Return to the Zoo: NC Zoo Summer Camp Preview, Ticket & Day Camp Giveaway

Returning to the Zoo was interesting and fun. A little back story, I was the Zoo’s Webmaster from 2002 – 2005. My daughter, at the time, was toddler age and our family took many trips to the Zoo. Even after I left the Zoo in 2005, we still had plenty of reason to visit including sending our daughter to day camps and overnight camps. The NC Zoo is an amazing natural resource and a fun family trip.

For this visit, I and a few others were invited to tour the Zoo, and experience parts of their camp programs.

We gathered in the board room for our Media Tour to get the low down on the programs and work on an upcycling craft.

I grabbed a 360 view you can check out below.

The NC Zoo keeps a large part of its strategic focus on sustainability. This focus permeates down into all kinds of activities. Including ones embedded in Zoo Camps. We had a chance to make parts for a necklace or, bracelet from strips of paper from magazines.

Touring the Zoo: Giraffes & Gorillas

Part of this Zoo tour was the chance to see Giraffes and Gorillas. Due to the weather, we weren’t able to feed the giraffes from the Zoo’s platform. But, we did get behind the scene’s access to the giraffe’s barn. Wow! Just amazing. The giraffes are tall, majestic animals and the zookeepers were knowledgeable and answered the groups’ questions. We got to feed them lettuce, just an amazing experience.

It was fun to be able to make a stop at the Gorilla Exhibit

The gorillas were up to their usual antics. :-)

Summer Camp Experience

Can you imagine going to sleep to the sounds of a lion’s roar and other animals? For the older kids, the overnight camps give you the opportunity to sleep “in the wild”. As part of these camps, you participate in more involved, inquiry and investigation based activities.

Our Curator of Conservation set the scene, we formed teams and tried to solve a mystery… we are a Kenyan farmer and a wild animal slaughtered our sheep!

One of the clues…..

Mapping the scene, and using the clues.

Nope, not sharing the solution here. You’ll have to sign up your kid for the fun and let them find out.

Meeting Up with a Friend

One of the side benefits of joining this trip, was meeting up with a good friend Darell, from Charlotte. Years ago we met through a mutual interest in beer.

Since then, he’s gone on to launch a successful woodworking business.

2019 Zoo Ticket Giveaway and Summer Day Camp Giveaway

I want some of my readers to experience some of the magic of the NC Zoo, too!

Enter for a chance to win a

• Family 4 pack of NC Zoo Tickets & Fun Tickets to the Giraffe Platform OR,
• a Free pass to a Summer Day CampEnter below!
  a Rafflecopter giveaway
  

Disclosure: I was given extraordinary access to the NC Zoo. All opinions, photographs, and copy are my own. Zoo tickets and Summer Camp pass were provided to me.