of it.
Suzanne & Walter Scott Aquarium
The aquarium in the zoo was very good, lots to see and plenty of unique species that I haven’t seen before in other zoo-based aquariums. I especially liked the collection of different jellyfish species. The penguin collection was also great, I enjoy watching penguins a lot and seeing different species of them – the only thing was it’s always tricky getting pictures through glass with all the splashes of water. Looking online now I see there’s an underwater shark tunnel, now I assume I went through there too but I have no recollection at all! I think I was suffering badly from jetlag at this point!
Lied Jungle
The final area of the zoo to highlight – the Lied Jungle and it was really quite impressive of a jungle/rainforest space. Again I think by this point the jetlag had hit badly and I don’t remember the whole experience of being in this exhibit. The waterfall area was very cool and seeing all the gibbons just chilling, almost as if they weren’t in an exhibit at all, was quite an experience. Having recently just been to the Bronx Zoo, I did think I liked their Jungle World a bit better, but very similar vibes between the two.
