Reptile Garden in South Dakota

To any state you visit in US, finding an animal park is not difficult. So when I travel, I skip these parks unless someone gives a good feedback. I had not intention to visit a zoo in my 3 day trip to South Dakota either. It so happened that on the day of returning, the flight was in the late afternoon and there was more than half a day to relax. And I am always an anxious person, sitting in the hotel room does not feel right somehow. So I decided to visit Reptile Gardens which was well advertized in the Rapid City Regional Airport.

Admission : $25 for adults

They provide you a map which can be covered in an approximate 2-3 hours time.There are mainly 4 sections to go -

Reptile Exhibits - The map will tell you the places, worth visiting the Safari Park which is an enclosed large exhibit much like a rainforest and the reptiles and birds are not within cage. You will see many small reptiles and birds on the trees along with a snake(open) hanging from the tree.Other exhibits are pretty decent with a lot of information to grasp.

Reptile Shows - This is MUST! I have visited multiple SeaWorld, Disney and Universal Parks but these short shows were very engrossing. Along with that the amount of risk that these presenters took for a good show is worth watching. 

(Unfortunately I am not able to upload a video of the Gator show here due to technical issue, which is spectacular)

Fun Activities -  There are some fun activities around to explore for kids. There is Jungle Outpost for tribal art which I could not make time for.

Botanical Gardens - Beautiful gardens maintained here with variety peak blooms. 

This place is very favorable if you want to avoid the scorching heat of the sun in peak summer months. It is also great for families to sit back and relax with good cafeteria arrangement ( green parrot cafe) and a vast gift shop with great collection of tribal art. I got some great local made showpieces for my home.