California Road Trip: Private Tour at the San Diego Zoo

When Chris was in Kindergarten, he had to pull two pins at school for saying the word “pitchfork.” A kid in his class thought he said another not-so-nice word that rhymes with pitch and told the teacher. Poor Chris didn’t know any bad words, so he was confused by his punishment. His parents didn’t believe him, though, so he had to wait in the car with one of his parents while his younger brother got to go to “Boo at the Zoo” without him.

The story of this injustice is told often in Chris’s family, so when we visited the San Diego Zoo as part of his medical school graduation present, Chris’s parents decided to “make it up to him” by taking us on a private tour of the San Diego Zoo called the “Inside Look Surprise Tour.” I never considered doing a private tour at the zoo and honestly didn’t know it was something people did, but it ended up being one of my favorite parts of our time in San Diego.

Our tour guide took us around the zoo in a golf cart for about two hours, telling us interesting facts about the animals on exhibit. We found out there are currently 4,000 animals at the zoo, not counting reptiles.

We also got to skip the line for the panda exhibit and get some close up photos of the pandas. It was interesting to learn that panda means “one that eats bamboo,” and that they were named giant pandas because red pandas were discovered first. We also learned that the pandas are on loan to the zoo by the Chinese government. It’s one of the few ways we deal directly with the government. Each panda costs $250,000 a year.

My favorite part of our private tour was feeding the animals. Usually, there are two feedings on this tour, but our guide arranged for us to have three. First, we fed a camel. Camels have really dry mouths, so it felt really strange to have it eating out of my hand.

Then, we fed an okapi. I had never heard of okapis before, but they are interesting animals that look like a mixture between a zebra and a giraffe. The guide told us that the adult okapi's butt looks like zebra stripes to make it easier for its young to follow it through the forest. The okapi we fed was young, and it loved running around in circles around the tree.

The neatest part of the tour was getting to feed a giraffe. It was crazy to hold out a piece of lettuce and have its long tongue swoop down to grab it from me.

The San Diego Inside Look Tour was the most fun I’ve ever had at a zoo, and I would love to do it again in the future with kids.

 Catch up on our California Road Trip: 

Quick Thoughts

Seven-Day Itinerary From San Diego to San Francisco

Exploring Old Town San Diego 

San Diego Old Town Trolley Tour 

La Jolla Cove 

San Diego Zoo Tips