Oji Zoo in Kobe is a delightful destination for families and animal lovers. Home to a variety of animals, including pandas, polar bears, and elephants, the zoo provides an engaging and educational experience.
The spacious and well-maintained grounds are perfect for a leisurely stroll, and the petting area allows kids to interact with smaller animals. The retro amusement park within the zoo adds extra fun for children.
Conveniently located near Oji Park, this zoo offers a fun and relaxing day out for all ages. A great spot to enjoy nature and wildlife in Kobe! 🐼🐘🌳
For a public zoo, they put quite a bit of effort into exhibits and ease of showing. The number of restrooms and nursing rooms, as well as a large area to have lunch, kept us happy.
Because it was a holiday we had to wait in line for about 30 minutes before we could enter. As an improvement, either an additional ticket booth should be built or a system for pre-purchase of tickets should be introduced (preferably the latter).
In the circular fierce animal exhibit area, the glass surface in the area where the animals are located was difficult to see inside due to the reflection of sunlight, which is a structural problem. Other visitors had similar complaints.
It’s an old zoo but it’s still very fun to go to. Sadly the panda has already passed away when we visited. The zoo is large though and has lots of animals for you and your family to see.
Parking is large and getting here via transportation aint that hard.
Very clean, possibly a bit run down. Many of the animals were generally well taken care of, however some of them were pacing and looked very old. No panda :(
This is a great place for little kids, everything is tidy, many bathrooms and benches, and the animals seem well cared for although enclosures tend to be small by Western standards. There are only a couple downsides. The only place to eat inside is the penguin or gorilla areas, they really need to open or make areas where people can eat inside close to the kitchen cars. All seating is outside, so it's very uncomfortable in summer or winter.
Besides that lack of indoor seating, the giant panda building is empty, and the tropical and night animal building is closed, so you can't see as much as you used to be able to.
Lastly, the petting zoo is only available M-F, and the squirrel forest is only Sunday for 2 hours. So, there are very few possibilities to do special stuff.
If you want a really amazing zoo, you should look elsewhere. But if you want a decent zoo that's geared towards little kids, then this place is great. My son especially loves the train, elephant slides, and amusement park area.
