Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden, Oklahoma City

My husband and I did the Bear Encounter, Sea Lion Encounter, Elephant Encounter, and the Galapagos Tortoise Encounter. We drove 5 hours 30 minutes for them, and it was more than worth it. They really are once-in-a-lifetime experiences. What a fabulous way to get people to connect with these animals, such personal interactions inspire people to care about their wild friends and conserve them. The guides and the zookeepers are all AMAZING! Super fun to talk to, educational, great energy, people of all ages had a great experience. The animals have lovely enclosures and the importance placed on enrichment made me happy. These folks dedicate their lives to ensure the animals here all live a great quality of life. The animals are greatly respected and everyone made sure the animals were comfortable and safe, nothing forced, everything is positive reinforcement and on their terms. Highly recommended.

This zoo was pretty nice. It was clean and not too busy. We saw pretty much all the animals. We stopped and ate at the food place near the lion area and ate some chicken fried steak sandwiches that were pretty tasty. The other food location next to the rhino's serves some delicious soft-serve ice cream. Reminded us of Dairy Queen. We had a lot of fun. I'd recommend stopping by the children's area and carousel too if you have kids.