Zoological Wildlife Foundation

My husband and I were a bit hesitant when we saw the price tag and the far distance from Miami, but when I saw another Unilocaler post «worth every dime and minute of vacation time» I decided I had to check it out. We did the general tour and tiger cub encounter and I couldn’t agree more that it was SO worth the time and money. We got to hold and interact with so many animals, and it truly felt like a magical experience. Definitely worth it for animal lovers of all ages.

This was an amazing experience. It was expensive but very worth it. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and had a great relationship with every animal. I chose the baby cougar encounter. It was awesome. The tour guide made sure we were satisfied and got all the pictures we wanted. Can’t wait to go back!

Where else would you be able to play with small leopard, tiger? Pet a wolf? Hold an alligator or play with monkeys? Correct! Only in Zoological Wildlife Foundation!

This is a very special place, a guide show us around and take animals that we can hand on. We feed monkeys and apes, hold otter and baby alligator, even pet owls. Love this place, it’s a ten out of ten!

WOW!!! I planned a trip to ZWF for my husband’s birthday. We had such an amazing experience. Our tour guide, Kyle, was very informative about each animal. We did a general wildlife encounter, a cougar encounter and also had the opportunity to do an encounter with a jaguar. We got to be up close, petting and played the with the animals, who are so well taken care of!!! It was a joy to spend our afternoon here!!! A must do for animal lovers

Bucket list checked. I got to pet a baby tiger. We came for the one hour tour and tiger encounter. Our guide was great, telling us about the different animals that they had and his own personal experiences in raising many animals. They have even more animals that you can see that are not included in the tour so it would be nice to have the option to wander a little and see the other animals like otters or the birds. At the end of the tour was a hands on experience with 5 animals (owls, baby alligator, tortoise, capuchin and parrot). And then the tiger encounter was amazing. We had a group of 5 and ended up getting 25 min or so. Unfortunately he was interested in tearing up a plant rather than hanging with us. Just like any other kid I guess. Fantastic half day thing to do. Note that our google maps took us on a path thru lots of dirt roads with uneven pavement and big potholes so I’d reco to take the major roads like 172^nd

This was a life changing experience! A must go!

This place is amazing! Worth every dime and vacation minute including time it takes to get there and also for the car rental to come from the beaches.
This is the closest I have ever come lions and tigers and petting the baby tiger Optimus was an unforgettable experience! The ZWF tour guides and everyone who worked there were so friendly and accommodating. We arrived late having taken longer getting there than we anticipated and they helped fit us in on the tour that had already started.
By the way, using Google maps you’ll find a route that if you look on satellite you will see is basically a dirt path. The day we took it, it was covered in van-​sized puddles from last few nights rains. It took some expert maneuvering to get around them safely without tipping over. On our way out, we caught the normal paved road. Just beware of the directions!

A great trip on a rainy day. It’s a little hard to find, but very cool for the animal lover. To see the animals in an intimate space and learn be able about them by a knowledgable curator is fun. On our your at the end we met birds, alligators, monkeys and a lemur. You can buy extra experiences for a price. I went for the tiger cubs and it was worth it!!! Once in a lifetime experience.

Wow what an experience!!! My boyfriend bought the feline encounter for both of us as an anniversary gift and what a gift it was! I truly enjoyed myself. Our tour guide was so sweet and thoughtful. She explained the different felines, and their respective behaviors l. She took us on a tour of the grounds and was very thorough. She made sure we had sufficient 1-​on-​1 time with the felines! Definitely enjoyed my experience, only bad part was the rain and saying goodbye to them!

Best birthday gift!
Great experience to any animal lover and non animal lover. Once in a lifetime type of event. When else do you have to chance to place with a baby tiger cub and get up close to a bunch of other endangered species.
They treat the animals very good from what we can see and give them plenty of space, they are not in a 4×4 cage. I would recommend this adventure for anyone who likes to experience new and exciting things!
One downfall: about an hour outside of south beach! Costly Über ride

If I could give ZWF more stars, I would!
So I found out about this place on Instagram a couple of months ago and I thought it would be the best birthday present for my boyfriend. I had the choice of a walk around in the zoo as well as an encounter with a variety of animals. I chose the tiger encounter.
We the day came, we went to the ZWF, we checked in and they brought us to the tour guide. There were e other couples in our group, so it is not crowded at all and you get more interaction with the animals and the tour guide.
The tour guide was very knowledgeable about all the animals and he had such a beautiful relationship with each and every one of them.
We started out with the monkeys, we were able to feed them and the tour guide showed us tricks they would do. We then proceeded to feed the camels, it’s was so amazing.
We then went to see the Tigers and lions, they were caged so you can’t tough them. Lastly we went under a pergola where they had an owl, parrot, little alligators. We were able to touch and interact with all of them.
At the end, since I had booked the tiger cub interaction, they took us to a room where they had 2 baby tigers. We were able to hold them, play with them, take lots of pictures with them.
This experience was so unbelievably amazing and unforgettable. I absolutely love the relationship that the tour guide had with every animal, they all loved him. And I felt so good knowing that what I paid for this tour goes to help these wild animals. It’s satisfying to know its for a good cause and you’re helping this beautiful creatures!
Once you go online to book the tickets, don’t let it cross your mind that the tickets are too expensive, it is worth every penny I promise!!!

Google «what to do in Miami» and you will get Zoological Wildlife Foundation (ZWF). Hands down, the most memorable and exciting thing we did in Miami (or on any of my trips, really!)
We paid $ 176 (includes tax + fees), and it was the best $ 176 I have ever spent! We chose the «tiger encounter» which includes a tour around their park (it’s not too big like a zoo, and there are only a few animals). The tour itself includes: (1) feeding camels some carrots with your hands or your mouth (see Unilocal picture) (2) the tour guide feeding apples and carrots to the monkeys, which gives you a pretty close look (3) take pictures and touch owls, baby gator (such an interesting texture), a capuchin monkey (my FAVORITE from the whole experience!), and a tortoise (didn’t even bother playing with this one haha).
After the whole experience above (which was so amazing in itself… like I said, my favorite was the capuchin monkeys), you split with the group and go to your designated animal. Most people in my group chose the tiger (I would say 90%). You go into a small room with your group, and get to play with the tiger and take lots and lots of pictures. The only rules are that you are not allowed to pick-​up the tiger (though I saw pictures online). What an experience! The only downfall to this place was that it was a little far from our hotel (we were staying in Miami Beach), and the Über drive was a little over $ 100. Mind you, if you have to Über round trip, that’s already $ 200 so that’s something to consider if you’re debating whether you should rent a car or not.
Our tour guide (forgot her name) was friendly, informative, and threw in some jokes here and there. She was very helpful when we were taking pictures, and was adamant that we take as much as we can. They are pretty strict though, and you can tell that they have no problem bringing in clients, so try to be on time or you’ll probably receive a little attitude (fair enough).
Would totally recommend this place to anyone visiting Miami, or if you live there and have never been. Will return and revisit ZWF if I was to ever visit Miami again!

Andrea you are amazing! You have made my day once again! This was our second trip to zoological. Andrea was our your guide for the first one and I wouldn’t go back unless Andrea was out your guide once again!
We did the jaguar encounter and the Tiger cub encounter! What amazing experience! Andrea you are full of knowledge and it shows you love your job!
I will be back I’m sure again to encounter more amazing animals in the future Andrea so get ready for Dave and I. Thank you for taking our photos and making sure we got the best shots and angles, Andrea spent extra time with us answering our million questions about all the different types of animals. What a true animal lover right there! Can’t wait to do it again highly recommend it!!!

Update to our last trip. We lost all of our photos because of Samsungs incompetence We were so upset. So we called and had to rebook our trip but this time meeting a black Jaguar. We asked to be put with our favorite person Andrea. Andrea was awesome and excited to see us. Especially since she knew we flew all the way back from Los Angeles. Then Andrea heard we were getting married next month and we’re going to use these photos for our wedding. When my fiancée played with the Black Jaguar, Andrea even took my phone and got some great angles of my fiancée playing with the black jaguar.
We have been here twice now in the last 2 months and both times came to see our favorite person Andrea. I hope zoological never loses this person because she’s a hard worker and very personable. Thank you Andrea for being awesome!

I’ll admit this is probably the reason I chose Miami for vacation. I’ve been following their amazing pics on Instagram and had to experience it for myself. The animals are incredible and I love how intimate the tours are. You get a lot of hands on time with animals. The staff is friendly and very knowledgable. I loved everything about my experience here.

This is Beyond the best experience of my life! We planned to come here with my uncle and our family visiting fro. New York and the experience was something you can never imagine !!! The way the animals are taken cRe of is amazing and the interaction is beyond words !!! Definitely coming back !!!

Incredible once in a lifetime experience. A true up close and personal with some exotic and wild animals. There is something special about being able to interact with animals outside of a cage. The foundation does such a good job caring for these animals and providing them with all the necessities and more and the love and passion of the employees and owners is obvious. This is a must see for all animal lovers and best attraction in Miami.

I read so many good things about this place but didn’t know what to expect. From the moment the gate opens and lets you in, it feels like you are entering completely different, exotic world. Our tour guide Julio was super friendly and personal. He brought his little monkey Dexter for a tour and it made so much excitement among kids and adults! ZWF is known for their small private tours and its by appointment only, so better call them before driving.
I think the funnest surprise was when after the tour Julio brought us all to a nicely shaded place where we were able to take pics with owls (they were not in the cage), so we could pet them and even take selfies :) we also held baby alligator and monkeys! Then after the tour, those who purchased 10 min interaction with one baby animal had to stay while the others left. My daughter picked tiger and i — leopard. The baby tiger wasn’t as well behaved as Baby leopard Vlad, but we still got great photos and had amazing time playing with them.
Visiting ZWF was the best highlights of our trip to Florida and is definitely one of the experience i will never forget. Its been two days since we went there but we are still talking about it and looking at our photos over and over again!

I was researching something fun and different to do in Miami for Memorial weekend last month (other than going to the beach or boating). I saw someone on my Facebook news feed post photos with a bunch of different animals at the Zoological Wildlife Foundation (ZWF). Immediately I went to their website to read about them. They didn’t come off as your typical zoo, and the fact that they allow you to interact one-​on-​one with so many different animals sounded pretty amazing. Immediately I booked a reservation for my boyfriend and I that weekend for their General Wildlife Encounter and a 10-​minute encounter session with a tiger cub!
Once we arrived at noon that Sunday we had to sign some paperwork and get our appropriate wrist bands for the general tour and the additional encounter. Once everyone in our group (which the tour guide said was was larger than normal — about 30 people) had everything completed, we were on our way for the 1-​hour general tour, which at the end includes interactions with a handful of different animals and photo opportunities with each one.
The tour itself was awesome. The guide was extremely knowledgeable and you could tell he had a great relationship with all of these animals. During the tour we got the opportunity to feed camels and visit all sorts of human-​made enclosures with monkeys, lions, tigers, bears, etc. In that one hour I learned more about these amazing creatures and the foundation’s conservation efforts to rescue and save some of them from death and extinction than I have at any other zoo.
At the end of the tour, the entire group is taken to a large shaded tiki hut where the animal caretakers bring out many different animals and allow you to casually walk up to them, hold them, and take pictures with them. We had the opportunity to see, hold, and take photos with owls, pigs, a snake, a baby crocodile, two different kind of primates, and a wolf. Although our group was large, every single person had sufficient time to interact with all the animals and take all the photos they wanted. At no point was anyone rushed or not given the opportunity to interact due to time. Once that was done, it concluded the General Wildlife Tour.
Anyone who had purchased an additional encounter — you have different animals to choose from: a cub tiger, lynx, cub leopard, serval, sloth, and eagle owl. Both my boyfriend and I did the tiger cub encounter. What an incredible experience! Everyone who had the tiger cub encounter was brought indoors and sat on the floor and got to play, interact, and take photos with two baby tiger cubs for 10 – 15 minutes. It really felt like a once in a lifetime experience that left us wanting to do more and interact with more animals!
Anyone who is looking for a «zoo» or animal experience that is unlike any other, I would highly recommend going to ZWF. The price is well worth the experience. I think children especially would love such an experience (there were plenty of young children in our group). Check out their Instagram account (@zwfmiami) for more photos.