One day my family wanted to go to the zoo. We love the National Zoo, but weren't up for driving into D.C that day. We decided to check out our local zoo, Roer's Zoofari. It was a quick ten minute drive from Reston and there was plenty of parking when we arrived that morning.
A ticket to the zoo is $15 for an adult and $10 for kids between 2-12. They also have a military and senior discount. Admission includes a safari bus ride tour. Their Facebook page sometimes posts deals such as "Free Child with Paying Adult" so you may want to follow their page. You have to pay extra for feed if you want to feed the animals.
We began by strolling around the zoo. You can walk around a pond with ducks and see lemurs lounging by the water. There is an exhibit with kangaroos and turtles.
They have a small reptile house next to Waffles the giraffe. There is a camel and two petting zoo areas where you can feed many animals, including goats and sheep. My son was very excited to see baby goats!
The safari ride is on a bus without windows that drives slowly around an enclosed area. You can feed the animals from the bus and they come right up to you.
We saw a zebra, buffalo, watsui and llamas.
Our favorite experience was in the parakeet aviary! You can walk in and feed the parakeets. They are beautiful birds and they fly right up to you.
They also offer a "Meet & Feed" encounter with the camel and the giraffe. We will have to do that next time!
The zoo has a couple of bathrooms and a gift shop. They also sell snacks.
Overall, we recommend visiting Roer's Zoofari! It is a great local option if you want to interact with some animals but don't want to dedicate the entire day to a zoo trip.
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