Traipsing Around Toronto with a Toddler: Toronto Zoo

When our son was about five years old, we decided to drive to Toronto one long weekend to basically traipse around, do fun things, and be kids again.

On the list were the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in Vaughn Mills, the Toronto Zoo, and Ripley’s Aquarium. This trip was going to be all about our son and the things he was crazy about (at that age) – LEGO, animals, and aquariums. We did not plan anything else, as for sure, the three fun places alone would tire us.

Toronto Zoo

A friend, who is a mother of four young kids once told me that should I find myself in Toronto with my family, I should make it a point to visit the Toronto Zoo. She said it’s one of the best zoos she had been to and that her kids had the time of their lives. She just warned me that there’s going to be a lot of walking involved as it is a huge property.

Since our son loves animals, we figured that the Toronto Zoo should be on our list. We dedicated the whole day to this excursion. At 710 hectares of parkland, this is the largest zoo in Canada, and one of the largest zoos in the world. It has some 5,000 animals representing more than 500 species, and an extensive botanical collection. There would be much to cover.

We got in fairly fast. It was a weekend, but a heat wave was forecasted that day, so the crowds were not too big. It was not exactly the perfect day to walk around the zoo, but we had no choice, since we were in Toronto only for that weekend.

We were given brochures and maps at the entrance. I was happy to find out that the zoo is well-laid out. It is divided into seven zoogeographic regions, meaning, the animals (and plants) are grouped together based on the region of the world where they originate – Indo-Malaya, African Savanna, Canadian Domain, Americas, Tundra Trek, Eurasia Wilds, and Australasia. There is also a mix of indoor pavilions and outdoor displays that mimic the animals’ natural environments, as well as different levels and options for viewing them. In the summer, there are extra attractions – the Kids’ Zoo where there are pony and camel rides available, the Waterside Theatre that features animal shows, and Splash Island, where kids can enjoy the cool mist as they explore and play.

I was also happy to know that they have a Zoomobile, a little tram with comfortable seats that could take you around the park. This would be very helpful for us. Though we enjoy walking, little children cannot walk that much for short lengths of time, especially under extreme heat.

I remember my friend telling me that she and her husband had to tow one stroller each, while taking turns carrying one other toddler and holding the eldest child’s hand. Our own little boy never warmed up to strollers. He hated it and refused to be strapped in it for long periods, that’s why we almost-never took it with us (in fact, it still looked brand-new when our son outgrew it; we hardly used it). He preferred walking alongside us or being carried by his Dad. It’s good to have options.

The zoo also offers other attractions that are sure to entertain kids, such as hands-on discovery and casual animal encounters, animal feedings, talks by animal keepers, and special exhibits.

We got an all-day Zoomobile family pass, so we could hop-on and hop-off at any time we liked during the day. The first thing we did was to take a ride around the entire park to get our bearings, see the overall picture, and decide how we were going to tackle this huge park in just one day, and see and experience as much as we could.

After our “overview” ride, we thought we’d explore the park in a clockwise direction, starting from the Indo-Malaya section where animals from South and Southeast Asia reside. This area has two pavilions. At the Indo-Malayan Pavilion, we saw Sumatran orangutans, Sumatran tigers, Asian brown tortoises, spiny turtles, reticulated phytons, and white-handed gibbons at the covered pavilion, while at the Malayan Woods Pavilion, there were clouded leopards, crested wood partridges, Malayan crested firebacks, ornamental tree spiders, and butterflies. Outdoors, we saw one-horned rhinos, Mandarin ducks, Himalayan tahrs, and Indian peacocks.

Next, we checked out the African Savannah section. Combined with the African Rainforest Pavilion, this is the largest of them all. The area is designed to make visitors feel like they are going on a safari complete with watering holes, a safari lodge, a rangers’ station, and bush camps. Featured animals are white lions, zebras, olive baboons, white rhinos, spotted hyenas, hippos, watusi cattles, Masai giraffes, African penguins, meerkats, ring-tailed lemurs, red river hogs, dwarf crocodiles, and gorillas.

The Canadian Domain exhibited North America animals in their native environment. We saw wood bisons, American moose, bald eagles, cougars, lynxes, raccoons, trumpeter swans, and grizzly bears. I had the “privilege’ of watching a grizzly do his business right in front of me, which my boys missed because my husband had to take our son to the washroom. When they came back, I told them what they had missed and our little boy laughed hilariously. All throughout the day, all he could say was, “A grizzly pooed in front of Mommy, a grizzly pooed in front of Mommy…” I am not sure why this had stuck in his head. But they were in time for the bear “Keeper Talk,” where animal keepers give a small lecture about the animals they are caring for, followed by the bear feeding. Our son had the time of his life throwing carrots to the bears and then jumping up-and-down whenever the bears caught them.

The Americas section houses animals from both North and South America, and even features Mayan Temple Ruins. It displays a wide variety of monkeys, amphibians, reptiles, fish, and insects found in the United States, Canada, and the jungles of the Amazons. Some of the most popular residents are the American flamingos, American alligators, beavers, otters, jaguars, capybaras, blue and yellow macaws, spider monkeys, marmosets, the lion tamarins, two-toed sloths, blue poison dart frogs, boa constrictors, and white-faced sakis.

Our son, who was at that time in his “Diego and Dora” phase, was able to identify most of the animals featured in those TV shows. There is a pavilion that houses most of the zoo’s reptiles and amphibians, and some invertebrates. Because I do not like reptiles (and in fact, have a reptile phobia since I was a kid), I did not go in and just waited for my boys outside. Our son said afterwards, “It’s not scary at all, Mom!” No, thank you!

Next, we went to Tundra Trek, where Arctic animals such as reindeer, polar bears, snowy owls, snow geese, walruses, Arctic wolves, and Arctic foxes were on display. We watched a polar bear swimming in the pool. There was another one dozing off in the shade. We felt so bad for them. Among all the animals in the zoo, we thought they were the most affected by that day’s extreme heatwave.

The Australasian Pavilion features interesting animals from the Australian mainland and its surrounding islands such as kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, wombats, kookaburras, red-tailed cockatoos, tree-kangaroos, Komodo dragons.

Next to this is the Eurasia Wilds section with animals like snow leopards, West Caucasian turs, yaks, mouflons, chamois, red pandas, and Bactrian camels. The area also included a special exhibition that time, featuring two giant pandas from China, who were unfortunately both sleeping at the time of our visit. But the pavilion also houses an educational centre where visitors can learn about pandas, their characteristics, and habitat, as well as interactive displays for kids. And since this was a temporary exhibit, we “created” a commemorative panda coin from a coin-making machine. My son pocketed it and said, “It’s my lucky panda money.”

We spent nearly five hours going around the various areas of the zoo, at our own pace, of course, and with breaks in between. It was like a trip around the world in a zoom. It’s good that we had wisely packed our lunch and snacks, so we could eat whenever and wherever we wanted (there were picnic tables everywhere) and we didn’t need to line up at the food stalls which were expensive and did not offer anything apart from the usual burgers, hotdogs, pizzas, donuts, wraps, and poutine.

Our son was such a trouper. While most kids his age would complain about long walks, he was considerably better than me. By the time we completed the round, I was already a little bit cranky because of the heat, humidity, and blisters on both feet. Our son gave me some advice, “Mom, you should drink more water, and next time, don’t wear those shoes.”

He still had some energy left, so we stayed at the Discovery Zone where there were lots of fun activities for kids – Splash Island (a water park featuring landscaping and themed decorations that depict the solid, liquid, and gas states of water and is filled with water-spouting animals, waterfalls, and tipping buckets), the Waterslide Theatre (an open-air enclosure where live animal demos are shown),  and the Kids’ Zoo (featuring small animals that kids can interact with and also comes with a tree house and a slide).There was also a playground with rides for small and older kids and a special “Thomas the Train” play area.

Though it was hot, our son did not want to get wet at the water park. He, instead, wanted a pony ride, a carousel ride, and some play time at the “Thomas the Train” play area. My husband guided the pony while our son was astride, then both of got on the carousel with him twice.

Afterwards, my husband and I rested in the shade while we watched our son build trains and push them around the mini-train tracks. He was having so much fun that we had to tear him away from the playground. He wanted to stay there the whole afternoon! Not that we had other things lined up. By that time, all the “Keeper Talks” were over, we’ve seen pretty much everything, and it was time to go.

It had been a fruitful day for us…seeing so many things in just one day. We wanted to go back, for sure, but since we’ve had an overview of the whole park, the next visit would have to be focused on our favourite parts and for doing more immersive activities.

The zoo offers behind-the-scenes interactions with animals that one can arrange in advance (for groups less than eight). The is also the “Keeper for a Day” program where one can spend the day with a zookeeper and help feed and care for the animals, and the “Serengeti Bush Camp,” which gives visitors a chance to sleep under the stars in the African Savanna. But these are for older children and meant for a longer visit. We told our son we’d go back and do these when he’s older.

As for my husband and I, we were dead tired. We remembered how fun being a child is…but we certainly did not have the same level of energy. Hahaha!