Zoo’s drive-thru safari starts Saturday
The innovative adventure will pass the lion cave, zebras and some rhinos
Toronto Zoo is going drive-thru and a the animals won’t be the only ones penned in.
The zoo, among the city’s attractions closed due to COVID-19, is reopening Saturday, but only for visitors who can drive through the front gates and view beasts from within their vehicles, never getting out. “This experience will have minimal to no contact between guests and zoo staff/animals,” the t zoo said in a news release Monday. “Safari patrons will not be alloweda to leave their car at any point once they start the Scenic Safari route.”
A promotional video shows metre vehicles course navigating past animals, a 3.4-kilo- including zebras, flamingos, the lion cave and some rhinos, who give the convoy a curious stare.
Visitors to the Scarborough site will see some of the zoo's 5,000 animals while passing the Indo-Malaya, African Savanna, Americas and Eurasia exhibits, before driving out through a service gate.
They can learn about the animals they’re viewing via downloaded audio created for tours, expected to last 45 minutes to one hour.
Tickets, which go on sale at 11 a.m. Friday, must bought line in advance.
Visitors should only travel with should not go if they have COVID-19 symptoms or are self- isolating. Visitors in cars with one or two people pay $32 if one is a zoo member, $44 if neither are members. Visitors in vehicles with three or more people pay $47 if one has a membership, $59 with no membership. Vehicles cannot be taller than 2.3 metres (seven feet) or more than 2.7 metres (nine feet) wide.
Dolf DeJong, the zoo’s chief executive, new and innovative way for our guests to enjoy the zoo in the safety of their own vehicles.”
But uncertainty over when, or even if, visitors can again crowd around a animal enclosures will heighten long-standing concerns over the 46-year-old attraction’s attendance, cost and purpose.
This year’s $51.9-million budget for the zoo, which has conservation research and breeding programs, already included a projected $12.8-million subsidy from taxpayers.