4. Cameron Park Zoo

Not the zoo most adults grew up with, Waco's Cameron Park Zoo is a far cry from the cages of yesterday. This award-winning natural-habitat zoo celebrates the spirit of wild animals with its free-form surroundings and progressive attitude. The lush grasses and natural shelters provided for the animals create an at-home feel for species from around the globe. In the Cameron Park Zoo visitors will see tortoises from the Galapagos Islands, birds from Africa, and a lion cub —it's a boy, by the way! The Herpetarium takes visitors into a world of waterfalls and crocodiles and spiders and plants—all colorfully and thoroughly explained by educational plaques throughout the exhibit. Cameron Park Zoo's play areas are a favorite with kids of all ages. They can run across wooden bridges, frolic in a fountain to cool off from the Texas heat, crawl through a giant snake, and take in the view from a treehouse. New to Cameron Park Zoo is the Brazos River Country exhibit. Follow the footsteps of early Spanish explorers who searched for the seven cities of gold along the Brazos River. Visitors can become modern-day explorers, taking a journey from the Gulf of Mexico to the Caprock Regions of West Texas. Each area of the exhibit represents one of the seven habitats of plant and animal life that can be found along the 840-mile stretch of the beautiful Brazos River.