Not the first place to go in Costa Rica but if you're looking for something to fill some time while in the west central valley, it's a nice little zoo that's pretty well taken care of. Lots of local animals and birds. I love the close up views of the macaws. Tough to get that close to them in the wild. I'd recommend it at the beginning or end of your trip if you've got a 1/2 day to kill before a flight.
Lots of animals.. and quite a large park. All animals looked well taken care of. Not too expensive and easy to find!
We very much enjoyed our visit there. They are extremely respectfull of animals and nature in general. They are very knowlegeable: we spent time asking questions to one of the employee who was very happy to explain many things about the life of anteaters and what they do to reintegrate them in the wild.
This rehab center for injured animals was beautiful. There were live peacocks running around, plenty of exhibits to enjoy & the staff was very helpful.
This Zoo is located close to the hotel we stayed at in Alajuela. Initially a bird rescue center, now also a zoo with other animals. I recommend it. Many trails, self guided. Has a small restaurant, good food.
I loved that Zoo as it is nice way to see indigenous animals from Costa Rica from Sloth, Birds, Crocodile, Coati, Monkey, Anteaters..And you will get a nice walk in a woody, shaddy quiet place. What I liked is to learn that they are buying pieces of lands in Costa Rica so large animal like Anteaters can live peacefully. If you want to help them more, you can make a donation through their website...which I did!. A must see.
A well maintained sanctuary for local species that are displayed whenever possible in a opened free environment. The facility is large enough to provide visitors a good sample of Costa Rican wildlife, yet not too large to be tiring walking around in the heat.
As we had a day or two to spend in Alajuela, we decided to visit this little zoo and were very favourably impressed by the whole set-up. The enclosures were well integrated into the environment, with many trees and plants to give shade and cover, so that one almost had the impression of walking through the forest. We used this visit to familiarise ourselves with some of the birds and animals we might later get to see on trips to different rainforest areas of Costa Rica and this subsequently proved to have been a very worthwhile exercise. It's good to know that this zoo has the primary purpose of rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife, but it also does an excellent educational job.
The visitor can't "behind the scenes" to see the rehabilitation facilities, but there is an extensive collection of native wildlife which are non-releasable. Their enclosures are beautifully done, with natural habitats for each bird or animal. Extensive educational effort for local people in order to stop the pet trade from making some species extinct. Definitely worth a visit as you will see wildlife that you probably won't be able to see in the wild, e.g. puma
Loved the space and the atmosphere in this zop. I don't normally like zoos but this zoo obviously really tries to give the animals and birds as natural a living space as it can.There are lots of iguanas just roaming around as well as many birds hanging around outside the cages.Lovely place to visit if you have the time.