Discover the Wonders of the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens

If you're looking for a place that the whole family will enjoy or just a new weekend activity to do alone or with friends around Sanford, check out the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Featuring night hikes, zip lines, and a whole host of adventures on the ground, this isn't your ordinary zoo or gardens. 

Read on to see what attractions and activities the Central Florida Zoo has to offer, as well as to get an idea of the vast diversity of wildlife you'll encounter on your visit. 

Central Florida Zoo Basics

First things first: a visit to the Central Florida Zoo will be slightly more expensive on weekends and holidays than on weekdays due to peak and non-peak pricing. With peak pricing, adults pay $21.95 for general admission, while children between the ages of 3 and 12 pay $15.95, and children aged 2 and under get in for free. Seniors over the age of 55 pay $17.95. These are the online prices for tickets, and it's highly recommended you buy your tickets in advance since they'll be a couple of dollars more expensive if you buy them on-site.

The good news is that there are many parking spots available in the adjacent lot, and parking is free, which makes arriving at the zoo a pretty streamlined process. The Central Florida Zoo is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week.

The Magnificent Wildlife of the Central Florida Zoo

Once you enter the zoo itself, you're in for a real treat. It's home to a wonderful array of mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds from all over the world. You'll see bears, sloths, a whole host of monkeys, and big cats, such as leopards, cheetahs, and cougars. A crowd favorite is the resident giraffes. 

When you bring the kids to Central Florida Zoo, they're sure to enjoy it, but you'll also learn a lot more about animals you've probably never heard of, like the fossa and cotton-top tamarin. Other exhibits show off dangerous but fascinating reptiles, like rattlesnakes and pythons, while still others include a wonderful variety of exotic parrots and macaws, as well as the classic American bald eagle. 

The zoo also offers you and your family opportunities to get up close to animals and interact with them in different ways. For example, the zoo hosts occasional workshops in which families with children ages 5-13 can observe an animal up close and learn how to paint it. Another workshop teaches aspiring photographers how to take stunning photos of butterflies in motion. 

Activities in the Central Florida Zoo

In addition to keeping animals on the premises and caring for them, the Central Florida Zoo also aims to educate the public about the life, care, and habitats of the animals at the zoo and conservation efforts aimed to counter threats to these species. Children can learn all about these efforts in the zoo's Keeper Chats, where they get to talk to a real keeper that works at the zoo about the work they do and ask them any questions they may have about animals. Many of the educational activities are also quite fun, making them perfect for visiting families. 

Participate in giraffe feeding alongside zoo employees or get up close to a real-life rhino in the "Meet a Rhino" experience. Children especially love the Barnyard Buddies experience, where they get to interact with chickens, goats, sheep, and llamas while learning all about how these animals live and operate.

For a more adrenaline-fueled activity, check out the zipline courses provided by Seminole Aerial Adventures. Minors can participate as long as they have someone over the age of 16 to supervise them. The goal is to complete a course up in the trees, using a combination of ziplines, rope bridges, and several other physical challenges. 

If your kids want something more fun and relaxing, head to the Wharton-Smith Tropical Splash Ground to have fun and splash around in the streams, sprinklers, sprays, and other water features this area provides. The Splash Ground is actually included in the price of your general admission to the zoo, in contrast to a lot of the other activities listed in this section that do require an extra fee.

What to Do in the Botanical Gardens

The Central Florida Zoo is surrounded by 23 acres of gardens native to the Florida area. As you walk through these lush botanical gardens, keep an eye out for butterflies, hummingbirds, and other local species as well. Make your way to the Butterfly Garden, where a range of nectar plants are grown to attract the beautiful animals that feed off them and provide a unique viewing experience for visitors. 

You can also learn a lot about your own health and nutrition at the Health and Wellness Garden, which features a variety of plants used in everyday foods as well as common medicines people take. See if you can recognize the herbs planted here, many of which are used in cooking and wellness practices.

Continue on to other unique collections, such as the Spines, Thorns, and Prickles Garden, where you can view many of the plants that have developed a sharp defensive system. Don't forget the Fern Collection too. If you want to learn a little more about what the animals at the zoo eat, check out the Browse Collection, where plants used to supplement the zoo animals' diets are on display.

If you're in the Sanford area and haven't yet made your way to the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens, you're missing out on a wonderful outdoor day of fun and learning. Stop by today and marvel at the incredible species our planet has to offer. If you have any other tips for the Central Florida Zoo, contact our friendly team at Gibson Truck World via our secure online form to let us know since we would love to include them in a future post. 

Central Florida Zoo by Bob B. Brown is licensed with CC BY 2.0