Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo

We recently made our first trip to Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo after I planned a "get in the car, we're going places" day for my wife's birthday. We've driven by it dozens of times on our way to/from Nashville, but I finally made plans to stop.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but knew from what I sleuthed online that it wasn't so much a ZOO (Like Louisville or Nashville), but more of a Zoo on a smaller scale, with Down Under animals as a feature.

While located right off of I-65, there's a sign pointing to the parking lot, but the building, itself, doesn't display the name of the Zoo, so keep your eyes open. There is a gravel, unlined parking lot in front of the entry. Park anywhere...literally...people park wherever/however they can.

We purchased our tickets in advance so just had to get our QR code scanned at the entry. There are two sign-in registers, but as near as we could tell there's no defined order or process one you enter the door. There's a small, not-well-stocked gift shop in the visitor's center, as well as some restrooms before you enter the park.

The first first (and biggest) challenge is the hill you have to climb once you enter the park. It's a hill. It's high. It's a high hill. Wear comfortable shoes.

There's a larger gift shop once you summit what I'm suddenly going to call "Mt. Holy Hell". It's significantly larger than the one at the visitor's center, air conditioned, and well stocked. There are also restrooms and bottled beverages available for purchase.

We opted for the Mammoth Onyx Cave tour first off. The tours start roughly every 30 minutes and are guided (our guide was James). It takes about 30 minutes and at the deepest you go about 124 feet below ground. It's a spacious and very gorgeous cave that's well-lite (where practical). It's a cave, so it wasn't formed over millions of years with Humans in consideration so there are narrow passages and low passages. There are quite a few steps, some somewhat steep, and some are wet, so be careful. It's a beautiful cave and I took some fantastic photos.

There are a number of animal exhibits, mostly geared towards animals from Down Under, but not exclusively. They've got a bird walk that has some gorgeous birds, all in caged exhibits. There are a few wild cats. My favorite area of any zoo is Lorikeets. You can enter the Lorikeet exhibit and they'll land on you and you can purchase nectar to feed them.

I have one...and only one...issue with Kentucky Down Under, and that's the size of the exhibits for the birds. The enclosure for the birds -- all of the birds (Lorikeets excepted) -- is entirely too small. My favourite of all birds, the Red Tailed Hawk, is kept in an enclosure that is woefully small for such a bird. Macaws and Kookaburras are a few others. Once you've been to a place where Macaws fly free and in very large numbers around you it gives you a different perspective on how confining and, I'm sure unhealthy, undersized exhibits for birds in captivity can be. A bird needs to be able to fly and soar. Not the case for these birds.

The Down Under animal exhibit is amazing. Kangaroos, Ostriches, and Tortoises roam freely. And there are A LOT of Kangaroos. From recently born to full adult, they roam around and lounge together under a large treed area. It's amazing to see a juvenile Kangaroo climb in and out of its mother's pouch. Absolutely amazing.

There's a snack bar if you gets the munchies and they do an animal show several times a day.

Our visit last about two hours and was pretty awesome. There are a couple steep hills, but if you want to make it easy there are golf carts for rent.

You can buy tickets for Kentucky Down Under online or at the visitor's center. Either way, they're not too expensive and is