Zagreb ZOO a place to visit with your family and children in the Maksimir park
Maksimir park covers the area of 316 ha in the very heart of Zagreb. It is almost 200 years old and is a very important place because of its rich natural and cultural heritage. Today, the park is a home for many species of animals, plants and fungi.
The park is only a 5 minute tram ride from the town center and it will provide refuge from the city noise and urban lifestyle. You can enjoy walking through the Maksimir forest. The park contains adapted walking, running and bike trails, as well as those intended for boat rowing on the Third Lake.
Because of its exceptional value, the park has been protected by laws: Nature Preservation Law protects it as a monument of park architecture and Cultural heritage protection and preservation law protects it as Croatian cultural heritage.
The south side of the Maksimir park holds the Zagreb Zoological garden which is the popular place where people come to relax and enjoy.
Inside the Zagreb ZOO
Since I have two children, we decided to reward ourselves and, after a week of hard work, go to Zagreb for the weekend to visit the Maksimir park and the ZOO. We came to Zagreb on Saturday evening, which gave us enough time to walk around Jarun, another popular park in Zagreb.
Jarun – tamed swans and ducks fed by a local Zagreb resident
The weather was extremely sunny the next day. Even though it is mid-September the temperature is 24°C and it is very hot, especially if you are constantly moving around carrying children requisites.
The children were very excited, especially my older son who was also a bit scared. This was his first encounter with the animals he had previously seen only in picture books or television. The moment I realized that he was not so comfortable was when he asked: “Mom, do giraffes eat people” and “Are there any dinosaurs in the Zoo?”
We spent over 3 hours inside the park. The children enjoyed everything they saw. They were curious to see every new animal, particularly my younger daughter who tried to call each one out loud. It took a great deal of effort to prevent her from jumping in the restricted area. The older son was still very careful, but got more comfortable over time.
Forest Sitatunga, but we called her Bambi
The lion sleeps undisturbed regardless of the crowd watching him
His favorites were the lion and the bear. We also saw other interesting animals such as: lemurs, seals, otters, beavers, sea lions, meerkats, tapirs, different snags, parrots, zebras, camels, cheetahs, buffalos, crocodiles, different monkeys, playful chimpanzee and numerous other tenants of the ZOO.
Zebra hid in the house
Crocodiles were stunned and did not move at all
Snakes
Cafe bar in the middle of the Zoo overlooking the cage which holds various monkeys. Chimpanzee asking for apples from people.
We even got to hang out with baby goats
Buffalo
Camels
Meerkats
Cheetah
