Over the May 2-4 weekend, we took Little G to the Bowmanville Zoo. I had heard so many fantastic things about it that I thought she would have a fabulous time, and I wasn't disappointed. We went on the Monday of the long weekend and when we arrived at the zoo, the parking lot was full so we had to park on the green space across from the zoo. This was kind of crappy because the zoo is on a small highway, we had to walk a short distance out of our way to cross at the lights. Really a very small inconvenience.
At the entrance there was a sign that informed us that the elephant was not in residence. The Bowmanville zoo is a training zoo and a lot of their animals are used in tv and film productions. G is so little that it didn't make a difference that the elephant wasn't there. We bought our tickets for entry - around $15 each for us and G was free because she is under 2. I knew from word of mouth that the kids can feed the animals at this zoo, so I asked about buying food. A bag is $2 and you can also buy it at the snack bar if you forget to buy it at the entrance. We were also given a map of the zoo at the entrance, although I hadn't realized it at the time and just stashed it away in the diaper bag. With hindsight, I would have liked to review the map prior to going in, but we managed just fine.
We took G out of her stroller and let her walk the whole time. We kept the bag of animal food in the stroller and G quickly got in the pattern of feeding the animals and going back to the stroller to get more food. She fed the Llamas, Alpacas, Billy Goats, Reindeer, and more. She absolutely loved every minute of it and I cannot wait to go back with her. If you have a toddler, this zoo is awesome for them and I would highly recommend a visit.
