Travel NC With Kids: Visiting the North Carolina Zoo While Social Distancing in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Visiting the NC Zoo During the COVID-19 Pandemic © Katrena

As North Carolina slowly progresses through a COVID-19 pandemic in the spring and summer of 2020, our family decided to make a reservation through the web site and visit the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro.

Social Distancing at the North Carolina Zoo © Katrena

We have a zoo membership and have visited the zoo many times in the past. We tend to enjoy visiting the zoo in cooler months and on weekdays, but we decided to try a Sunday morning. At this time, the zoo is limiting the number of people who can enter the zoo each hour, so I would recommend going online and making a reservation. Reservations are free to zoo members.

Safety Measures for Preventing the Spread of Infection at the NC Zoo in Asheboro © Katrena

The front gate did have a line, but it was not a huge one and people were moving through pretty quickly. Areas on the ground were clearly marked so that family groups could distance themselves from other zoo guests. Zoo employees were wearing face coverings. Hand sanitizer stations were scattered throughout the park as well.

Turtle at NC Zoo © Katrena

We typically ride the tram up to Junction Plaza, take the circle around the African animals and then walk back down through the North America animal side; however, on the day we visited, the tram was only taking guests from Junction Plaza back down to the North America entrance, so we had the opportunity to try a new traffic pattern.

Beautiful Flowers and Landscaping at the NC Zoo © Katrena

We reserved a time early in the morning. Many of the animals tend to take a nap later in the day when the weather is hotter, and crowds tend to be lighter in the mornings when we have visited the zoo in the past.

Venus Flytraps and Other Carnivorous Plants at the NC Zoo © Katrena

Going a different route meant we walked through a few areas we had never seen before. For the first time ever, we actually saw some carnivorous Venus flytraps! That was a big score for my crew. We visited several NC State Parks, such as Carolina Beach State Park, recently and had seen carnivorous plants at them as well, so we were better able to spot these awesome plants.

Things to See at NC Zoo © Katrena

Wear good walking shoes if you plan to visit the zoo. The animal exhibits are quite spread out and if you are traveling from the North America side to Junction Plaza, most of the trip will be uphill. Benches are scattered along the trails and most are shaded. The zoo trip is a great cardio workout!

Black Bear at NC Zoo © Katrena

The outdoor animal viewing areas were mostly open. It looked like they were doing some repairs on the grizzly bear exhibit when we went to the zoo, so that outdoor area was closed. Many of the animals were more active than when we've seen them in the past. Maybe the animals were simply enjoying the cooler morning air...maybe they were happy to see the guests coming back after being closed for so many weeks!

Gorilla Trying on a New "Outfit" at the NC Zoo © Katrena

Signage on the walkways encouraged visitors to travel in the same direction around the Africa circle. If you stay to the right and keep moving around the circle, you'll be able to see all of the exhibits that are open at this time.

Pink Flamingo at North Carolina Zoo © Katrena

Indoor areas like the aviary and desert were closed, but visitors could walk up and see the flamingos. The ropes course, paddle boats, playground, carousel, etc. were also closed.

Butterfly Exhibit at NC Zoo © Katrena

They had a really cool butterfly exhibit in an enclosed area that was also not open. We had visited a smaller scale butterfly exhibit at the Catawba Science Center in Hickory. It is amazing to walk into an area filled with butterflies, but we had to settle for peering through the screen.

Outdoor Viewing Areas Open at NC Zoo but High Touch Objects Off Limits © Katrena

Other safety measures that I noticed included having the water fountain spouts covered and many high touch areas like statues and play areas were either covered or roped off. I saw bathrooms being cleaned frequently as well.

Walking Trail and Bench Near Desert Area of NC Zoo © Katrena

A few snack areas were open, and drink machines were on. Guests can bring in a water bottle and they do have areas for refilling water bottles that were turned on.

Misters to Keep Cool at the Zoo in Asheboro © Katrena

We saw two misting areas that we had not seen before. I'm not sure if these were new or if we just hadn't realized what they were on previous visits. One was close to the seals and sea lions in North America while the other mister was close to the elephants in Africa. Before going to the zoo, I bought everyone in my group a fan that hangs around your neck and blows air toward your face. That was very helpful to help beat the heat as well.

Bright Colors and Beautiful Flowers at NC Zoo © Katrena

I think it is easy to get completely focused on seeing what is on the agenda while we miss all the beauty of nature around us.

Stopping to See Beauty of Nature in NC © Katrena

As we walked from exhibit to exhibit, we took the time to stop and look at the pretty landscaping and flowers.

Cute Green Anole at NC Zoo Outside the Desert Exhibit © Katrena

Friendly Gray Squirrel at NC Zoo © Katrena

Many animals call the zoo their home as they freely roam the area. A lot of gray squirrels and cardinals in particular greeted us as we walked along the trail. We saw a raptor grab a snake for lunch too!

We missed seeing zoo employees talking about the various animals at the zoo. They offer a wealth of information and have always been quite willing to answer questions. Zoo members receive a magazine regularly, and I have found information about the animals and their various efforts to help animal populations to be quite interesting.

Riding the tram back to the North America entrance offered a nice breeze and the opportunity to rest and see a few areas of the park from a different perspective. I had never noticed that they had beehives in the wooded area behind the honeybee exhibit. If you are traveling with a stroller, staff are not loading the strollers, so make sure to bring one that you can fold and place with you where you are seated on the tram.

Overall, I think the NC Zoo did a good job at encouraging people to distance themselves and spread out. Since this was an outdoor attraction, my family enjoyed areas alone at the zoo without masks, but we did wear cloth masks when approaching other guests, and most of the other guests wore masks as well. Many thanks to those people who were so thoughtful!

The zoo has plans to add Asian animals in the coming years, so this could easily be an all day trip for a family. It usually takes us at least four hours to see most of the animals they have at this time.