Parque Zoologico Simon Bolivar
Quick Facts
- Location : Barrio Amon, San Jose
- Hours : 8 a.m – 3:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m Sat. & Sun.
- Entrance fee : $5.50 Adults; $3.50 kids (3-12 year old); children under 3 free
- Telephone : 2256-0012
Every morning Kivu, the 15-year old lion from Cuba, roars awakening the harmonies of monkeys and scarlet macaws in the middle of San Jose at the oldest wildlife rescue center in Costa Rica, Parque Zoologico Simon Bolivar.
read more closeAs the sun rises, spider and white-faced monkeys perch on tree branches sunbathing and picking bugs from each other's body. Toto, the tapir, soaks in the mud to refresh his skin. And, Brutus, the 16-year old jaguar simply sleeps.
Parque Zoologico Simon Bolivar, a wildlife rescue center in the heart of San Jose, offers guests the chance to get up close to some of Costa Rica's exotic wildlife including tapirs, jaguars, a lion, white-faced monkeys, Spider monkeys, toucans, scarlet macaws, coatis and more.
The wildlife rescue center receives injured, orphaned, poached or display animals to rehabilitate and released in the wild. Its release rate is seventy (70) percent. Less than five percent of the animals that come stay in the center permanently.
Parque Zoologico Simon Bolivar, founded in 1916, is the oldest wildlife rescue center in Costa Rica with 125,000 visitors per year. It is managed by Fundacion Pro Zoologicos, a non-profit organization.