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The Johannesburg Zoo

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Based on 1163 reviews

The Johannesburg Zoo is one of the most popular tourist attractions situated in the leafy northern suburbs of Johannesburg. It covers 55 hectares of land and was founded in 1904 when the land was donated to the public for recreational use by the firm of the late Hermann Ekstein. It houses over 320 ... More

Upper Park Drive & Jan Smuts Avenue
http://www.jhbcityparks.com
Randburg
+27 11 646 2000
The Johannesburg Zoo

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Leisure

Admission (3 offers)

  • AED 27 Estimated savings
    • Valid until 1st Jan 2022

Available offers...

Leisure

Admission (3offers)

  • Estimated savings AED 27

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Recent Reviews
It is a good place but should be well maintained to attract more people to visit, animals look healthy but not what I expected to see in a zoo, so more efforts should be done by the zoo authority, I don't think will recommend.More
We are not city people but had a day off in the big city looking for a nice day out. I love animals. The ups Animals look healthy Massive zoo many things to do. Negatives Many exhibitions doesn't have signs which describe the animals or contents of the enclosures which is the main purpose of a zoo in my opinion. 🤷‍♂️ Further more many enclosures need cleaning and attention. Paint etc. This zoo has amazing potential just needs some TLCMore
Like so many places I have been in South Africa, so much potential but it just falls short. I took my 2 and 4-year-old to this zoo last week and we had a good time. The kids had fun and we got lots of exercise. The biggest issue for us was there were 4 playgrounds shown on the map. All of them were either fenced off or had been torn down. I would have only allowed my kids on the one in the back of park near the lions. It looked well maintained, new, big, and clean. This is the only playground that I have seen in the Johannesburg park system that I have seen to be in this condition but it was fenced off. When a 2 and 4-year-old see a cool playground they are going to want to play on it. This zoo is pretty big. Many of the exhibits are large (some are dreadfully small) so there is a lot of walking. My first recommendation is buy a map. While the map is not always accurate, it will give you a decent idea of where you are and where you need to go. The names on the map do not always match the name stenciled on the curbs, but if you have any positional awareness, you can figure it out. The signs that direct you to exhibits are not always accurate either. For example, there was a sign that showed the lion exhibit down a dirt path/road. After walking down about 100m, I had us turn around as it was clear this was not the right way. The layout of the zoo seems to have been done ad hoc and so the flow of traffic and the pathways does not seem well planned. There were very few people at the zoo when we went (Thursday in May) other than 4-5 school groups of about 30 kids each. There were a lot of vehicles driving on the roads/pathways throughout the day and at speeds not safe for a location with small children loose. The animals seemed to be maintained okay. The grounds crew were out cutting the grass, so the property is maintained to some degree. The rides do not appear to have been operational for a long time. The best exhibit for us was were the tigers. They were taking a both and we could have touched them if it was not for the glass. My daughter enjoyed the exhibits with the indigenous African cats and my son liked the giraffes. The whole experience cost us about 300R (admission, map, parking, 2 order of fries, a boerwors, 1 water, 1 coke). There is a lot of picnic benches throughout the zoo and lots of open space for kids to run and play. They did not check my bag when I arrived so I would assume packing a picnic is more than acceptable, maybe even encouraged. Access to the "Animals of the Amazon" is not easily accessible as I did not see a paved path in and could not find a path exit when it was time to leave. It appears to be a newer exhibit and was pretty cool (especially if you are not from the Americas and see these types of animals there). We did not take the most efficient route though the zoo for several reasons (school groups, COVID, kids wanting to go to the playgrounds instead of looking at more animals) so it took us 5 hours to go through the zoo (1000-1500). I did not see much trash laying about and we felt safe there. Overall, it was an okay experience. If more effort was put into the zoo, it could be one of the better zoos I have been to but it was okay. I plan to take my kids back as this was likely the best park we have been to.More
The zoo is not as great as it used to be. The animals seem healthy enough but the rest of the zoo is not that well maintained. Apart from that it is a nice enough place to visit for the day to just take a walk, relax and take a leisurely stroll.More
Well maintained grounds and animal enclosures. Wonderful day out with the family. Compared to a couple of years ago the management improved a lot.More