High Park Zoo

Having visited High Park in the winter and walked on a frozen pond, and then again in spring to check out the cherry blossom, we decided a summer trip was in order. This was also the perfect opportunity to pay a visit to High Park Zoo, a small 120 year old zoo which is home to a handful of animals.

P1160372 — The highland cattle sheltering from the sun. He will be having the last laugh in the winter when his fringe and long coat keeps out the cold.

Admission to the zoo is free and it’s open from 7am till dusk, so it’s a nice place to visit whilst you’re at the park – it’s also a lot easier to get to than Toronto Zoo for those of us without cars!

Llama High Park Zoo — It was all too much for this llama

Unfortunately there are no giant pandas here though. Instead though you’ll find bison, llamas, peacocks, highland cattle and Stewart’s favourite, the giant guinea pig, aka, the capybara.

Capybara High Park Zoo — The capybara enjoying a swim

High Park is so huge that every time we go we discover something different. This time we stumbled across the Hillside Gardens and the giant maple leaf which sits at the bottom.

Maple leaf High Park — The Maple Leaf Garden with the pond we walked on just a few months ago in the background

With the temperature in the early 30s it was hard to believe that it was cold enough to for us to walk on Grenadier Pond just a few months ago! Wandering around the gardens provided some very welcome shade as we thought about the number of layers we had to wear back then.

Hillside gardens High Park — The Hillside Gardens

High Park Train — If you don’t fancy walking around the park you can always get on the ‘train’

For lunch we visited the Grenadier Restaurant, famous for $3.99 early bird breakfasts on weekdays, as we had forgotten to bring a picnic with us. Let’s just say next time we won’t forget the picnic!

Emma