# Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, FL



## Jacqui (Dec 14, 2008)

About a month ago, My husband, Jeff, and I had to kill a couple of days between loads down in Florida. It had been a joke that all 15 or so days I have ever been in Florida it has been raining (so why is it the sunshine state?), but on the second day the sun broke thru and we decided to go site seeing (well as much as you can when driving a semi truck with a 53' trailer attached ).

Checking out the brochures for local attractions, I decided on the Lowery Zoo. I admit, a big part of the attraction was it's boast of being voted the number one zoo. Growing up in Nebraska with the Omaha Henry Dorley Zoo as the one I visit and thus my standard for zoos to live up to, I had yet to see a zoo come close.

Here are a few moments from our visit....

Growing up in Nebraska we don't have trees with hanging moss on them, so seeing it always fascinates me.







What is Florida without a few of these?





A couple of familiar visitors to Nebraska.





The first of many feeding areas. This stream had tons of fish and surprisingly many turtles to throw pellets too. Unfortunately, the turtles aren't as fast as the fish, but Jeff gave it his best try. Also in here was a common snapping turtle whom they had recorded his voice "singing". Was very interesting to hear it.




Inside tanks held this Diamondback Terrapin




and this alligator snapper. Hard to see from the picture, but this guy had his mouth wide open and was wiggling the appendage on the end of his tongue to attract the fish. This was something I had often read about, but never saw in real life before.









Rays like these housed in a shallow pool were allowed to be touched and feed.




For me another once in a lifetime experience.




I love the markings and coats on these guys..




...don't you just want to run your hands over him?





Enjoyed watching Mom caring for and shielding her baby from the public as best she could.





Another feeding zone was the giraffes. These guys were unbelievable fast at grabbing the cracker out of your hand and going back out of reach, so no touching generally happened.




and a smaller female...




There is something so fascinating about these prim and proper fellows





One of the main things I had wanted to see were the manatees...








and this one..





Living with the manatees were several South American turtles. I had gone over to photograph a turtle basking but before I reached it, a larger one climbed up...




he then immediately went up to the smaller one and aggressively strting biting on it...




finally the smaller one left the log to the bigger turtle.





Guarding over the family.





As our time ran out...and so did the camera batteries, I caught this poor quality shot of the mother trying to keep her and the baby (one or two months old) covered from the spray of a nearby waterfall.





I was very sorry to have missed getting to feed the rhinos. I never would have dreamed ya could!  Maybe on another day......

After we left and were driving down the road, Jeff mentioned it was too bad today's fathers could not afford the cost to take their kids to the see on a weekend visit. It was true, between the zoo entrance fee, the river ride, the feeding stations and the overhead tramway, just the two of us had spent almost $100.


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## Isa (Dec 14, 2008)

wow, those are amazing pics Jacqui . It must have been a super day for you and your husband, the zoo you went to have so many animals. It must be very fun to feed the animals in a zoo. Thanks for the little tour


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## Yvonne G (Dec 14, 2008)

Thanks for sharing, Jacqui. Those are great pictures. It makes your layover worthwhile when you can spend it like that.

Yvonne


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## terryo (Dec 14, 2008)

What beautiful pictures. The best zoo that I have seen is The Bronx zoo. It is the only zoo that I have ever been to other than our local zoos. I would love to visit different zoos.


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## jlyoncc1 (Dec 14, 2008)

Thanks for sharing those great pictures!!! See you have some really nice perks on those long rides! I know what you mean about $$$. It is too much for us to go to the Philadelphia Zoo if we take everyone.


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## Maggie Cummings (Dec 14, 2008)

Just really great photos...thanks for sharing them...that was one thing I loved about being a driver, all the different places I got to see...


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## Jacqui (Dec 15, 2008)

jlyoncc1 said:


> Thanks for sharing those great pictures!!! See you have some really nice perks on those long rides! I know what you mean about $$$. It is too much for us to go to the Philadelphia Zoo if we take everyone.



What you might check into is if anybody you knows lives close to a smaller (cheaper zoo) and get a membership there IF that zoo and yours both belong to the association which accepts other zoos membership passes. We would get one from our zoo in Lincoln, NE and used it at all the other zoos.

When my mother was alive, she bought my family a family membership each year for Christmas. If you went to the zoo atleast twice a year, it more then paid for itself. I always thought it was the best gift, because it was used throughout the year and gave us time together as a family.



maggie3fan said:


> Just really great photos...thanks for sharing them...that was one thing I loved about being a driver, all the different places I got to see...



I am kinda disappointed at how many things we can't stop and see or do. Too many places are putting up signs not allowing the big trucks in.  Our company also doesn't let us drop trailers so we can get into most places.

This zoo we called ahead to see if they had room for our truck. With about 72' length we do take some room to park...and turn.  We had some tense moments trying to fit in their parking lot...and get out. We had to wait for the very last car to move out, before we could make one of our turns to leave. I am sure Maggie you would get a laugh out of it, recalling other times you had the same problem.

We have other zoos we would like to visit, but haven't found out yet if we can squeeze in...and sometimes more importantly squeeze out of the parking lot. 



Isa said:


> It must be very fun to feed the animals in a zoo.



Isa getting to be that close to them is so amazing. Just no way to describe how it feels to have the experience. I am not real good at remembering things from my childhood, but the close encounter experiences with animals are all clear for me.


Zoos are wise when possible to allow folks to get up close, to touch, to feed, to ride, to really experience and bond with the animals. That bond makes you much more open to helping the animals in both the wild and in zoos.


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