Our trip to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans was not off to a promising start. We had taken the St. Charles street car; not realizing part of the track was being repaired. We had to exit the streetcar, rush through a torrential downpour to wait for a bus and then, because we had just missed the shuttle to the zoo and it wouldn’t run again for thirty minutes, walk a mile in the rain to get to the zoo. By the time we arrived, we had the zoo almost to ourselves. We decided to start our visit with the reptile house, mainly because it was indoors. The kids are fascinated by reptiles and were able to read all the notes, while I found myself staring at this two headed gopher snake that had been donated to the zoo in 2009 and the Dumpy Toad, whose name made me giggle whenever I looked at it.
The rain had stopped by the time we finished the reptile house and we decided to visit the Louisiana swamp exhibit because I wanted to learn more about the history of the people who lived there. If you are able to visit the Audubon Zoo, this exhibit is a must see! It begins with a walk through the swamp, showing the floating houses used by the inhabitants and continues with animals found in the swamp, bears, raccoons, foxes and rare albino alligators. Interspersed with the varied animals, some of whom I had never heard of before, were facts about the Cajun inhabitants and exhibits of how they lived. I could have spent hours in this exhibit. I found myself sitting in a rocker overlooking the swamp and thinking how peaceful it was.
Because it had been raining, the temperature had cooled down and the animals were more active, meaning we were able to get up close views of rare animals, like the Amur Leopard. I found myself equally impressed with the architecture scattered throughout the park. The zoo is filled with historic buildings, architecture and sculptures. I spent my time equally divided between snapping pictures of the animals and the architecture.
I know all zoos are kids friendly, but the Audubon zoo seemed especially made with kids in mind. Each exhibit area had hands on activities for the kids. While the children’s zoo was closed for expansion, the zoo has a playground, a carousel, and the Cool Zoo, a wet and wild splash park, which was busy despite the dreary weather. Another feature I noticed was the nursery exhibits. We were able to see the babies in their nursery and learn more about them.
The Audubon Zoo is located directly behind the Audubon Park, which is well worth spending an hour or two exploring, in historic uptown New Orleans. Be sure to see if their “edible insects” feature is available the day you visit. I wasn’t brave enough to try it, but I heard a lot of people talking about their experiences on my street car ride back to the hotel.
Oh, that two-headed snake gave me the creeps! I am not a fan of snakes…..
My kids use to love the zoo when they were small, I on the other hand don’t like the zoo.
Ugh, traffic and construction to start is never good. I am glad you were able to get past that let down and have a great time though!
That snake looks gorgeous! I mean, a weird two-headed kind of gorgeous, but that’s sooo cool!
Sounds like a fun zoo. My youngest two LOVE going to the zoo and we have two that are local. I have even make little vacations to see other zoos that aren’t close to me.
I have NEVER seen a two headed snake!
I love the Elephant water fountains what a great scenery.
The design and the sculptures are pretty amazing in themselves. And the two-headed snake!? whoa.
I’m just not sure what to say about that snake. I’m both confused and appalled by it. Sorry you got stuck walking in the rain a mile!!!!! The zoo looks really unique though; glad you went!
My son would love to go here! He’s at an age where he is really into animals and has a million questions about every animal.
ohh wow!! gorgeous creatures!! <3
Eeeek! That two headed snake would scare me silly. It’s bad enough when they have one head but two? no thank you. lol. That zoo looks absolutely gorgeous though. and it sounds like you had a great time.
What a fun visit.. I love visiting a ZOO and this one looks like a lot of fun… loved your pictures.. thanks for sharing your trip Pam.. 🙂
These photos are great. I love going to the zoo and this one seems to have a lot of exhibits and attractions for the whole family.
The two headed snake took me a bit by surprise, LOL! Zoos are such great places and it sounds like this one is too.
Reptiles creep me out a bit but spiders are creeper. The zoo and be so much fun for kids, but exhausting for me.
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What a beautiful elephant sculpture! Looks like an amazing zoo to visit!
I want to go there!! I’d love to go see the fox on his chair 🙂
wow that two headed snake it crazy creepy!
I’ll have to keep this in mind for when we visit that area. Looks like you had a great time, I love the snake picture!
Holy cow, that snake is crazy!!! Is it naturally like that or just a freak thing that happened??
It is a freak thing. It was caused by a birth defect/gene mutation.
Zoos are one of my favorite vacation stops. We missed this one on our last visit to New Orleans, though, but will have to add it to the next. The boys would certainly love that two headed snake!
I have been trying to plan a trip to New Orleans. This is definitely being added to my list.
A 2 headed snake!?! Wow! We have an albino alligator at our zoo. Either are too scary for me!
I didn’t know how many places there were that I needed to see in Lousiana until I started reading about the places on your blog. I need to plan a vacation there.
We love to visit the zoo! We are lucky to have one very close to the house. This one is gorgeous!
This seems like a great place for a family to visit. We love animals, and I am sure my daughter would love it there. Great pictures, thanks for sharing.
Okay that 2 headed snake is both creepy and cool!
Great review!
I want to visit New Orleans so bad. If I get my wish I will check out the zoo!
I’m glad to learn that they have many hands on activities for the kids. That adds so much to the zoo experience.
A two-geaded snake, that’s cool. I neve rknew they existed outside of fiction. I’m glad you had fun despite the transportation issues.
Ooh, the two headed snake is crazy. lol. I love the elephant statue fountain. Way cool!
Oh wow what a wonderful day this looks likes! I would adore going around there I think – I shall have to make sure to pop in if I ever happen to be in the area thank you x
Glad to see that you turned a dreary day into a fun one. The zoo here in Tampa is too dang expensive, so I take the kids to the animal tents when the fair comes to town.
I have been to a lot of zoos in my life but I have never seena two headed one before.
We love the zoo but haven’t been yet this year! I’m going to make a family trip asap. That zoo looks really nice!
looks like a nice family oriented place. I have never seen a 2 headed snake before, my boys would love that!
That two-headed snack is AWESOME!!!! OMG, I want to go just to see that!!!
Oh my gosh… snakes give me the heepie jeepies and a two headed one …. oh my gosh.. if I seen that in the wild… I would pee my pants for sure.
Looks like you had a wonderful day at the Audubon zoo… I would like everything but the snakes…