Honolulu, HI

We spent one of Waikiki’s famous sunny afternoons at Honolulu Zoo. My boss had given me two passes to the zoo. His friend donated to the zoo on his behalf as a Christmas present. He didn’t care to go to the zoo and I like the zoo. I went with my boyfriend who’s lived on the island for two years but hasn’t seen the zoo. Since the day was still hot we decided to refresh ourselves with ice cream from one of the many ice cream shops along Kalakaua Avenue. We were passing it by on the way to the zoo.

This was my boyfriend’s first visit to the zoo. The last time I’ve been to the zoo was a couple of years ago. It was nice to visit and see some changes. The City and County of Honolulu is trying to improve our little zoo and every time I visit, something new is up or happening. It’s always a nice surprise. This time they are building a new Elephant habitat. He was surprised, too, how big our zoo is. From the outside it doesn’t look like much but it does house quite a few animals. The last time I visited the zoo, most of the animals were “shy.” When his friends visited the zoo last week and from their stories, it sounded like they got a lot more animal activity. I was hoping we’d be lucky for that too.

We went in a bit excited (probably from all the sugar we’ve had). The first thing we saw were the flamingos. They were sleeping which isn’t bad because we can still see them. Then we sidetracked from the main path and strolled through the small Fuji Strolling Garden on our way to the elephants. They were out up front, cuddling with each other as I’d like to think elephants can do. Then we continued down to the orangutans’ new habitat and stopped in front of the monkeys to watch them swing from the poles. We passed the ancient looking land tortoises and into the reptile house where it’s always fun (and sometimes annoying) to try and spot the lizards, frogs or snakes in their terrariums. We walked on into the African Savanna and saw the hippopotamus’ swim. I love watching them swim. They are so graceful in the water. We also saw the crocodiles, gazelles, zebras, rhinos, giraffes, chimpanzees, various antelopes and the wild dogs that were lounging in the sun. We didn’t see the lions or hyenas but we saw a huge pelican that was big or even bigger than one of the antelopes. It was huge. The savanna was fun to walk through.

By this time most of the afternoon had passed and we were tired. We had a long day in the sun for the most part. We quickly walked through the rest of the zoo – by passing the ostrich, the tiger habitat where the male tiger was pacing anxiously, the Komodo dragon, the bird sanctuary and wrapping up our zoo visit with the nenes. It was a nice afternoon.

We cross through Kapiolani Park to get back to our car, contemplating the possibility of us passing out and taking a quick nap under a tree as other families have done. We decided not to because most of the optimal tree shade was already occupied. It wouldn’t be smart to pass out under a palm tree because when the shade moves we’d be exposed to the sun. Waking up hot and burnt is not fun. We got back to the car, drove back home and passed out on the sofa.

This is a good time to visit the zoo. They are holding their summer Wildest Show in Town concert series for the summer from June to August. Bring food, drinks and something to sit on and listen to live Hawaiian concert on the great lawn of the zoo. They charge a small nominal fee but it all goes to the zoo. It’s a great family event to do. For more information on Honolulu Zoo: http://www.honoluluzoo.org/ and Wildest Show in Town: http://www.honzoosoc.org/calendar.htm

Notes on parking: The zoo has a metered parking lot in front of it, accessible from Kapahulu Avenue. The rates are exceptionally good - 25 cents for 1 hour. If you can’t find parking here, Kapiolani Park also has metered parking along the Kalakaua Avenue side of the park. If you don’t mind walking, Paki Street side of Kapiolani Park and Waikiki Shell has lots of free parking. You might need to go earlier in the day though to get a free parking spot. People in the islands like to get up early for free parking.