Johannesburg Zoo
Fifty-five hectare wildlife park with over three hundred species, born from a donated private menagerie.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Johannesburg Zoo follows Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, a mining financier turned conservationist, and Mac, a three-legged lion he rescued in the 1890s for his private menagerie near Zoo Lake. You'll hear how that menagerie became the seed collection for the zoo's founding in 1904, and about Fitzpatrick's real-life companion, a scruffy Staffordshire terrier named Jock, who inspired the book he wrote for his children. A listening tip: look for the giraffe and antelope enclosures, home to descendants of Fitzpatrick's original gift.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Pilanesberg National Park
Volcanic-crater game reserve where relocated wildlife rebuilt one of Africa's densest rhino populations.
Bothongo Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve
Wildlife reserve where rescued rhinos and lions roam grasslands beside the Cradle of Humankind.
The Wilds Nature Reserve
Hillside forest reserve with restored waterfalls, stone paths, and colorful wildlife sculptures.
Zoo Lake
Artificial lake and park born from a nineteen-four deed requiring access for all races, a rarity under apartheid.
Delta Park
Sprawling urban nature reserve of grassland and riverine bush along a spruit, with a historic bird sanctuary and dams.
Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden
Cliffside waterfall and wildlife reserve where a pair of black eagles has nested for decades above landscaped gardens.