Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park

This was fabulous and turned out to be one of the highlights of our 2 week RV road trip. I'm not sure which I enjoyed the most, the museum, the plants, learning about the desert or seeing the wildlife that lives in the desert. We will gladly make the 8 hour trip back to Carlsbad with our grand kids to share this with them.

loved this place. the animals were great to see and the indoor "kids museum" style learning centers were neat. different kinds of antlers. making footprints in the sand. Did this instead of the cave since I was worried about how much time the cave might take and this was more self paced and much cheaper :)

Great place to stop and take a load off while you are driving through. Next time i'll spend more time there.

I’m not sure why it says this place is permanently closed? It’s there. It’s lacking from my last trip in 2013 but…. COVID 🤷‍♀️… currently all the interactive stuff inside is gone. The reptiles are closed. Several other animal exhibits are closed for renovations… the foliage has grown up around the wolf enclosure which makes it hard to see them now. Unfortunately as a returning patron I was very disappointed.

stopped on the way to ruidoso... great way to take a break and check out some great exhibits

The prairie dogs are so alive!! They've a bear that paints too!! This was super super dooper fun fun fun time as swell!! Believe It!! Go! Vroom! Off we goo!!! XD

I visited this park while waiting for some repairs to my RV. I am glad I did. Although it was midday and the large mammals were hiding in the cooler areas, the vegetation, flowers and ambience was a welcome respite from the downtime of waiting for RV repairs.

I volunteer here frequently with school and such, and the people here are always lovely and happy to help anyone. They do a summer program with kids, Zoo Camp and despite waking up at eight am every morning for two weeks, I had a blast walking the park every day. I recommend this week long, five hour a day program, to all parents. I grew up going to the park every year and it doesn't disappoint. Highly recommend.