Kentucky Down Under Zoo

Have you ever wanted to pet a kangaroo? Want to see a cute little joey in its mother pouch? Maybe you aspire to get your arm clawed by a jacked-up kangaroo looking to eat some breakfast that you are carrying? If you answered yes to any of these, then Kentucky Down Under Zoo is the place for you!! Located in Horse Cave Kentucky it is the perfect spot to visit for a few hours with the kids.

All jokes aside this is a really cool place to visit. When we decided to visit Horse Cave, we knew we wanted to check out Mammoth Cave National Park. Knowing that would not fill our whole weekend, I started looking for other things to check out in the area. That’s when I discovered Kentucky Down Under Zoo! It is a small zoo where the stars of the show most certainly are the kangaroos.

Heading to the kangaroo exhibit you will notice a large field literally filled with kangaroos. You are allowed to enter the fence and feed these adorable creatures, of coarse after going over some guidelines and instructions. My favorite part was we were able to see a joey in the pouch of mama. The kids, wife, and I all loved that and it was a highlight of the entire trip!

I suggest heading there first thing in the morning. This allows you to get inside the fence for breakfast. The animals are hungry and are willing to come right up to you! With that being said, be careful! Kaitlin did get clawed up pretty good on her arm from a hungry and super strong guy trying to beat out all the others for the food!

Not Just Kangaroo’s

Maybe feeding kangaroos is not your thing. That’s ok, there is still plenty to do at Kentucky Down Under Zoo. There is a great bird display, wolfs, and even a cave. Yes, that is correct they have a cave tour. Now when I heard about a cave tour at a petting zoo, I really thought it was going to be some man-made cave dug into the side of a hillside just to make the kids think that its something really cool. To my surprise it actually is a real cave. Not very long and not very deep but enough to be called a cave. In my opinion it is a must see.

They even have a small underground stream that runs through it, it was a cool experience that I would do again. Speaking of cool, the cave is a great place to escape the heat! Blasting out 60-degree air, it feels like your walking into a deep freezer. Not quite as awe inspiring as Mammoth Cave National Park, but pretty neat non the less.

While you are waiting for your cave tour to start make sure you head over to the bird exhibit and feed some of the beautifully colored birds. Killian could not sit still long enough to get any birds to land on him but Jameson got to get up close and personal with some that enjoyed eating from my hand. Also, if you see a Cockatoo tell him I said hi. We had an awesome connection during our visit!! He refused to talk to anybody but once I would start to leave he would yell and whistle until I came back. I also really enjoyed holding his hand, he became my buddy pretty quick.

Farmwald’s Restaurant and Dutch Bakery

As an added bonus when you are leaving out of Kentucky Down Under Zoo you are going to pass right by the Farmwald’s Restaurant and Dutch Bakery. You should most defiantly stop in here and grab something to eat. We did not eat dinner here but we stopped in mainly for the dessert. They have a huge selection of donuts, ice cream, cream horns, but what I fell in love with was the Amish Fried Pie’s. The fried pies are like the Entenmanns snack pie’s, but so much bigger and tastier. Supper flaky with a large amount of filling. They are so good I had to sneak away from camp to go buy more.

Ready to purchase your tickets to Kentucky Down Under Zoo? Click here to be taken to the website!

If you would like to read about Mammoth Cave National Park please click here. It is right up the road and an awesome piece of American history.

Also, If you are looking for a place to camp in the Horse Cave area please click here!