Why You Should Visit Assiniboine Park Zoo

Tourism Winnipeg and Assiniboine Park Zoo provided admission so we could experience this amazing place. Opinions are my own.

One of the highlights of our recent trip to Winnipeg, Canada was a visit to the Assiniboine Zoo. My kids, ranging in age from two years to eleven years, all found something they loved at the zoo!

Discover the magic of the North in the heart of the continent. The award-winning Journey to Churchill exhibit is home to polar bears, muskoxen, Arctic fox, wolves and other northern species. It is the most comprehensive northern species exhibit of its kind in the world.

Visitors experience a variety of naturalistic landscapes and animal viewing areas. Interpretive signage and interactive displays invite visitors to learn about biodiversity, climate change, and conservation. It is an educational classroom like no other, inviting exploration, challenging thinking and promoting personal action.

The best part of our visit to the zoo, for all of us, was watching the polar bears swim right over our heads in the Gateway To The Arctic building, part of the Journey to Churchill exhibit.

Gateway To The Arctic

We lucked out and caught the polar bears at a particularly active time and got to enjoy the sight of these amazing animals playfully swimming back and forth and up and down as we watched from the underwater viewing tunnels, known as the Sea Ice Passage.

Also in the Gateway To The Arctic is the Aurora Borealis Theatre. The domed Aurora Borealis Theatre is a place of wonder and awe. With the play of the northern lights above and the encircling wall projecting a 360-degree horizon, visitors are immersed in a vast Arctic landscape.

Watch the Arctic’s seasonal beauty unfold as you enjoy our feature film Rhythms of the North and learn about the people and animals that live in Canada’s north.

The short film that is presented (multiple times per hour) brings you a bit closer to nature and understanding how we are all connected to this big rock called Earth.

As with any zoo, there are loads of other animals to see and fun things to do, but a couple of our favorites were the Xtreme Bugs exhibit and the Australian Walkabout.

Extreme Bugs

Immersed in the larger-than-life landscape of Xtreme BUGS, visitors will be surrounded by giant insects including a six-meter-long Japanese hornet and a four-meter-high praying mantis, for an up-close look at the physical characteristics of bugs and the science behind the behaviors of these (usually) tiny creatures.

Australian Walkabout

The one thing my son wanted to see when we were at the zoo was the kangaroos. Little did he realize, we’d get a chance to go right in with the kangaroos and visit with them!

The Australian Walkabout Exhibit provides visitors with the unique opportunity to enter an animal enclosure and enjoy a barrier-free encounter with two of Australia’s iconic animal species — kangaroos and emus!

While the kangaroos weren’t feeling particularly social that day…

…the emu was ready for a visit!

More Fun At Assiniboine Park Zoo

There were so many more fun things to do at the zoo that it’d be hard to fit them all into one article. You can check out more about all the exhibits by visiting the Assiniboine Zoo website, and in the meantime check out our gallery of images below to see a little more of the fun we had!