Riverbanks Zoo, Zoo and botanical garden in Columbia, United States
Riverbanks Zoo and Garden is a 170-acre (69 ha) zoo, aquarium and botanical garden along the Saluda River in Columbia, South Carolina, with a small portion in West Columbia. It holds over 2,000 animals, including giraffes, Galapagos tortoises, Komodo dragons and sea lions, and its original design featured mountainous, moated exhibits for big cats and bears.
Business leaders in Columbia began planning in the early 1960s and opened the facility along the riverbank in 1974. Since then, new animal zones and gardens have been added gradually, expanding the original site.
The zoo's name comes from its setting on the banks of the Saluda River, not from the garden itself. Visitors can feed goats and alpacas at Riverbanks Farm, opened in 1988, and walk a path through the Kangaroo Walkabout where wallabies and red kangaroos move without a barrier, though visitors must stay on the path.
The grounds open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM and offer accessible pathways throughout for strollers and wheelchairs. Weekends and warm days can bring heavier visitor flow in certain sections.
The last animal present since the zoo opened on April 25, 1974, a female Caribbean flamingo, died in March 2014. The zoo's two lionesses, Lindelani and Thabisa, left for Wildlife Safari in November 2025, and two male African lions, Pesho and Sidai, arrived from Lincoln Park Zoo a month later.
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