Just taking long enough to drop off this review
Went to the Sedgwick Zoo in Wichita, KS on Sunday. Should have posted while I was thinking about it, but I wasn’t quite looking for a rating on the zoo. I was having too much fun with vermilionbird (also, keeping up with taller people XD), and trying to find the animals in the exhibits. But I’ll do my best to summarize and rate this park. No pictures, since I was stupid and didn’t bring a camera. You can actually go to vermilionbird’s deviant art gallery and she has pictures fo the animals found in the zoo. :D
This might receive some edits when I actually have brain, and a computer screen bigger than the size of my hand.
1) Initial Impression: I honestly didn’t notice the zoo entrance this time. It didn’t quite stand out, just your fairly standard one story concrete entrance. Gift shop was not run by the ticket booth person, which was nice to see. The zoo was very noticeable, (as long as you were looking on the correct side of the road, but it’s also on something like ‘Zoo Ln’ or something close enough that you’re like ‘duh, I think there’s a zoo here!’. Vermilionbird’s husband was driving, and he turned on the road and I saw the sign and knew we were close. The parking lot was all paved, and fairly large, giving you an idea of the prominence of the zoo.
2) Visitor Amenities: Much like the Richmond Zoo (or whatever it’s called), the Sedgwick Zoo had no real indoor eating areas, that I saw. (vermilionbird says that their food is overpriced and horrible, so we didn’t eat there). However they had covered eating areas, so that you could be sheltered from the rain and the elements. I didn’t notice the strollers, except that I know they at least had the single strollers. But I seem to recall a sign giving a price for their double strollers. The zoo is fairly big, so it was nice to see that they had a multitude of benches throughout the zoo. Some of them weren’t very dry (as it was a rainy day) but there were quite a few that were sheltered enough to use I the rain.
There was enough space on a majority of the walkways that I never had any worry about squeezing past other people, and could walk alongside vermilionbird and her husband. (though I didn’t very often, as is my wont). There were small sections that had narrow walk ways, but those were all indoor, and therefore very understandable as to why they were so narrow.
The zoo supplies maps, as well as road signs to guide you throughout the various ‘countries’ that they separate the animals through. The exhibits are labeled clearly so that you know what animal you are looking at/looking for. There are some areas where they might not be so clearly labeled, but there’s a very good reason for that, which will be explained when I go over the exhibits. An interesting note, and something that I’d never seen before were ‘Zoo keys’. Where you purchase a ‘key’ from the ticket booth/gift shop and it lets you access audio boxes located at several exhibits throughout the zoo, to give you additional information on the animals. I didn’t have the opportunity to try these, and will want to come again to experiment.
Not sure how the little sheltered areas feel during the heat, will have to come back for that.
If you don’t feel like going throughout the entire zoo on foot, it’s big enough to have a tram with stops scattered throughout the zoo. A relief that we didn’t use, but I liked that it was an option. There was also a boat that would take you around the pelican and lemur island for a better look at those animals. Again, I didn’t use it, because it wasn’t quite running. And it was raining.
You could buy feed for the koi scattered throughout the park. As well as feed for the barnyard animals, though we never reached there.
3) The animals and the exhibits they inhabit: I am very pleased with the variety found within this zoo. There were two walk through environments with free flight birds. And bats! They had free flight fruit bats. I was all a squee because it was feeding time for the bats, so they were actually flying between the feeding area and the trees. Very large, and beautiful creatures to see in actual motion. They also had vampire bats, with blue lighting so you could actually see them. There were signs on various support poles throughout the inside environement (it was to keep a rainforest feel) to list what birds would be found flying about. The birds didn’t seem to concerned with the people so much, as vermilionbird and I watched this beautiful Victoria Crowned Pigeon that stood only two feet (maybe less) away from us, pecking at a grape on the ground. Then it went after a cockroach, playing with it before it finally killed it. The rainforest exhibit had this very impressive walk under aquarium. Apparently the cichlids were breeding, or some fish, because there were several groups with babies.
The entire zoo seemed a cornucopia of color, an array of texture. They tried to give some small cultural feel in some of the exhibits, like the Tiger Trek, which took you through an asian village/countryside.
The tigers had a scheduled ‘performance’ where trainers came out and fed the tigers through a wire mesh in the window of their glass exhibit. (I don’t know what to call it, when you can walk into a building and only have glass separating you from the animal). There were several such exhibits throughout the area, the bears, and the otters, the gorillas and the other large apes. I’m sure there was at least one more, but I can’t remember. (The lions?). Though only the otters and the gorillas were readily available to see.
The exhibits themselves were beautifully maintained, with only a few exceptions (tapirs and white-tailed deer [which were waaay bigger than I’m used to seeing in that species], possibly the elk. Fairly sure the Bison as well), lush and green and the animals seemed happy (admittedly only as happy as one could expect a caged animal to be). At least they were active, for the most part, though the grizzly bear had worn a pacing trail throughout its pen.
They apparently had several new exhibits and animals, such as some asian deer, and a pair/trio of Amur Tigers. They also were trying to introduce a new gorilla into one of their three pods, but they believe that had caused some tension between two brothers and they had fought and hurt each other. Though it was only coincidence, the zoo had someone out, more than happy to explain how one of the gorillas had obtained that nasty gash o his arm.
There is a lot more I could say about the animals they have in this zoo, but honestly, you should come out and see them for yourself.
This zoo has okapi!!
I’d be more than happy to revisit this zoo on my next visit to Kansas. We skipped the giraffe, and the barnyard, but we were tired and hungry, and I’d seen those things before. Vermilionbird informs me that the barnyard features a walk-in goat pen, which I wish we could have taken the time to see. (NO VB, I’m not complaining! I really was too tired to do it. :P).
Still using Virginia Zoo as a basis of comparison at a rating of 5, I give this zoo an 8. This could very well go up as I continue to explore the various zoos offered around the country.
Going to another zoo tomorrow, so expect another review Wednesday, or after I get home on the weekend.