Gorillas: Get sociable
In the very heart of the San Diego Zoo you’ll find the gorillas. Their exhibit, with its natural landscape of cascading waterfalls, open meadow, and climbing areas, provides these vegetarian giants with a healthy living environment that adds to their well-being. You’ll observe from the many viewing areas how gorillas are members of a very complex social group. The unique living habitat of the gorilla exhibit greatly helps to encourage their natural behavior. Our younger apes love to tumble down the grassy slope into the large viewing area, and you’ll usually find a gorilla or two seated next to the window, doing some people-watching!
Many of the plants surrounding the gorilla exhibit are native to Africa, including the African tulip tree, hibiscus, and giant bird-of-paradise. And children can have fun climbing on four gorilla-sized statues just around the corner from the main gorilla viewing window.
Just beyond the gorilla exhibit is the multilevel Treehouse complex. Designed like the colonial houses of Africa in the early 1900s, the facility has a two-level gift shop, three dining venues, plenty of patio space for outdoor dining and events, and a spacious meeting room with private patio, beautifully landscaped with a waterfall. Albert’s Restaurant, named in honor of Albert, the Zoo’s silverback gorilla and patriarch of the gorilla troop for many years, is an award-winning fine-dining restaurant with a picture window and outdoor patio looking out on a landscaped pool. Think about having your next party of business meeting in the midst of the jungle!
