Roadschooling: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium

We roadschool our children and an important part of their education is field trips. We try to go somewhere, like a zoo or museum, once every week. To visit a zoo is rarely free and in order to make it more affordable we are members of one zoo and use the AZA reciprocal program to get free admission or 50% off. The Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha, Nebraska offers a 50% discount so we still had to pay about $30 for the family. I have been to a lot of different zoos and I have to say that this one ranks very high. According to a sign I saw in the park, it is the highest ranking zoo in the world, at least if you believe the reviews on Trip Advisor.

A zoo is a great place to learn, beyond the obvious learning about different animals, there are many other ways it is educational. We learn about geography when we look at maps showing where the animals are from. Reading about the animals helps develop reading skills. The kids also love telling us about different things they learned about the animals watching animal shows or reading about them in a book.

It was raining the whole day we were there, but it was no big deal because there are many animals that are inside and I think we could have spent the whole day under roof and still had plenty to see. Because of the weather, there were not that many visitors at the zoo it felt at times like we had the whole place to our selfs. We knew that it would rain and prepared for it so it really did not bother us that much. The kids had fun with it and made up a few rain dances.

The first stop we made, was in the Wild Kingdom Pavilion. This was like a preview of both the aquarium and the zoo, and there were plenty of hands-on stations that engaged the kids. Right inside the door, we got to feel a cheetah skin and an elephant tooth.

This was also a great place where our youngest could explore a little on his own. This is the first time that he has been old enough to really get involved and notice the animals.

When we were ready to move on it was raining pretty heavily so we decided to stay inside and went over to the aquarium. This next picture of a Jelly Fish is my favorite of the day.

This turtle came swimming right up to us and it felt like it was coming up to say hi.

The aquarium also had a little touch pool where we could touch sea starts.

By the time we were ready to leave the aquarium we were all hungry and we found a table and sat down to get a break and refuel with our packed lunch. After this well-needed pause, we moved on the Butterfly and Insect Pavilion. It was amazing to walk in the in the butterfly room. Unfortunately, it was so humid that I could not get anything put fogged up pictures. No matter how often I wiped the lens off it was covered again before I could take a picture. In the next room, the humidity was less of a problem and I managed to get some great pictures. Like this one of a grasshopper.

When we exited after the insects we decided to brave the rain and walk around to see all the African animals. The elephants were having a great time in the mud.

Several animals seemed to be inside and one of the keepers told us that they were worried about the animals slipping in the mud and hurting themselves. This cheetah was out and posed on this rock just for us, there were no other zoo-visitors around.

Next to the cheetahs were the sea lions. We had timed out walk so that we got there just before it was time to train them. There were three sea lions, one male, one female and one baby.

By now we were all starting to be tired but we still had so much that we had not seen. We had to choose what we should spend our time on. First, we walked checked out the Expedition Madagascar house and were not disappointed. One section was almost completely dark and at first, we could see nothing. Then as our eyes adjusted we started to see bats flying around in the exhibit and eventually we could see much better and noticed another animal moving around on the branches. It was the Aye-Aye, a unique looking lemur with very big eyes. It was totally worth the wait for our eyes to adjust. Seeing the aye-aye was one of the coolest things about the whole visit.

From Madagascar, we continued on to see the monkies and primates. Walking with a gorilla was fun. Notice that they are walking with their hands, on their knuckles, just like the gorilla!

This Diana monkey might look harmless to you but let me tell you that he gave us all a scare! Especially my daughter.

From about 4 feet away he flung himself, with teeth bared, at the glass right where she was sitting. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and got a very strong adrenaline rush. It scared us all, and it took a while before we could move on. I don't blame her for needing to be comforted after that encounter.

Our last stop was the Desert Dome & Kingdoms of the Night. This was a huge dome structure with both animals and plants from three different deserts. The path just kept going and going and it seemed much larger on the inside then it did from the outside. Under the desert exhibits is the largest nocturnal exhibit in the world. Super cool but almost impossible to take good pictures.

The Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is one of the best zoos I have ever visited and if you ever find yourself in Omaha Nebraska it is well worth a day of your time. I would have loved to spend several days to really explore and take my time in the different exhibits.