Once a year, the first two weekends in October, the Audobon Zoo hosts Swamp Fest. This year marks the sixteenth year of the festival that hosts live cajun music and dancing along with food and drink of Louisiana culture. The admision is the normal zoo price with food and drinks being nominally priced (around $4-7 for a dish and $1 for wine, $3 for beer and $4-8 for frozen drinks). The visitors are the only ones celebrating, the animals get special treatment too. The primates all get special food tossed to them by the keepers and all are very excited to see so many people.

Parking can be hard to find, but not impossible. Don't forget about the shuttle from the St.Charles street car.

The zoo is great. It's one of the top Zoo's in the US, so don't miss it. From the French Quarter take the St Charles Street Car to Audubon Park and transfer to the free shuttle. From the Aquarium take the river boat cruise. Either way, you'll like the ride as much as anything else you do.

The park is a good retreat inside the city. The kids will enjoy feeding the ducks in the lake, if you can keep them out of the zoo for a moment.
Take the St. Charles street car to the north end of the park. Pick up the free shuttle to the zoo at one of the shuttle signs. If you're driving, you'll find plenty of parking in front of the zoo at Magazine St..
The park offers group shelters, jogging/bike track, amphitheater and plenty of shade.

You stop to rest at a boardwalk overlooking the plains. A mosquito hovers around lazily in the afternoon heat. Across the plain, you spot a zebra, a rhinoceros, an ostrich. Are you on safari in the wilds of Africa? No, you’re in the African Savanna of Audubon Zoo. Consistently named one of the top zoos in the US, Audubon Zoo is also one of the largest. Aside from the African plains, you can immerse yourself in the Asian Domain, the Australian Outback, and of course, the Louisiana Swamp. Each theme area could be a small zoo in it’s own right. If those aren’t enough, though, smaller areas are also scattered across the park, from the Creatures of the Night building to the Reptile Encounter to the giant walk-through bird cage. There are over 1500 animals in the zoo, along with centuries- old oaks with branches that reach down to touch the ground, welcoming young climbers to come join the plentiful squirrel population. If there’s an animal the zoo doesn’t have yet, you can be sure they’re in the process of getting one (or more!) Recent additions have included a Komodo dragon and two new white tigers to replace their original who died of cancer last year. There’s also an area dedicated entirely to kids, with a petting zoo, a discovery trail where zookeepers let you pet live animals,and a playground.

On an amusing note, don’t forget to look for Monkey Hill, near the swamp exhibit entrance. This hill was built in the 1930’s to show the children of New Orleans what a hill was. It is the tallest hill in the area to this day.