The Maryland Zoo is located in Baltimore, although many people whom I’ve spoken to say they have been to the DC Zoo but not the Baltimore one. Which may seem a little odd since it’s not in our state- and most who go to DC from Maryland take public transportation because put lightly, the parking in DC is horrendous. So why is that? I have a few theories:

Distance: I live in the county above DC so perhaps it’s easier than driving to Baltimore; Baltimore is about an hour away from me by car and the tip of DC is about 30 minutes away (again, using public transportation).

Cost: The DC Zoo is free, whereas the Baltimore Zoo (which I went to today) is $33/person. It does offer a yearly membership if you think you’d travel often.

Location: There is a lot to do in DC, many things are free (except the absurdly overpriced food trucks, but that’s a story for another time) and because of that, it can be nice to make a day out of it- go to the free zoo, head over to the free museums, visit the Capital Building, etc., but in Baltimore while there are things to do- it’s not as vast. Both DC and Baltimore are more impoverished areas with high crime rates than you’ll see in Montgomery County. Some of the buildings look rundown, old or just plain falling apart. Some have boarded windows and it’s just less “posh.” Both have more homeless individuals than you’ll see in other areas and I would say that the immediate surrounding area of the DC Zoo is more touristy, whereas the immediate surrounding area of the Maryland Zoo is generally in a “rough” area.

Hours: I must say that the Maryland Zoo hours are pretty restrictive. The Zoo is open from 10am-4pm, whereas the DC Zoo is open from 8am-6pm. I think was one of my reasons, as a NON morning person of waiting so long to go.

Quality? Before going to the Maryland Zoo, I had been told that the care the animals receive or their enclosures are less humane. Upon going there today, I didn’t see that at all. In fact, many of the enclosures seemed larger to me. I can’t really speak on that, I did see one of the elephants who seemed distressed and bored but I would imagine most animals in captivity feel distressed and bored sometimes. I came back later and he was chomping on some trees, seeming fine.

Kid-Friendly: Most of my friends do not have children. While the Maryland Zoo is geared towards children, having multiple child-friendly experiences, such as games, crafts, camps, junior science explorers, etc., because many of my friends are childless, it may not be an attraction they are interested in, however the DC Zoo has limited if any additional child-friendly things to do (besides the normal zoo activities, of course).

At the least, those are my thoughts and opinions, but I really don’t have any complaints about the Maryland Zoo, itself. If you think you may go frequently, though- I would 100% recommend getting the membership, which is $70 for unlimited visits for a year.

The Trip:

There is ample parking parking and you can’t miss the entrance.

Once you get inside, there are a few lion statues to greet you, a gift store and a map, thank goodness so you know where to go and how to get there!

As you can see, they have a VAST array of animals (and also a playground for kiddos!). To actually get to the exhibits was a walk, which I thought was odd. Either way, it was a nice walk DOWN the hill to the exhibits; there is also a shuttle to use to get to the exhibits if you don’t want to walk, although many of the birds were located along the walking path.

There was construction being done when I was there, so it was a little confusing with what path to take- but eventually I got it LOL. Because I had to get back to Gaithersburg around 3pm-ish, I saw the penguins and did the African Journey route, but skipped the Maryland Wilderness and Northern Passage exhibits for today. I will share and update when I go back to post those.

I first passed the black-tailed prairie dogs, which were beyond cute and cuddling with each other. I came on a Wednesday and it was very empty, which was nice. There were people, just not a lot. I’m not sure if that had to do with it being the school year (just started) or the general visitors of this zoo.

I walked along the path to get to the main exhibits and saw some birds along my way, many which… to be honest, didn’t look like they should be alive! (As in, they looked like they were from the Jurassic Period!) They were a little intimidating to look at, but hey! Not their fault.

I’m not sure what the birds on the left are, but the one in the middle and right are Abyssinian ground hornbills. There were two birds in each enclosure, supposedly to keep them company. According to google, they are “playful” and friendly birds. There was a sign that said to be careful because they bite. I didn’t see their “playful side” but hey! Who am I to contradict Google…

I think these birds were misplaced due to the construction I was telling you about earlier because they didn’t have plaques like many of the other animals do, so I think they have another habitat or perhaps are going to when the construction is completed, or perhaps this is where they normally live…

The interesting thing I found about this zoo was that some animals of different species were kept in the same enclosure. An example are the penguins and the pelican (great white). I’m not sure if it’s to keep it more interesting or to save space. Clearly they choose animals that won’t fight each other… or worse- eat each other, haha! The rhino and zebras are also together, as are the gazelles and okapis.

There are also feeding times for the penguins that you are able to watch and the penguins do have their own education center for kids. I do wonder how they keep the penguins cold because this was fully outdoors… in late August.

The flamingos were next. And… okay. They were nice. They truly were, but having gone to Bermuda only a few months prior… I mean.. they didn’t stand chance, did they? Anyways for the average person who has not gone to the Bermuda zoo recently… And the Galapagos turtles were the same… great animals.. truly.. but just… eh, you can’t really make a fair comparison, huh? I will say there were more turtles here than in Bermuda, but still…

The turtles did have several homes and a pretty vast space to explore, so I will give them an A for that.

The next I believe were the Zebra and Rhinos, which again- were in the same enclosure. One thing I do like about this enclosure is how it’s set up. It really does look like their natural environment. They do have binoculars that you can use with a few coins to see a closer view, but thankfully- they were pretty close when I saw them!

The leopard was next. When I saw him, he was sitting on a rock and a little far away. There was a glass opening to see him (without the chains of the enclosure) but he was just too far. On my way back, he was roaming back and forth (which is when this video was taken) but honestly, not super thrilled about it. Why?

Because the reason he was pacing was because there were two children taunting him, running back and forth- knocking on the glass opening and making faces. These animals are in captivity and I think that it’s cruel to taunt them like this. Of course I realize a 6 and probably 8 year old aren’t trying to be cruel, but I suppose this is more to the parents to please teach your children to respect animals. *Rant over.*

Below is a porcupine; I have never seen one in the wild- but for whatever reason I did not envision them to be this large! They’re BIG! You may not be able to tell from the photo, but that’s definitely bigger than your average housecat!

The gazelles were next, they were in a field with okapis, but they were too far away to photograph, so here are the gazelles.

There was a bird exhibit as well, where you were able to be in the same area with the birds. There was hand sanitizer outside of the enclosure as well, but I thought this was a nice touch.

Pretty soon, I was at the end of this route, on my way to turn back around. The last animals I saw were no disappointment! There were the elephants, lions and giraffes (all in separate enclosures).

I wish I had gotten a better photo of the lions (lion and lioness) but unfortunately, they were in the back of the enclosure and not really interested in coming to the front.

You can kind of see them, and for now that’s the best you’ll get!

The giraffe was on the opposite side and they have a baby giraffe there too, which was inside (and I just missed the door closing), but the adult one outside was stunning!

The last photos I have for this trip is of the elephants. They have three elephants at the zoo and there are opportunities for encounters and elephant enrichment activities at the zoo, but at this specific time they were bored, and one was pretty distressed too. He was swaying back and forth, which is a sign of a bored/distressed elephant, often a way to cope and seen in animals in captivity. It was sad to see, I wish they had more things in the enclosure to keep them occupied (as opposed to enrichment activities that they do will do sometime). Like don’t elephants play balls or something? One of the enclosures did have- what looked like to me a very LARGE punching bag; obviously that’s not what it was and likely some elephant toy but the elephant was not interested in it… I suppose if you only have a couple toys, you do get bored of them quite quickly. Anyways, like I said- I circled back around later and the bored elephant had moved on and was chomping on a tree looking content.

And, yes- these are two different elephants. I’m not sure which ones, but the Maryland Zoo has 3 elephants, named Felix, Tuffy, and Samson. (Which personally, I think are the cutest names for elephants!!)

I know I didn’t touch on it a lot in this post, but I do recommend going on the website, linked below and really looking through the site. There is a LOT about animals education and kid-friendly activities. As someone without kids, I often don’t do a lot of the kid-friendly activities (cause that’s weird lol) but I do very much acknowledge the benefit of having very openly kid-friendly activities and things to do when trying to decide where to go as a family.

And finally…

Do I recommend the Maryland Zoo?

I do. I would specifically recommend it for families (but also great to do solo, with friends or a date) and given the amount of interactive activities, encounters, etc. that they offer, I would really see if you can book a day/time to do it then. Click here –> https://www.marylandzoo.org/visit/zoo-experiences/

For example, they have…

• Encounters
  • Penguin
  • Otter
  • Rhino
• Goat grooming
• Giraffe feeding
• Private experiences (which are pricey, I’m not going to lie, so I would recommend going it with a larger group)
  • Giraffe Mom & Calf Experience
  • Lion Overlook Tour & Enrichment
  • Amur Leopard Lair Training (watching) & Tour
  • Elephant Training (watching), Feeding & Enrichment Creation
• Zoo Keeper Meet-and-greets/chats
  • Herorat
  • Opossum
  • Elephant
  • African Journey (look at map)
  • Chimpanzee
  • Maryland wilderness (look at map)
  • African watering hole (zebras & rhinos)
  • Northern passage (look at map)
• Toddler mornings
• Story time and nature play
• Education stations
• Penguin Feeding

I would just be aware of some of the things I had mentioned in the beginning of this post, such as location, cost and hours, which would potentially be my only “cons” but overall a good experience and I am looking forwards to going again to seeing some of the animals I didn’t get to, today!

Website: https://www.marylandzoo.org/

Address: 1 Safari Pl, Baltimore, MD 21217

Cheers friends and travelers!

~ Backroad Butterflies ~