Main Camp Safari Lodge

The Zoo’s admission facility is 26,000 square feet, has a replicated African thatched roof and houses the ticket gates, Guest Relations and Membership Offices, the Mombasa Import/Export Shop, a 2,500 square foot store that sells animal-themed gifts.  The Main Camp Café, a food kiosk that offers a variety of fast foods is also located here. The Main Camp Safari Lodge includes spaces that can be rented for private or business events.  The Samburu Room, a 1,900 square foot indoor facility, Shaba Terrace, a 69,000 square foot space that is located upstairs and is a covered, open air venue used for larger, private or business-related events; and Mt. Kenya Boardroom, used for the Zoo’s Board meetings are all spaces available for rental.  For more information on the rental facilities click here.

River Valley Aviary

Home to exotic birds representing many different species, the River Valley Aviary is a two-story enclosure covering 9,000 square feet.  It allows birds such as the yellow-billed stork, white-bellied bustard, lesser flamingos and turacos to fly about freely.

African Loop

Guests can walk along the 1,400-foot long boardwalk and see the animals in their large, open environment called the Plains of East Africa. 

The Nile crocodile exhibit is the first exhibit you’ll see.  The crocodile is the largest of African reptiles and can grow 14-16 feet long.  Mainly found in sub-Sahara Africa, these crocodiles are notorious for preying on large mammals.

The Wart Hog exhibit is across from the Nile crocodiles.

The Antelope exhibit is in the center of the loop around the Plains. Home to eastern bongo, impala and African ground hornbills, the exhibit is spacious and tree-shaded. It is also home to a wild breeding colony of the endangered wood storks.

A pair of our Saddle-billed Storks is in the area across from the antelope exhibit.  This rare stork species is the tallest of the African storks.  Wattled crane, the rarest of the African cranes, also occupy this area.

The Cheetah exhibit is a 300-foot long, 50-foot wide area.  Cheetahs are capable of running 70 miles per hour, the fastest four-legged animal in the world.

White rhinoceros, greater kudu, sitatunga and ostrich inhabit three exhibit areas that encompass a 2.5-acre area, allowing plenty of room for the animals to roam.

Rare Cape Buffalo are further along the boardwalk and are one of the most dangerous animals in Africa.

Elephant Plaza offers an intimate view of the elephants and their 275,000-gallon pool.  Included in the same area is the Seronera Reptile Building, home of some of the world’s deadliest snakes, such as vipers, cobras and mambas.  In the Plaza, there are vultures, bats, klipspringers and other animals.

Mahali Pa Simiba (“Place of the Lion” in Swahili) is the one-acre home to our lions.

Angola colobus monkeys live in the area in front of the lions’ area.  These monkeys move by leaping from tree to tree which makes for a very lively exhibit.

Leopards are at the end of the African Loop and can be viewed from the gazebo or along the main path. 

Savanna Blooms

The first Themed Pocket Garden in the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens Botanical Garden Concept Plan, Savanna Blooms, was completed in spring 2005. Nestled beneath the Giraffe Overlook, visitors will find acacia groves that flank two entrances into the one-half acre, “not so big garden”.  This unique garden, fashioned after a South African oasis, transitions from soft grasslands and fine textured acacia leaves at each entrance into a bold contemporary garden at its core.  Kopje outcrops erupt from the landscape, and a weep trickles down the face of the rocks.  The spring feeds a serene pool that showcases African water lilies and water edge plants.  Visitors rest beneath the curved trellis laden with fragrant flowering vines and view the garden’s splendor from an internal vantage point. 

Giraffe Overlook

Take a stroll across the elevated viewing platform and get eye-to-eye with a giraffe.  Thecovered boardwalk gives guests a breathtaking view across a replica of the African Savanna.  Giraffe and greater kudu walk and graze freely in this 2.5 acre exhibit adjacent to the Savanna Blooms botanical gardens.

Range of the Jaguar

The Range of the Jaguar is a two-time national award-winning South American exhibit.  At the edge of the rainforest, which holds the animal exhibits, is a village area including the Palm Plaza restaurant, gift shop and restrooms. In addition to enjoying the breathtaking jaguar exhibits, take the time to walk the winding halls of the captivating Lost Temple to see bushmaster snakes, poison dart frogs, vampire bats, Amazon tree boa constrictors, anaconda, cotton-topped tamarins, pygmy marmosets and more.

Catch sight of howler monkeys, giant anteaters, capybaras and tapirs coexisting in the River’s Edge exhibit. 

As an Inca tern flies overhead in the Emerald Forest Aviary, a pudu, the smallest deer species, might dart across your path.  Look for a red-capped cardinal perched above you or a sunbittern sunning itself on a low branch.  While in the aviary, you’ll have an opportunity to see the largest freshwater fish, the arapaima, which can grow up to 15 feet in length and can weigh up to 400 pounds.

Rare Giant Otters will entertain you with their playful antics at the back of the Aviary.

The Gardens at Trout River Plaza

The new garden space features a partially-walled botanical garden plaza that will serve as a gathering and event space and offers a beautiful view of the Trout River.  Central to the plaza is a celebratory fountain with a spill bowl topped by a basking anhinga bird sculpture. The fountain is surrounded by pebble mosaic paving that features a menagerie of animals of the Trout River.  Springing from lush garden beds, thirteen Grecian-style “living” columns topped with overflowing flowering urns giving the Gardens a classical look.  A planted trellis, lush and cool with colorful and fragrant vines, along with a number of large shade trees and themed lights all create a special area that can be enjoyed for private parties after hours. The Grand Opening was held September 2007. 

Australian Adventure

Take a walkabout through the Australian Adventure exhibit.  Animals in this South Pacific attraction includes the wallabies, the cassowary, and lorikeets that you can feed in a free-flight aviary.

Save the Frogs!: Amphibian Conservation Center

Monsoon Asia - Coming Soon!!

Play Park and Splash Ground

Play Park is a place where children learn about and re-connect with nature while having fun.  It occupies 2.5 acres located just past the Range of the Jaguar and the Wildlife Carousel in the center of the ZooLoop path. 

Climb, jump and get wet in the 4,000 square-foot Splash Ground .  Find your way through two mazes and discover and create in the Discovery Center.  Climb into a tree house or climb on the rock wall in the Forest Play area, watch the river otters through a tunnel window as they swim overhead, groom and pet the pygmy goats in the Animal Care area and enjoy kid-friendly food from the Play Park Café.

To see a map of Play Park, click here.

Great Apes

Visitors can get an up-close look at all three kinds of primates in the Great Apes exhibit. The three primate groups are the apes, monkeys and prosimians.  The ape primate group consists of the western lowland gorilla, bonobo, siamangs and colobus monkeys.  The mandrills represent the monkey primate group and the prosimians include the ring-tailed and black and white-ruffed lemurs. 

Wild Florida

Wild Florida is 2.5 acres of natural wetlands consisting of native animals and plants and is home to black bears, otters, red wolves, whooping cranes, bald eagles, bobcats, alligators, Florida panthers, white-tail deer, an owl species and various reptiles and amphibians.

The Reptile House at Wild Florida is home to more than 25 different species of reptiles and amphibians including the eastern indigo snake, one of several threatened species protected by the State of Florida.  The alligators are presently located just north of the reptile house, and are fed every Saturday at 2:15 p.m. from mid-April through November.