el nispero zoo and botanical garden

The animals were in small cages with no food or water. The frog exhibit was interesting. Many were surprisingly small, but the star of the attraction, the Golden Frog was easily visible.

I thought it was worth the visit. This is nothing fancy here but it has the most beautiful flowers, views and surprises within the grounds. There is an area where you can see the old volcanic rock emerging from the ground and the grass has grown around it, all set in large open field. it's very surreal and you think you're on a different planet.The zoo has many birds, big and small, some mammals, an ocelot, monkeys, and pigs. I feel badly for anything caged but it is what it is. Just walking around will keep you pleasantly occupied.

I went to see the zoo with 3 friends and we all had a good time spending about 2 hours here. For the price we thought we got our money's worth. There were various native birds and frogs, and some bigger exhibits with crocodiles, larger mammals, and plants.Some of the exhibits seemed overly confining and lacking in adequate stuff for the animals. I'm no expert here, but I thought this a few times while at the zoo.

Not sure what to think of this place - there were just a bunch of random animals in makeshift cages. It was quite sad to see. Assortment from birds to a sloth and umu. The only good thing about this was the frog/toad area where you could see a few very endangered frogs. There were also chickens just freely roaming around the place, so if you don't want a chicken to touch you, don't go here.

It may have been the time of year, but there wasn't really anyone to answer questions. While the zoo was interesting in its displays, the place seemed a bit sad. We did get to see a golden frog, which is what our children were looking forward to, but overall, we didn't leave excited or educated.

We payed 5$ to get in. Way too much for what is offered. Animals were held in pretty small cages and the popular golden frog was hidden. For uns having seen other zoos before this one was just poor. Not recommended.

The zoo starts off well enough. You're offered bags of dried corn for $0.25 each to feed the animals, and the first animals you see are beautiful birds in large cages, who are happy to eat from your hand. But it steadily gets sadder and sadder as the animals get larger. There were Tapirs in a stark, bare concrete pit, one of which had an open sore on her foot. There was a deer in about a 5m x 10m cage, just looking sad and confined. The monkeys begging for food looked forlorn. Worst for me was the ocelot and the 3 coyotes. Each was in another very small cage, and just paced anxiously the whole time. You got the sense they were driven crazy by the loose chickens running around, literally under their noses. All the while, you have this corn in your hand, and feel bad about perpetuating the cruelty, but also suspect that the guests feeding animals is a significant part of their diet.

only a $5 admission fee but this was the only place to see the golden frog. chickens are everywhere !!!!! I have never seen a white peacock so that was different - and those birds can shed !! The grounds are not the best - lots of tree roots on the surface

Wonderful staff that greeted us and went out of their way to be helpful every step of the way, you are made to feel like family. The whole hostel is just super clean with art work everywhere. AND A POOL!!!!!!! slept like baby all night, rented a bike for the day and robert, the manager showed me some cool places to spend the day.

When we arrived as part of our Collette tour of Panama, we had pretty low expectations. On entry, the first things you see are chickens and rabbits in small pens. However, things get better quite quickly. There are quite a number of birds and animals. The yellow frog (toad) is worth the $5.00 admission price by itself. Almost extinct, the zoo is helping it to survive (with the help of the Smithsonian).This is Panama, not a zoo in North America. Cages are relatively small and conditions could be better. However, it is important to remember that the owner is a veterinarian who started out trying to help wounded animals. Many of the animals on display could not have survived in the wild (and yes, quite a few of the common animals (like chickens) are really food for the more exotic animals).

This is a local zoo in a park-like setting. Lots of trees and shade. No walkways and the ground can be uneven - please watch your step. Lots of birds and monkeys, nothing new to see. No need to drive here from Panama city. The botanical garden portion are plants in five-gallon buckets-again don't make the drive for this from Panama city.

My wife and I were on a group tour and this private zoo was one of the sites visited in Anton Valley. We were told it is a private zoo owned by a vetinarian. It was developed to take care of unwanted zoo type animals and for research or maintaining a rare species. It is not a zoo that would meet standards for a zoo in USA or other modern and larger countries. The space for animals is somewhat reasonable in most cases. We read in a travel book that the zoo had a jaguar...it did but the jaguar has died.You can see a variety of birds, tapir, crocodile, plants, and other smaller animals. Chickens are numerous and they are raised to provide food for crocodiles or other meat eating species.The zoo has one of the few golden frogs still in existence. It is a small frog and were told if we saw it we would have good fortune.You can easily walk through the zoo in an hour.

The zoo is in a really beautiful setting, beautiful gardens and paths.Wide variety of interesting birds and animals, very cool frog display.Kind of crude structures, but I liked the fact that we could see the animals so up close and personal.To the comments about all the chickens and small rodents crammed in the pens: those are feeder animals... did you think these wildlife lived on air or something? This is not the toronto zoo or the san diego zoo, be serious, its only $5 to tour the place.Toronto zoo has feeder pens too, they are just hidden away in the back where you don't see them.Anyways, its well worth spending an hour or so wandering through the beautiful paths and its great if you can get a guide to give a bit of history and explain some of the plants, birds, etc..

I have no idea how this place ended up getting so many good reviews. Apart from very few exceptions animals are crowded in tiny cages. Right when you come in you see chicken, rabbits and all kinds of other small rodents sitting in tiny cages directly on the grill.This place almost made me cry.It is a shame to call it a Zoo

Zoo and Panama don't fit too well as you can see a lot of wildlife in the wild. Still, if you missed something, here is the place to go. The yellow frog (actually a toad) that is the symbol of Panama is nearly extinct, but the zoo is reviving it with the help of the Smithsonian. That alone makes the zoo special.