The Toyohashi zoo and botanical gardens is a large open garden and park comprising of a full-fledged Zoo, horticulture gardens, museum and play areas. Also known as Non hoi park, the park is very popular among families and young children, with a family-orientated theme park comprising of family roller coasters, flat rides and a large Ferris wheel offering scenic view of the park and the region.
The zoo has the bells and whistles of a proper zoo, such as a selection of African savanna animals over large open plains, including rhinos, elephants, giraffe as well as birds and primates. There are also polar animals such as penguins, polar bears and seals. The zoo itself is sizable which take up majority of the 40-hectare park space.
The park is rather large and is an excellent family hangout area, with plenty of picnic places. Despite having an entrance fee, the park is also popular with joggers and the elderly coming in simply for relaxation and leisure. It opens from 9 am to 4:30 pm, entrance will set you back ¥600 for Adults and ¥100 for children.
Besides the amusement park, there is also a Natural History Museum as well as a Dinosaur park comprising of several 1-1 scale dinosaur statues which also served as playgrounds and is hugely popular with the kids there. You can see the sculptures crawling with children playing in the area, with several families picnicking in the playgrounds.
One of my favourite areas in the park will be the botanical gardens, housing several intricate planters full of flowers as well as a massive glass and steel greenhouse home to several unique tropical plants such as pitcher plants, banana trees, orchids and hibiscus. This green house is one of the major attractions, with a full 10 meter high glass dome housing several fully growth tropical trees to boot too, complete with man-made waterfalls as well an always lingering high humidity environment reminiscent of tropical areas.
The lush tropical environments are perfect for growing orchid too, and the greenhouse has sizable Orchid collection outside of Singapore. Overall the park is a nice visit and gem in Toyohashi, a family-orientated to spend a whole day out.
Check out the photo gallery for the park here.
