Visiting the Honolulu Zoo on Oahu

The Honolulu Zoo, located in Waikiki on Kapahulu Avenue near the aquarium, is often overlooked by tourists and locals alike.  There's so much to do on the island of Oahu, many tourists figure they can see animals anytime on the mainland.  But the Honolulu Zoo has some unique features worth checking out.  So, stop by and spend an afternoon at the Honolulu Zoo.  

The admission prices are very reasonable: General admission (for adults 13 and over) is $6.00, $4.00 if you're a local (kama'aina) with proper identification.  Children ages 6 to 12 pay just $1.00, and children 5 and under enter for free.  

Once you pay your admission, walk past the souvenir shop (you can stop there on the way out), and you'll step right up to meet some elegant whooping cranes.  To the right, you'll find a few giant Indian elephants lumbering back and forth.  Look up past those large brown creatures and snap a photograph of the stunning view of Diamond Head crater.  You'll want to hike up Diamond at some point during your trip.  

Around another bend you'll see white-handed Gibbons, South Asian rainforest primates with no tails.  Three of them play on a small island surrounded by a moat, hanging from trees, swinging like Tarzan.  In the moat, turtles swim and lounge on logs.

Across the way you'll find a single Siamong Gibbon, which is a larger black primate with long arms, which he uses to pluck leaves out of his own moat filled with tropical fish.  

You'll find three large spur-thighed tortoises nearby, large and brown, standing stone still, their heads popping out from their brown shells to gnaw the leaves off a branch.