Izu Shaboten Zoo in Maki

The facilities conditions are very poor. The animals are definitely not well treated there. Will not visit nor support this kind of Zoo again.

I get mixed feelings about this place.I came to see the capybaras, and that was very nice. But in the whole area were so many kids, which is ok. But some of them were screaming and chasing the animals which clearly disturbed them.Also, some animals were looking stressed out, pacing. For example the red pandas didn’t seem to have any shelter where they could hide. Everything seemed like it was made for people’s amusement, not for the animals well-being.Also forget to mention, lots of animals, which are typical to live in the dark, were exposed to light.

One of the lesser pandas has shown stereotypic behavior. Please do something to ease their stress.

Great place to enjoy with small kids.

Great little zoo where you can interact with some of the animals. The Cactus exhibition is one of a kind. A fun time for the entire family.

I visited on a very wet and cold spring day, but I still managed to enjoy it. There were some places under cover, there were free umbrellas to borrow and even an outdoor heater to gather around. However, I recommend taking warm, waterproof clothing with you as the zoo is on a mountain. There is a lot to see, and many animals to feed but it is a bit expensive at 2800 yen per adult. Public transport too and from the site is available but isnt very frequent. So, plan your bus times and stick to them.

Wonderful place to enjoy with Family. We can interact and feed the animals. Parking is available. Beautiful surroundings.

Lots of animals that you can feed!But its quite expensive and the bit of food costs 200¥Huge variety of cacti, and there was a capybara onsen!

I came mainly because I saw some nice videos online about the Capybaras sitting in the onsen. Indeed, it was very nice and entertaining seeing them but thats about it! Apart from that, I am not convinced by the zoo. Many animals are held in very poor conditions. Some birds are held underground with no daylight (such as a toucanand in tiny cages. Owls are tied with a very short string and can only sit there all day. Some other facilities appear to have not been cleaned in a while... The zoo charges for every tiny bit in the park, even some attractions inside have an extra fee. So the management should at least create a proper environment for the animals.

🦩 - Izu Shaboten Zoo:More than one thousand cactus varieties from around the world are exhibited in the parks greenhouses, while animals living there include birds, rodents and monkeys. In addition, there are chimpanzee and dog shows held several times a day.It is located besides the strikingly shaped, grass covered Mount Omuro, an extinct volcano near central Ito on the Izu Peninsula.💵 - Fees:2400 yen🕒 - Hours:[9:00 - 17:00]November to February - [9:00 - 16:00].

Most animals are free to roam around. You get to go inside their space and feed them. Some are very curious and will come very close !Compared to other parks, I like that they made efforts to avoid putting animals in tiny cages and most of them have nice environment (of course not all of them so it’s not perfect but it’s way way way better than Ueno Zoo for example).During my time there, I didn’t see any case of animals being forced to be touched / be close to visitors and I appreciate that most of them actually have safe places to hide from the sight of visitors if they want.Edit. Food to give them is very expensive (about 200yensbut I feel it’s better like this as any less than that would result in literally everyone holding food cups and trying to force feed the animals (like in Izu Animal Kingdom where it’s 100yens and animals won’t even eat sometimes due to all the kids chasing them and shoving the food in their mouth.....)

A full day’s fun! You can interact with almost all of the animals in one way or another. Touching, feeding, etc.Be mindful of the show/feeding times to get the most out of your experience!

You can pet kappibara and other animals. Very big and very nice. The restaurants are a bit pricey. There is a boat experience.I went February but I want to go in the summer too.

Many of the animals here are kept in very questionable, unsanitary conditions. Some of the birds were bleeding and scarred, and a whole lot of the cages and glasses looked like they have not been cleaned for a decade - some of the glasses were so dirty that we couldnt even see the animals inside. Many of the animals looked so unhappy.The best thing about this place was probably the shaboten ice cream. The cactus sanctuary was cool, too (besides all the birds there that were robbed of their freedom by being tied up).Ive been to zoos that treated their animals a whole lot better. Probably will not come back here again.

This place doubles as botanical garden and zoo. The botanical garden has deep knowledge of cacti and the garden houses are built in each region. Owls live in it and I could watch them closer.The zoo has many kind of small animals. In winter, I could watch capybaras (big micesoaking in hot springs. Thats so cute.Totally I recommend the place.

very high price! entrance: ¥2.400 parking: ¥500

Very nice zoo. Very kid friendly as many petting and feeding areas. Is open air zoo for the most part. Many animals in their exhibit walking freely through the park or in their own area with limited cages. Dont miss the cappybara onsen! Also visit Mt. Omura across the street. Able to do both in one day. We arrived at the zoo at 11:45ish and had plenty of time for both sites.

So many animals! Kangaroos and Capybaras are definitely a highlight.

Great place for a weekend outing. Many of the animals are without cages and mingling along with visitors, petting also is allowed, which makes for a great up-close experience. Mt.Omuro is right next to this and that adds to the scenic beauty of the place..there are some discounts with the Mt. Omuro lift tickets as well..All in all, makes for a good outing place...

I highly recommend visiting here. The park is large and very open. You often see birds and monkeys travelling about uncaged. You can pet almost all of the animals, and the zoo provides treats for a small fee at every turn so you can feed them by hand. I came outside of golden week on a weekday, and it was so dead that it was almost like having the whole zoo to ourselves. There is also a succulent/cacti garden where you could fill a tray of plants and choose from over a hundred different pots. This was honestly the best zoo Ive ever attended.

We had a great day going to this zoo.Highlight: the Capybara, can be seen in two spots including the hot bath (in winterplus played with right after entering the park.You can buy food to feed the animals, for feeding the pelicans there even is fish to feed.The concept is interesting, no high fences, to a degree that I wonder how they keep the animals from escaping.

Experience the close contact with animals and watch capybara bathing is so comforting. Staff are super friendly

I really recommend this place if you come with children or simply if you like walking around watching exotic animals. The bird area is really incredible. Great place to take pictures of animals and nature. Also many replicas of Mayan and Aztecs sculptures!

A highly recommended spot for visiting, especially for those with kids. You can feed and touch animals and capybaras are absolutely adorable.

This is one of favorite place in Izu Peninsula. I recommend couple and family who loves animals.You can feed and meet many animals without cages. I love Capybara plaza, animal boat tour(extra 800 yen to 1000 yenand Cactus greenhouse.The facility is old but admission is just 2,400 yen🌵

Came here twice already! Love this place! Most of the animals are in semi-open environment, allow you get close to animals. My favorite event is to feed the little monkeys, not only they are super active and cute but also the texture of their palms is beyond descriptions.Another good place to spend time is the cactus garden. You’ll find a lot of cool 🌵!For some animals you feel bad for them cause you can tell they’re in depression. 😢This is a place you can spend all day, bring your own water to avoid creating additional waste. Our planet need our help. ❤️🌍❤️

Can interact with almost all animals! (Feeding available for most / petting for somelarge variety of animals as well as a large exhibition focused on cactus.

Very interesting collection of cacti, had a great time.

We came here specifically for the capybara but got a whole lot more ! Worth the trip up to Izu to see so many animals up close and personal.

The most surprised zoo I ever went. It is mainly south America animals. The design of zoo is very fascinating. Animals can walk around the zoo freely. Highly recommended. I would like to go there again.

One of the best zoo Ive ever been. Really fun. You can get really close to most animals and feed them. Animals looks pretty relaxed and well taken care of. And you can talk to the care takers regarding the animals.The place has cactus collection; very beautiful. Must visit place.

Very interesting even if it was small, I enjoyed the enclosed gardens a lot and the variety of plats. The animals looks good in general, but its true some cages are small, this is an issue with all zoos. Even so, the bird section was nice because they had space and lots of vegetation, I liked that. The capybara are really cute and they seem calm around people, I saw some of them enjoying belly rubs from people and rolling in the floor while chilling. Theyll also come to you by their own for food, they didnt seem to hate the attention. At the petting zoo, I saw how the staff changed the ginea pig so they rest, but some animals there may need way less brightness in the environment. I also went to Izu Animal Kingdom and that one was incredibly bad in regards of the animal care, so comparing between both, this park is a better experience.

The capybaras were adorable! So chill, easy to take pictures with, happy to eat the grass you could buy for 200 yen pr piece. Many of the places it looked like the animals were treated well, but for some animals, like the sloth, the otters and most of the animals in the "Mexican area" had way too small cages, looked bored and depressed. I felt so sad looking at them. It is worth the trip though, if nothing else, then just for the capybaras! I recommend not going to the Mexican part at all if seeing sad animals make you sad, too.

A little pricey and some of the enclosures look a bit worn out and old. The bird paradise enclosure was excellent. Really large space where you can feed and interact with all sort of birds including flamingos. My 3 year old loved it

Rather small but fun zoo. The children enjoyed the animal show. We did feel that some of the animals had very limited space.Also rather expensive when compared to other Japanese zoos weve visited

Absolutely amazing exerience. Will never get bored however many times you visit. A must go if traveling nearby. Worth the long trip from tokyo. 5 likes and Ill write more.

Ive been to many zoos in Japan, but this one was one of the most interactive and fun experiences that Ive had.

A very bizarre experience, we travelled from Fukushima just to see the capybaras, and it was great. Went on a cold misty day, the Mexican music playing everywhere was kind of ominous, and animals seemed to appear out of the mist. Capybaras were a friendly bunch, and I really liked that there weren’t too many large animals (which often feel very sad at zoos). The chimpanzees didn’t look too happy in their sparse concrete enclosure, which was a shame. Food options are limited outside of set meal times (no lunch to be found at 2pmbut I’d say it’s worth a visit!

Famous zoo with capybara, must see for kids and kidults !

Originally we were planning to see the fox village, but decided against it when we read that the foxes were not well cared for. Im glad we went here instead. We got to see a famous site: capybaras enjoying a hot spring.On a chilly winter day the capybaras keep warm sitting around an enclosed outdoor fireplace and relaxing in an onsen from 10:30-11:30 and 1:30 to 2:30 in the winter. The best part is they walk around uncaged! You can pet these amazing creatures and feed them grass for a small fee.Izu shaboten zoo stands out from other zoos because it is so interactive. Many animals can be fed including fennec foxes, armadillos, and llamas. There are three giant pyramid shaped greenhouses filled with more types of cacti than I had ever seen. There was a 20 minute show with trained animals that was very impressive even for people who do not speak Japanese. The staff were very friendly and spoke some English. They gave us an English map, bus schedule, and showed us how to reach the entrance from the bus stop which was up a large and steep hill.We took the bus from ito station which took about 40 minutes. If you go from ito station to the zoo and back, I recommend getting the ito sightseeing pass for 1300 yen to save some money and get a 10% discount at the zoo.

Very fun and interactive zoo. Admission is 2300 yen, but if you go to the tourist center in Ito you can get an all day bus pass (cheaper than 2 1-way tripsand park admission for 2000 yen to save some money (iirc they only take cash). In the park, a lot of animals are just out and about. You can pet capybaras, peacocks roam, theres a kangaroo exhibit where you are in the area with them, and there is a large enclosed aviary that has birds wandering freely. You can feed just about any animal for about 200 yen (though you can only throw it to some rather than hand feed - also all cash only). Theres a lot to do here and it closes at 4pm (might be different in the summer though). The park itself is pretty, with a lot of landscaping. A few exhibits, however, were a little concerning with how they were set up - chimpanzees and penguins seemed like the enclosures were a bit small. Still a great experience overall.

A very lovingly designed zoo with an interesting variety of animals to see. It is also specialised on cacti from all over the world. While most of the animals seem very well taken care off though a few enclosures are sadly small and too exposed (especially the small animals like rabbits, guinea pigs aso.). Nonetheless I would recommend this zoo as you can observe a very close bond between the zoo keepers and the animals they look after. Also for a small fee you can feed a great number of animals (a small amount oftreats and experience them face to face. A highlight is one of the capybara enclosures in which you may actually touch the animals (with all give care and caution, of course)!

Great place especially due to Kapibaras! Still, one star need to be taken for the conditions in which owls are keeped. They were saddest owls in the world :(

This is the geography park whic is recognised by UNESCO. The zoo has alot of types of animals. The landscapes are very sceneric. As it lies on the seasides, the weather is somewhat between oceanian and mountainuos. It is very good place for children to play and learn. The service is convenient with shops and restaurant. The staff is very kind and nice.

Seemed expensive to go in but we had a good time. Lots of small animals not found in most zoos. Also two different spots for capybaras.

One of the best zoo I went. Animals are "free" you can even touch the monkey and they can play with you. All the animals look more happy than everywhere I went before. You can feed them but you can feed them in liberty n6or in the cage. I was really surprised because the park was really beautifull and big. The staff was so kind with us. And its a good location for taking picture for Instagram.I really enjoyed it. If you go for spring seasons is maybe the best. Good job for this zoo! Just one point. More food for peoples will be better. But anyway was good too

Animals are all healthy and clean, probably the best zoo in Japan.

Up close and personal with Capybara, kangaroos and squirrel monkeys!!! Feed them (animal treats are ¥200-¥300pet them, great for the kids!3.5x the size of the Tokyo dome so be prepared to spend the day. Lots of good shows too!

Amazing little zoo. You get so close to the animals and birds and can feed many. People bring their dogs to meet other animal friends. Cactus world is a cool experience too! Try a cactus soft serve ice cream. The whole experience exceeded our expectations and we loved every moment.

One of the best zoos. Better than most in and around Tokyo I feel. Must visit if you get a chance. Lots to see. Kids would love it. So much to see and experience. Including animals and cactus and ice creams and animals very closely.