Makenna The North Carolina Zoo is an Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited zoo, located in the small town of Asheboro, North Carolina. It is the world’s largest zoo, encompassing 2,800 acres, and caring for over 1,700 native and exotic animals. I discovered the zoo from a National Geographic show streaming on Disney Plus, Secrets of the Zoo: North Carolina. Being a lover of wildlife, I knew that when we moved to North Carolina, this had to be on my NC bucket list!
My 30th birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to travel to Asheboro, NC to explore the zoo. We live about 3 hours from Asheboro, so we decided to make it a little weekend getaway. In this post, I discuss where we stayed and ate in Asheboro, and our magical day spent gazing at the amazing wildlife that calls the North Carolina Zoo home.
Asheboro, North Carolina
Asheboro is a small town in central North Carolina, nestled between the cities of Raleigh and Charlotte. The city of Asheboro is home to 27,000 people, and it situated between the rolling hills of the Uwharrie Mountains. We found it to be a small but quaint town, with its claim to fame being the North Carolina Zoo.
Hotel
When searching for hotel options, I wanted to find a hotel that was close to the zoo, while also utilizing a credit from the Capital One Venture X card that I hold. I searched the Capital One travel portal and found the Holiday Inn Express & Suites. Using our travel credit, I was able to cover the entire $202.14 cost for free! Not a bad deal for a weekend trip. We found the hotel to be very clean, with a stylish modern look to the common areas and rooms.
The hotel had free breakfast, which my husband LOVES and was so excited about. It was a standard hotel breakfast, serving an assortment of hot and cold options. On the morning of our stay, we had the choice of scrambled eggs, omelets, sausage gravy and biscuits, in addition to an assortment of pastries, cereals, yogurt, and the typical breakfast beverages. Something to note, the hotel is located at the end of a cul de sac. We did see a camp of homeless people near the hotel, but we did not have any issues!
Restaurants
We arrived in Asheboro on the evening before our trip to the Zoo, hungry and ready for dinner. I have a coworker who grew up in Asheboro and recommended the new BBQ restaurant in town, Black Powder Smokehouse. I can honestly say that this was some of the best BBQ I have ever had. The pulled pork sandwich paired with a side of smoked gouda mac n cheese was incredbile. DO NOT SKIP THE MAC N CHEESE!! Some of the best I have ever had!
Some other recommended restaurants was The Table, Magnolia 23, and America’s Roadhouse.
The North Carolina Zoo – North America
A screenshot of the map of the North Carolina Zoo, from their website. As you can see, the zoo is quite extensive!
Cypress Swamp
There are two entrances to the Zoo. You can either start your Zoo day at the North America entrance or the Africa entrance. We chose to start our day at the North American entrance. My mom and her husband also came up from their home in South Carolina to spend my birthday with me, so we had a group of four. Tickets are very affordable, priced at $15 per person for adults, $11 for children ages 2-12, and $13 for seniors over the age of 62.
We arrived at 9 am, the time that they opened, in hopes of avoiding some of the crowds. Upon arriving, the weather was a dreary rainy day, but we did not let this stop me from having a great birthday at the zoo! The rainy weather also helped to keep some of the crowds at bay, and it only rained for the first two hours of our day. We began by walking towards the Cypress Swamp, where we spotted our first wildlife of the day, the American Alligator. It was so well camouflaged in the swamp, that we almost didn’t spot him! Continuing around the swamp, we were able to see two absolutely gorgeous cougars, waterfowl, various species of turtles, and amphibians. One of the highlights was the giant snapping turtle, which reminded us of something out of Jurrasic Park in how much it resembles a dinosaur.
Rocky Coast
After completing the Cypress Swamp area of the park, we ventured on to the Rocky Coast. This is an area of the park I was so excited to see because I had watched the polar bears on the Secrets of the Zoo show. Polar bears are an animal I have never seen before. Sadly, they did not want to come out in the rain, therefore we were not able to see these magnificent bears on this trip. We were however able to glimpse the elusive arctic foxes and Alaskan puffins. They also house harbor seals here at the zoo, but there was a notice saying they were off-exhibit on that particular day.
Black Bears
Walking further into the park, the next big animal we were able to catch a sighting of was the Black Bears. These two beautiful black bears are sisters, and we were able to observe them foraging in their large habitat, one of them even came in for a close-up!
The Prairie
The first large open habitat we came to was the Prairie. It is a large expanse of land where Elk and Bison have plenty of space to roam. Being a lover of wildlife, I was thrilled to see how the North Carolina Zoo had such large open habitats for all the animals under their care. After viewing the majestic elk and bison, we were able to see where they are expanding the zoo for an Asia section, which will be completed sometime next year. The signage hinted at tigers and other Asian animal species, so we have already bookmarked to come back and explore this area when it is open!
Grizzly Bears
On the final stretch before coming to the Africa section of the park, we were able to spot a grizzly bear and explore the desert dome which houses many species of reptiles and the adorable (yet deadly) sand cats. Our bad luck with the rain proved to be helpful when it came to viewing the elusive ocelot cats, which are supposedly very shy according to the Secrets of the Zoo show! I was also thrilled to be able to see the grizzly bear, as we are soon headed to Alaska where we will be partaking in a bear viewing tour to see these powerful animals in the wild. More on that in a later post!
Junction Plaza
After spending the morning strolling through the zoo, by the time we reached the Junction Plaza, we were starved. We stopped here for lunch before continuing on to Africa. Typical of a zoo or amusement park, the food was quite pricey, but I feel better about it knowing that a portion of it goes back to the animals. My mom’s husband and I had the Angus burger and fries from the Junction Springs Cafe, and my mom and husband split a personal pizza from the Crossing Pizza Cafe. The total cost for our lunch for the four of us was $64.
The North Carolina Zoo – Africa
Elephants
Africa was my most anticipated part of the North Carolina Zoo because I knew it housed my favorite animal, the African Elephant. I have seen Asian Elephants at the DC Zoo, but never an African Elephant. I can no longer say that is true, because we were able to see not one, but 4 elephants! Elephants are so fascinating to me, I could have sat there all day watching them. They are incredibly intelligent, and they have complex emotions and social structures, similar to us humans.
Unfortunately, we were not able to view some of the larger, exotic animals, I think due to the weather. We were unable to catch sight of the chimpanzees, rhinos, giraffes, and ostrich. I was disappointed that we weren’t able to see rhinos, but just means we will have to go back! Something I saw that I definitely have dog-eared for our next visit, is the drive through their savannah enclosure. This was a paid add-on, but looks like it would be completely worth it!
Primates
Some other interesting animals we were able to observe were the troop of baboons. It was fascinating to watch their social structure. We saw a mother reprimanding babies, grooming behaviors, and even some mating behaviors!
In the African Lion enclosure, there was only one male lion snoozing in the grass, and he was mostly obscured. While watching the show, I saw that the keepers will sometimes throw bones out as enrichment for the lions. I was so hoping that we would get to see this! Sadly, they weren’t doing this on the day we visited.
Before walking back through the entire park back to our starting point, we made one last stop to see the gorillas. We really got a treat in that they were all sleeping right next to the glass, so we could appreciate just how large and powerful they were. The silverback gorilla’s hands must have been twice the size of mine. It is absolutely fascinating to me that we share about 98% of our DNA with these fascinating creatures.
After we spent some time looking at the gorillas, we started the walk back to our cars. We stopped by a few of the habitats along the way to catch just one more glimpse of the wildlife before heading home. There is a free tram that will cut out some walking if you choose to do so, but we didn’t mind the exercise. It is worth noting though that the park is quite hilly and long, so bring your walking shoes!
Etiquette Reminders
While reputable zoos are an incredible place to view and learn about wild animals and their conservation efforts, there are a few reminders I wanted to discuss when visiting a zoo. We saw many parents lifting up their children onto the fencing of the habitat viewing areas, with many signs stating to not do this. This is an extreme safety risk to both children, and the animals.
Another very disheartening thing we saw was multiple exhibits where people had thrown their garbage into them, as pictured here. Please dispose of all trash into appropriate receptacles and respect the animals by not trashing their homes!
Final Thoughts
I found the North Carolina Zoo to be a fantastic zoological facility, with diverse species of animals, large natural habitats, enticing interactive exhibits, and accessible to all. The zoo does an incredible job making sure the animals are well cared for, and contributing to science and conservation efforts for endangered species so that we will have them to enjoy for years to come. I do not doubt that we will be making many return trips to visit, especially after they complete the Asia and Australian expansion of the park.
Have you visited the North Carolina Zoo? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below!
