An establishment which maintains a collection or wild animals, typically in a park or garden, for study conservation, or display to the public – Google meaning of zoo. In this situation, the city of Durban does not have much zoo. But there are few of them you can visit and experience alone or with your family. Check out some zoos in Durban.
If you are visiting Durban or now planning a trip there, here are some of the best zoos to visit. Plan your trip with some of my South Africa travel guides.
Zoos in Durban
Mitchell Park Zoo
Mitchell Park Zoo, also known as Mitchell Park or Mitchell’s Park, is located in Durban’s Morningside neighbourhood. Mitchell Park was founded in 1910 as an ostrich farm and is now Durban’s only 100% zoo. Following an unproductive start, further animals were introduced, and the zoo eventually became home to a number of huge creatures, including Nellie, an Indian elephant given to the zoo by the Maharajah of Mysore in 1928. She could blow a mouth organ and use her feet to crack coconuts.
Crocodiles, deer, racoons, cranes, flamingos, wallabies, monkeys, and tortoises are among the tiny creatures and birds that can be seen at Mitchell Park. There is a walk-through aviary where you can get up up and personal with a variety of gorgeous birds. Small children can enjoy playing on Jungle gyms, swings, slides, and other equipment at a sand-filled playground.
Family picnics are ideal on well-kept lawns, and skottle braais are permitted. Mitchell Park’s employees are passionate about educating youngsters about animals and plants. They educate visitors on how to protect our natural beauties so that future generations can enjoy them as well.
Umgeni River Bird Park
The Umgeni River Bird Park is a bird zoo in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The Umgeni River Bird Park, designed and created by Dr. Alan Abrey in a disused quarry site, opened in April 1984. The park was privately held by a group of bird enthusiasts who wished to educate others about different bird species from throughout the world. It was run by Alan Abrey until his retirement in 1997, and his daughter Robyn Abrey did the artwork for the park during that time (guidebook pictures, park maps, and so on).
The park has multiple natural waterfalls and is set in a landfilled and landscaped old quarry. Visitors can walk through three aviaries and past other aviaries and open exhibitions on paths that wind through the park. Visitors may witness how the birds are hatched and nurtured through a viewing window in the nursery.
The Free Flight Bird Show, which started in 1996 and focuses on conservation, displays birds from North and South America, Africa, Indonesia, and Australia. Owls, cranes, hornbills, macaws, kookaburras, toucans, and vultures are among the birds featured in the event, which takes place in an open-air auditorium. Weather permitting, the entertainment is performed twice day.
uShaka Marine World
Durban’s uShaka Marine World is a top-notch entertainment and tourism destination. uShaka Marine World, Africa’s largest marine theme park, is located at the end of Durban’s Golden Mile. Spanning over 15 hectares of prime beachfront, uShaka Marine World is Africa’s largest marine theme park.
uShaka Marine World features fresh and salt water, lush greenery, natural materials, and a re-creation of a cargo ship disaster from the 1940s. The park is tastefully styled with a focus on family entertainment, and it houses the world’s fifth largest aquarium by volume of water. Whatever the occasion, there is always something fun to do at uShaka Marine World.
The Oceanographic Research Institute (ORI), which administers and defends the scientific and environmental integrity of Sea World and SAAMBR as a whole, is also part of Sea World. These research facilities also include a research and reference library, as well as classrooms for talks to schools and other organisations on marine and other coastal issues.