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Feeding Giraffes at Woodland Park Zoo

Feeding Giraffes at Woodland Park Zoo

When visiting Santa Barbara Zoo in 2009, we discovered that they offered giraffe feedings twice a day. Unfortunately for the two of us, we arrived late in the afternoon and missed the second feeding session by only a few minutes.

So after deciding to revisit the United States on our round-the-world trip, feeding a giraffe was one of the must-do things on Amy’s 25 Before 25 List. We did our research prior to departure and found that Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle offered a Giraffe Feeding Experience over the summer months.

Since Seattle was our first destination on the US mainland, we knew that Woodland Park Zoo was where we had to tick this off the bucket list.

Woodland Park Zoo Seattle

Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle

Woodland Park Zoo is located approximately 5 miles north of downtown Seattle and is easily accessible by car, bike or public transport. We took the Metro Bus which dropped us off directly in front of the zoo and the two of us hurried inside for the scheduled giraffe feeding session.

We were 30 minutes early but already a small line was starting to form outside the African Savanna, indicating just how popular the giraffe feedings are here. So we joined the queue and waited for what seemed an eternity (excitement does that to you!) until finally our group of 10 were ushered onto a raised feeding platform within the giraffe enclosure.

We were soon greeted by Chioke, a male Reticulated Giraffe standing nearly 17 feet tall.

Chioke was a hungry giraffe

Chioke was a hungry giraffe!

Zookeeper Peggy handed out green leaves to everybody in the group and each person took their turn to feed Chioke while she answered questions and gave us interesting giraffe facts. Since feeding a giraffe was Amy’s bucket list item, she was the first to feed this beautiful animal and Chioke went straight for her leaves with his giant 18-inch tongue.

Amy feeding Chioke

Amy feeding Chioke.

Kieron was the next up to feed him, but Chioke didn’t want any part of these measly leaves – just check out the giraffe’s reaction!

Nope!

Unacceptable!

Luckily every group member were given two opportunities to feed the giraffes and the second set of vegetation Kieron received was much more appealing to Chioke. He was more than happy to munch these leaves down!

Much better!

Much better!

For $5 per person, this was a fun experience for anybody that loves giraffes and if you’ve got children with you they will just adore it. The whole encounter lasted for about 10 minutes (much longer than we expected!) and is something we’d be happy to do again!

Disclaimer: We received complimentary admission from Woodland Park Zoo. As always, all thoughts and opinions are our own.

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