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Things to do in Pretoria
National Zoological Gardens of South Africa
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National Zoological Gardens of South Africa

See all things to do
See all things to do
National Zoological Gardens of South Africa
4
#10 of 124 things to do in Pretoria
Zoos
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Monday
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Tuesday
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Wednesday
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Thursday
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Friday
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Saturday
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Sunday
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM
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About
The large cages at this renowned zoo are home to an expansive collection of animals from all over the world.
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
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4.0
642 reviews
Excellent
234
Very good
230
Average
109
Poor
40
Terrible
29
Steven R
10 contributions
Retrain Staff and Change Menu
Sep 2023 • Family
The good. The bad. The ugly.
The good.
Animals. Five stars.
Wife and I visited this week. Animal species represented are a vast number. So many to see. Beautifully laid out exhibits with animals from around the world. Enclosure with Eland is so impressive.
The bad.
Staff. Two stars.
Unfriendly. Not welcoming.
The ugly.
Food. 0 stars.
What you served was garbage. Absolute crap.
We ordered chicken sandwich and Chicken legs with fries.
Chicken sandwich. Blah. Dry. Old product.
Fries. Tasteless. Soft. Disgusting.
Chicken legs. Dry. Stunk. Old product.
Stop serving this garbage.
Johannesburg Zoo Food is superb, in comparison.
Rated Zoo 4 stars because of animal collection and display. Had to take 1 star off for mediocre staff and trash you serve as food.
Written 28 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sunshine46115743998
1 contribution
Derelect and full of litter
Sep 2023 • Family
The zoo was derelect and litter everywhere. The zoo housekeeping staff collected litter and dumped it into the neighbouring river. The neighbouring river is full of litter. Needs serious attention and conservation effort.
Written 28 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Meander48962930001
1 contribution
A Shame for the Capital of South Africa
Sep 2023 • Couples
What we thought would be a wonderful day out at the National Zoo in the Capital city turned out to be emotional and left us distraught. Besides no restaurant or take away, an excuse for a food truck and litter everywhere, hardly any animals, the Zoo is in shambles. The cages have little to no water. If there is water its disgustingly green and full of litter. Booze bottles are strewn around every corner and even broken glass pieces in the cages of the animals. There was a big stage being setup and people entered from 9am drink in hand. The Zoo should not allow alcohol or glass or cooler boxes of any kind on site. The patrons should support the Zoo restaurants and food truck and thats why the place is run down. Only R100 entry and it seems you can bring booze, food and loud music. I compared this to Gold reef city, also recently visited. Immaculate. The restaurants make a living and the place is pristene. Its shocking how badly the Zoo is kept and the gardens look disgusting with decorated litter, yesterdays leftover and beer bottles everywhere. I would like to plead for everyones assistance in pulling a once Spectacular Zoo back into shape. We stayed 1hr. It broke my heart. No walk in avery, no animal shows, broken delapidated cages. No water. Fires made on the edge of the bridge side by the once farm animal area. I dont want to believe that this is how we showcase our National Zoo let alone our Capital city.
Written 26 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Petra d
Brno, Czech Republic1 contribution
Very sad experiance....
Sep 2023 • Family
There are very few animals and lots of people having picknic, doing barbeque. Trash all over the place. Not worthy at all. I feel sorry for the animls there.
ZOO without vision.
Written 16 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jackie H
5 contributions
Good value day out
Sep 2023 • Family
Although the zoo has clearly seen better times ( empty cages, lack of signs, nothing available to eat except a drink. Ice cream and crisps….. ) the animals are healthy and mainly in decent enclosures. It is a big place with plenty of staff trying to clear up and building new enclosures. Yes, there is a litter problem. But no different to the rest of Pretoria. We went on a Monday and it was empty apart from a few school groups. Nice place to walk, amazing trees and landscaping and views of the city. For 100 rand entry per adult it was a great value day . We needed 4 hours to see everything. Worth a visit if you have time .
Written 11 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Luke P
Plettenberg Bay, South Africa7 contributions
Shocking experience
Apr 2023
What a sad visit. Many enclosures overgrown with weeds, many empty, with no signs or explanation. Many enclosures had animals but no signs. Case in point: the condors were clearly condors, next to the Bald Ibis, but no signs. There were many others too. The Gymnogenes looked sad - no, batshit crazy - and clearly just wanted to escape their tiny enclosure, along with many other animals. Some signs were spelled incorrectly - eg Wolfs/ Wolwe instead of Wolves/ Wolwe. The ‘Wolfs’ sign had fallen down and was lying, soggy, inside the wolf enclosure where I guess it will still be in ten years’ time. There were many signs, on huge billboards, to the ‘Sundail’ (sic) and even on the official map, ‘Sundial’ was spelled ‘Sundail’. It is a central meeting-point. Many displays were haphazard, South American animals next to Madagascan Lemurs, no logic to it. Apart from that, many animals just looked terribly depressed, and were just waiting to die. Saddest of all was the Red Kangaroo, all alone unless there was a partner in the shed somewhere. He was just lying, looking injured, chest red from scratching/ a rash. A baby fallow deer was lying, looking very cute in the grass, until you saw the huge red wound on her bum. Nowhere were there any staff to point this out to. There was one worker but he was overly busy feeding all the animals. I must say they looked fed and watered (except for the Red Kangaroo which was very thin.) There was litter everywhere - the place is clean by South African standards, but filthy compared to anywhere overseas. There was litter, with many plastic bottles, in the wild dog enclosure. I see from a 2022 post that this is nothing new. Oozing through the centre of the zoo is the smelly, grey-green, incredibly polluted Apies River. Plastic absolutely everywhere and there is a whole whirlpool of it near one bank. Not the zoo’s fault, but it certainly doesn’t help. The overriding impression is the no-one at the zoo has the least idea about animals, about marketing or spelling, or about management of a complex organisation. Sadly, too, the place was full; full of children learning that THIS is how you treat animals. Top ten zoos in the world? I think not. This zoo is not in the top hundred; there are easily ten zoos in Australia way better run than this one. Will not be back.
Written 30 April 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Natalie
1 contribution
Far from what it used to be
Apr 2023 • Family
Not what it was. Many facilities and enclosures are closed. Disappointing to see litter thrown into some enclosures, and shows such a lack of care from the public. The wild dog and tiger enclosures were full of litter. I was sad to see the leopard in such a small space. The river that flows through is so polluted and filled with litter it is such an eye sore, and the smell is horrendous. I do hope that the building material that we saw are signs of improvements to come. Overall just a big disappointment and far from the place that I remember during my childhood.
Written 30 April 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Gene R J
Silver Spring, MD9,059 contributions
Large zoo with extended paved paths to access big enclosures.
Feb 2023
We arrived here with our rental car at 9:30AM on Monday and parked in the zoo lot. After paying 240r admission and 30r parking, we used the restrooms, reviewed the large map and proceeded to the huge Moreton Bay fig tree across the large flocks of American and Chilean flamingos, then on to see the cages and pens up to the Apies bridge. After crossing to see the hippos, we continued upward in a broad circle of large enclosures to see all the wild sheep, antelopes and rhinos, ending back at the bridge to continue in the main park.
After 2+ hours, we saw plenty of animals at feeding time to justify our admission and felt very positive about the efforts to run/maintain this 200 acre property. While we were happy to walk ~5km, others may choose to rent the golf carts for 150r/hour with a 200r deposit.
Written 27 February 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Fatima M
Johannesburg, South Africa10 contributions
A beautiful gem turned bad
Dec 2022 • Family
The Pretoria Zoo has really lost its gem. One was the best tourist attraction has now turned bad. No feeding at proper time. No animals its a sad site
Wish it improves
Written 9 January 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Da-mien Bezuidenhout
Pretoria, South Africa2 contributions
Do better Pretoria Zoo!
Oct 2022 • Family
A once beautiful zoo has turned into such a sad attempt to entertain people. The cableway did not work and was in terrible state. The Australian themed section was permanently closed. There was a lot of animal displays missing. The Pretoria Zoo can be an incredible experience if maintenance could just attend properly. Despite all the issues above, we did have a nice picnic on beautiful green grass. There is a lot of food stalls to buy a quick bite or drink. The restrooms is usable. Try to get there early to park near the zoo, because the street is super dangerous to park in.
Written 7 January 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS OF SOUTH AFRICA: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Frequently Asked Questions about National Zoological Gardens of South Africa
National Zoological Gardens of South Africa is open:
  • Sun - Sat 08:30 - 17:30