Anyone been to it?
We went last year & it was pretty good, lots of differant animals. Got to hear a alligator hiss & rumble, & a lion do his morning call. It shook our pants legs! FREAKY!! We could'a fed some stingrays but that still kinda eerie to us. I give it a 9 out of 10 rating.
The only thing that got to me was, some of the animals were inside a building & didnt get much sunlight. But, i guess thats the way it goes..
Gotta admit...don't even know where this one's at. Is Branson Zoo the official name?
I have no idea Junior.. ???
Are you talking about Branson Interactive Zoo -formerly Predator World?
http://www.predatorworld.org/ (http://www.predatorworld.org/)
Address: Highway 13, Branson West, MO
Directions: On the east side of Hwy 13 just north of Kimberling City.
Hours: Daily 10 am - 6 pm. (Call to verify)
Phone: 417-272-0251
Yip, thats it. Predator World.
It's hard to see while driving by. We had to turn on DD to get to our cabin, so we could see it, and I was curious about the place. It looks too small to have much.
Growing up in the Ozarks, I must say that these drive through safari (and otherwise) are were very popular as a kid. I'm a bit adverse to them nowadays as I have been exposed to the horrible conditions that some of these animals are kept in.
Not saying that is what is going on here, but unless they are accredited by the AZA, I usually pass.
It is down over a hill & hard too see. Thats kinda what i mean when i say some of the animals are in small areas & no sunlight & no place to streatch & run around. Sad, but we just kept goin'.
It's open but there are still lawsuits pending in regards to the tiger attack of a volunteer last year.
been there, not impressed... NO animals.... lots of reptiles and snakes.. actualluy a good assortment.. sharks and manta ray u can feed for additional money of course.. very dissapointing...... NOTHING as tghe brochure indicates
a zoo in branson??!! aaaawwwww kwaaaaaarrrrdddddd. I usually stay on the west side o town due to I dont like traffic and dont go to shows or nothin. Just SDC. I want to make it to titanic one o these days but alas thats about 50$ right there and thats about a season pass for my kid for the city, so yall know which one I pick!
actually the zoo is over on the west side on the hiway going south to kimberling city.
really!?! huh. idnt know it was there......I dont make it to kimberling city.....I go as far as Best Western West or SDC Campground and plant myself!
after what i saw over to the west. i would say good plan!....
The "zoo" isn't much anymore. They just have sharks, fish and reptiles. They will NEVER house mammals there ever again. It is also very dark and doesn't seem to be kept clean very well. They also don't always have locks on the (non-poisonous) snakes. I opened a cage once and was going to take out a snake, but an employee came by, so I told him that I wanted to hold a snake, and he gave one to me. But seriously... there were NO locks on ANY of the non-poisonous snake cages!
But, I must say that the haunted house they have going on there right now is AMAZING!!! Absolutely the BEST haunted house I have ever been to in my life! Over 50 rooms full of creepy stuff, several outdoor walkways with NO lights, so it's as dark as can be, three different mazes, and people jumping out at you the entire time. You still get to go through the aquarium as well as the haunted house. It takes about an hour to go through, AND they have 2 game rooms. Granted, the game rooms aren't much - a pool table that doesn't even have a full set of balls... they have 2 - 6 balls, no 8 ball, 3 - 7 balls, etc... And the games are all old and 1/2 of them don't work, but for what it is, it's pretty cool. The haunted house alone is worth the $$. Plus, the fact that you still get to go through the aquarium and reptile rooms is just awesome!
haunted house was not open when i stopped there this summer.
No, it's only there the month of October. But for anyone who IS in town this month (well, within the next week and a half, I guess) should definitely check it out.
ok. well that would 1 more item they failed to mention of there flyer that is posted all over the branson area. as well as there are NO furbearing animals!. you know, lions, tigers and bears oh my!! ;D
Their name now is Encounters Aquarium and Herpetarium. They don't claim to be a zoo anymore. Their website right now says "YOU CAN FEED STINGRAYS, SEA TURTLES, AND TOUCH AND HOLD VARIOUS ANIMALS INCLUDING SNAKES, ALLIGATORS, STARFISH, AND OTHER VARIOUS AQUATIC ANIMALS."
It specifically says AQUATIC animals. I don't think their flier is misleading in THAT respect. Now as far as the gamerooms are concerned, they're a mess! Yes, they're free, but they're rundown and 1/2 the games are broken! And the aquarium itself is dirty, smelly and DARK! They don't have signs on 1/2 of their tanks telling you what the fish are. It's very confusing trying to figure out which way you're supposed to go. The outside is very unkept. I know they said they'll never house mammals anymore, but they could at the very least either keep that area clean or find a way so that guests don't have to walk by those areas. It just looks very unprofessional. And, the cages don't seem very clean to me. At all. And, safety is a HUGE issue there. There's only about a foot between the top of the water where the man-eating sharks are and the top of the wall, so it'd be VERY easy for some curious child to put his/her hand in the water... and possibly get it taken off! :'( And, as I mentioned before, I could have very easily taken a snake out of its cage... or opened ALL the cages and let them out! :o
But, other than that... ;)
It's the only place that I know of that you can feed bull sharks (for a fee, of course). You can also hold and pet snakes, alligators, sharks (those little non-biting ones that all the aquariums have), sting rays (feeding them was really cool... never done that before either... well, I have at the end of a stick, but here, you actually get to let them take it from your hand! :)) They have one of the largest varieties of snakes I've seen. And it was an experience that I certainly don't regret.
But I would never, never, never, never, never, NEVER take a child there! Not safe. At all.