Visit to the Greenville, SC, Zoo

For some reason, South Carolina’s larger cities seem to take displays of wildlife quite seriously. Columbia has, for example, the celebrated Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, Charleston has the South Carolina Aquarium, another elaborate wildlife exhibition. And Greenville has the Greenville Zoo.

Since Greenville’s zoo is just a few miles away from this week’s campsite at Paris Mountain State Park, I decided to go over for a look. This zoo turned out to be a considerably smaller operation than Columbia’s Riverbanks or Charleston’s Aquarium.

But it is well staffed, beautifully maintained, and they’ve obviously made the most of the resources they have available. I enjoyed the visit.

Emphasis here seems to be on children. In addition to play areas within the zoo grounds, the playground and picnic area pictured above is maintained as part of Cleveland Park by the City of Columbia. It is enormous! With all sorts of sophisticated play equipment. I’m no expert in this area, but the equipment appears to be designed for even very small children. All sorts of reassuring safety features. While at the Zoo I saw several families leave the zoo area and go straight to the Park’s playground equipment. As if they’d done this before.

Here’s a short video of material gathered during the trip.

Stay tuned for a visit next day to Greenville’s interesting Upcountry Museum. Another interesting facility in downtown Greenville easily accessed by visitors to Paris Mountain State Park.

Click here to visit the Upcountry History Museum