October 10, 2023

ZOO KNOXVILLE

3500 Knoxville Zoo Dr, Knoxville, TN 37914

“Zoo Knoxville, formerly known as the Knoxville Zoo or Knoxville Zoological Gardens, is a 53-acre zoo located just east of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, near exit 392 off Interstate 40. The zoo is home to about 1,200 animals and welcomes over 585,000 visitors each year.’ - Wikipedia

It happened again, I planned on going to a zoo during a school break. I tried hard not to let the screaming children influence what I thought about the zoo, but sometimes it is hard to not take them into account. This medium-sized zoo has a nice variety of animals. Like a lot of zoos this size, there is an Asian area and an African area, with other species scattered throughout. The trails get hilly, and I’ll admit to feeling lost a couple of times, but overall the zoo is laid out nicely.

My favorites included the Gibbons, Red Pandas, and the Red Wolves. They have a great ape complex, but with the number of people at the zoo it was hard to get a spot to watch for very long. The same was true of the Black Bear exhibit, while the bears were active it was hard to find a place to watch them with all of the people.

Overall, I enjoyed my visit to Zoo Knoxville, but would like to return when it isn’t so crowded.