5 Reasons to Visit Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo
*Disclosure: We worked with Visit Omaha and were given complimentary tickets to visit the Henry Doorly Zoo. All opinions are my own.*
We were so excited to head to the Henry Doorly Zoo during our trip to Omaha, Nebraska. The zoo is 160 acres and has so much to do. We’ve turned 5 of our favorite exhibits/attractions into 5 reasons that you should visit the Omaha Zoo.
Desert Dome
The boys wanted to start off at the Desert Dome. This is the world’s largest indoor desert and I can tell you that it is way bigger than I was expecting it to be. It took us at least an hour to get through the entire exhibit.
The Desert Dome is divided into three sections that each feature a different desert. The first section is the Namib Desert. Following the Namib Desert, you’ll find the Red Center of Australia and then the Sonoran Desert. Animals in the Desert Dome included plenty of birds, snakes, lizards and other reptiles, wallabies, peccaries.
Kingdoms of the Night
Once you reach the end of the Desert Dome, you will find my very favorite exhibit, Kingdoms of the Night. Kingdoms of the Night is in the same building as the Desert Dome. While the Desert Dome was packed with people, not many people ventured downstairs to the Kingdoms of the Night. I highly recommend that you don’t skip this though because we loved it. The only downside to Kingdoms of the Night was that it was dark so I didn’t get many good pictures.
Kingdoms of the Night is the world’s largest nocturnal exhibit. The theming of the exhibits is fantastic and you’ll venture through caves, forest, and a swamp. The first animals we came across were naked mole rats, which we loved. We also saw aardvark, alligators, beavers, frogs, and bats.
Children’s Adventure Trails
A must do if you have kids is the Children’s Adventure Trails exhibit. There are so many fun interactive things for kids to do here and we didn’t get to do everything. The boys’ favorites were the Prairie Dog Trails and Raft Crossing.
JT loves prairie dogs so we always have to find the prairie dogs at any zoo we visit. At this particular exhibit, there were tunnels for kids to crawl through and bubbles for them to look out into the prairie dog habitat.
At the Raft Crossing everyone can board a raft and help pull it across the pond.
There are also foothills, a spider web to climb, a stream to play in, and a very cool looking treehouse/shipwreck playground
Suzanne and Walter Scott Aquarium
The Omaha Zoo is also home to the largest aquarium that is in a zoo, the Suzanne and Walter Scott Aquarium. Here you’ll find lots of seas animals including penguins, sea turtles, crabs, and sharks. There is also a 70 foot shark tunnel that you can walk through. I was hoping to get a good picture in the tunnel but this was another exhibit that was very crowded.
Zoo Attractions
The zoo is also home to some fun attractions. One of the attractions is the train. Trains are always a must do whenever we go to a zoo. They are a fun way to explore and see the zoo from a different view. Other attractions are the tram, the Skyfari, a carousel, Stingray Beach, and the Lozier Giant Screen Theater.
Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo is such a big zoo and there is much more to do besides what is listed here. You can find orangutans, gorillas, tigers, elephants, rhinos, giraffes, leopards, flamingos, and many more animals. There is also a very cool looking splash pad called Alaskan Adventure.
We recommend making the Omaha Zoo a must do on any trip to Omaha.
What is your favorite animal to visit at the zoo?
