The Audubon Insectarium is the newest addition to the Audubon Nature Institute

The Audubon Nature Institute has been a part of the New Orleans family since 1914, when the Audubon Commission was established by state law. The Commission’s first project was the development of Audubon Park, an urban green space on the site of the United States’ first commercial sugar plantation. The park, originally named Upper City Park, was built by the City of New Orleans for the 1884 World’s Industrial Centennial and Cotton Exposition. The Audubon Commission added a flight cage in 1916, and by 1929 the park was home to a full zoo.

Audubon continued to grow and expand, adding facilities across the city. Today Audubon owns 10 parks and attractions in New Orleans. The newest addition is Audubon Insectarium, which opened in 2008. Dad and I had our first chance to visit on a recent trip to New Orleans.

Visiting the Museum

The Insectarium is in the old U.S. Custom House

The Audubon Insectarium is on Canal Street in New Orleans’ Central Business District (CBD). Parking is available in paid lots nearby, some of which offer a discount with paid museum admission. If you are staying in the French Quarter or along one of the streetcar lines, however, we strongly suggest walking or taking public transportation. Traffic ranges from difficult to horrific depending on the day of the week and time of day, while parking is notoriously expensive.

The Insectarium is in the old U.S. Custom House, making it the only Audubon facility that requires guests to go through a metal detector. Although the process is quick and easy, make sure you clean out your pockets! Dad had a pocket full of loose change and several other metal items, and there is not much room provided to step out of line and remove your metal objects. Also, there is no re-admission to the museum, so be sure you have everything you need for the day.

As of 2011, individual admission to the Audubon Insectarium is $15.95 for adults, $12.95 for seniors over age 65 and $10.95 for children ages 2 to 12. If you plan to visit the other Audubon properties, though, combination tickets offer a significant savings. If you will be in town for awhile, Audubon offers annual memberships that provide numerous discounts and benefits.

Our Experience

At select times of the day, you can sample cooked insect dishes

The museum is open from 10-5 Tuesday through Saturday, but the Eat a Bug program is offered only during select hours. On the day of our visit, bug tastings were offered from 10 to 12, but the times change frequently. If you want to participate, check the official website for details.

We arrived at approximately 10:30 and went straight to the Eat a Bug café. It is located behind the main cafeteria at the far end of the building. Tastings are included with your admission fee and there is no limit on how much you may eat. The menu changes daily. Crickets and worms were featured on the day we visited–ground up in a variety of dips and roasted in several ways. The cinnamon roasted super worm tasted exactly like cinnamon cereal! All the dishes were surprisingly tasty, and we went back for seconds on a few things. You can even get a hand stamp afterwards telling the world that you ate a bug!

The Termite Gallery is disturbingly realistic

The museum consists of a series of connected galleries lining both sides of the main hall. The Louisiana Swamp gallery is particularly intriguing for its realistic depiction of the swamp, including a small alligator. The Termite gallery is a stomach-churning but all-too-real look at the ongoing Formosa termite problem in New Orleans and across the country.

The Underground Gallery shrinks visitors to the size of an insect

Unless your child is scared of the dark, don’t miss the Underground gallery. This dimly-lit exhibit makes it appear that you have shrunk to the size of an insect as you explore the recreation of a subterranean habitat. Watch out for the giant spider!

Awards Night is a short but hilarious 4-D film featuring insects on the red carpet. In-seat and in-theater effects add a bit of realism. Very sensitive children might be scared by the seat effects, so hold them in your lap if it is a concern. All of the kids in the theater with us, however, were amused rather than afraid.

The Butterfly Garden was my personal favorite

My favorite exhibit was the expansive butterfly garden. Designed as an Asian-style retreat, the area offers benches for you to relax and enjoy the free-ranging butterflies, as well as a koi pond. You are asked not to touch the butterflies, although they frequently land on visitors. Check your clothes before you leave to ensure that you don’t have a hitchhiker attached.

Tips for Parents

The museum has a number of light-hearted exhibits

We spent approximately three hours at the Insectarium including lunch at the (bug-free!) café. We could have spent another hour taking things in a bit more slowly, but this is definitely a half-day museum. If your child is particularly afraid of insects you may want to pass this one up, but overall the Insectarium seems carefully designed to appeal to both kids and adults.

The signage is excellent for those who want to learn more, and educators are stationed throughout the museum to give demonstrations and answer questions. We even had the opportunity to pet a Madagascar hissing cockroach! All on one level and small enough not to overwhelm, this is a particularly good choice for a day when you are feeling overwhelmed by New Orleans’ constant barrage of sights and sounds.

The Insectarium is fully accessible, and a small number of wheelchairs are available free of charge at the Information Desk. Small strollers are permitted throughout the museum.

The Audubon Aquarium sits at the foot of Canal Street

Established in 1914 as the Audubon Commission, the Audubon Nature Institute operates 10 parks and attractions throughout the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Opened in 1990, the Audubon Aquarium is located on the edge of the French Quarter where Canal Street meets the Mississippi River. The Aquarium was one of the first attractions to establish the Quarter as a family-friendly destination. On a plot of land 15 feet above sea level, it also demonstrates New Orleans’ sense of irony. In a city known to be gradually sinking into the swamp, the highest ground is occupied by fish!

Visiting the Audubon Aquarium

The outer plaza is sometimes filled with performers and vendors

The Aquarium is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10-5. Basic admission to the exhibits is, as of 2011, $19.95 for adults, $15.95 for seniors over age 65, and $12.95 for children aged 2 to 12. Combination tickets include significantly discounted admission to the attached Entergy IMAX Theatre. If you plan to visit other Audubon properties, ticket packages save a great deal of money. For long-term visitors, Audubon memberships offer a variety of discounts and benefits.

Parking is available at multiple lots near the Aquarium. Although discounts are available for Aquarium visitors, parking in New Orleans is notoriously expensive. Traffic is often quite heavy, and roads are often blocked for parades and special events. If you are staying in the French Quarter or along a streetcar line, consider walking or taking public transportation.

Our Experience

The entrance tunnel reminds me of Jaws 3-D!

We arrived at the Aquarium around noon on a Sunday. It was absolutely packed with the after-church crowd. Although we were able to see everything, if you have a flexible schedule, choose a weekday instead.

We decided to take in both the Aquarium and the IMAX. We chose the last show of the day and headed into the Aquarium. Actually getting inside may take awhile, as there are frequently street performers and food vendors in the plaza outside the building. Leave time in your schedule to hang around for a bit, as many of the musicians are surprisingly good.

There are seven main exhibit areas, each featuring numerous types of sea life. Special programs throughout the day allow you to observe animal training or feeding. The main entrance tunnel is eerily reminiscent of the tunnel in Jaws 3-D, but aquarium staff assured me that there are no Great White sharks anywhere in the vicinity!

The Amazon Rainforest is highly realistic

Creatures both large and small are represented, from delicate sea horses to playful sea otters. The massive Amazon exhibit consists of a highly realistic walk through a simulated rainforest complete with wildlife from anacondas to piranhas. As expected, the exhibit is significantly hotter and more humid than the rest of the Aquarium.

White Alligators

One of only a handful of leucistic white alligators in the world

The Mississippi River exhibit provides an extensive, highly detailed look at the animals that make the area home. The crown jewels of the collection are the almost mythical-appearing leucistic white alligators. Unlike the better-known albinos, leucistic alligators have brilliantly blue eyes. They are also unbelievably rare. The Aquarium’s pair was transferred from the Audubon Zoo, where 18 white hatchlings were raised following their discovery in a nearby swamp in 1987. Only two other captures of leucistic alligators have ever been recorded, both in the Louisiana swamp.

Parakeet Pointe

You can feed the friendly parakeets

Parakeet Pointe, opened in 2011, is the newest addition to Audubon Aquarium. For just $1, you can purchase a treat stick before entering the massive aviary, filled solely with parakeets. The friendly, docile parakeets are happy to settle on your outstretched hand or arm to enjoy a snack. An educator is available inside the exhibit to answer questions and provide more information on the colorful birds.

Hurricane on the Bayou

Catch Hurricane on the Bayou if you can

Although the Entergy IMAX Theatre screens a variety of films, we strongly recommend that you take in Hurricane on the Bayou. To our knowledge, this is the only place the film is currently showing. Debuted on the first anniversary of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane on the Bayou is the true story of then-14 year old Amanda Shaw.

The film begins several months before Katrina. Amanda is a rising fiddle prodigy determined to use her talent as a platform to spread a message of wetlands conservation. Ironically, Amanda is in the middle of a school project focused on the importance of the wetlands as a hurricane buffer when Katrina hits. The rest of the film follows Amanda’s evacuation, rare footage from the storm, and her attempts to rebuild her life when the family returns home.

Hurricane on the Bayou is an excellent jumping off point for helping kids make sense of the storm. It also draws attention to many of the factors that helped create the disaster without ever sounding preachy or inauthentic. Even the more disturbing aspects, including the total loss of Amanda’s grandparents’ home, are handled in a sensitive manner. Appropriate humor helps to defuse the more intense emotions.

Tips for Parents

Adventure Island is an extensive kids' playground

Adventure Island is the Aquarium’s indoor playground for small kids. The area features climbing equipment and a variety of interactive displays, as well as informational signs describing pirate life in the Caribbean. Special kids’ programs are sometimes held in this section.

Take a moment when you arrive to sit down with the activity schedule. Feeding sessions, training sessions and educational programs are available throughout the day. Arrive early for any program that interests you, as large crowds often gather.

A reasonably priced food court is located outside Parakeet Pointe, and street vendors sometimes set up outside the Aquarium. If you want to leave and return, let the attendant at the door know. We had no problem coming and going at our leisure. The Aquarium is fully accessible, and a few wheelchairs are available free of charge at the Information Desk. Small strollers are allowed inside.

The Audubon Zoo began as a 19th century urban park

The Audubon Nature Institute consists of 10 parks and attractions throughout New Orleans, all devoted to conservation. The Institute got its start in 1914 as the Audubon Commission, established by state law to manage what was then Upper City Park. Now known as Audubon Park, it was built on a portion of the nation’s first commercial sugar plantation in 1884 as part of the World’s Industrial Centennial and Cotton Exposition.

One of the Audubon Commission’s first projects was the 1916 addition of a flight cage. The Commission continued to add animal exhibits throughout the 1920s. Despite the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped keep the project going and, with the help of a private benefactor, the Merz Memorial Zoo officially opened in 1938.

The Swamp Train runs through the center of the Zoo

The zoo hung on through the next two decades, but in 1958 it was blasted in the media as an “animal ghetto.” By 1970, the Humane Society was calling for its closure. The Audubon Commission rallied with the help of local volunteers, spearheading a remarkable renovation project decades ahead of its time. The new master plan called for expanding the zoo to 58 acres and creating natural habitats beyond anything the United States had seen. In 1981, the now-renamed Audubon Zoo received accreditation from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA), and quickly became a role model for other older parks.

Today the Zoo remains the centerpiece of the Audubon collection, regularly adding new exhibits and experiences. Dad and I visited on a warm Sunday in April 2011.

Visiting the Zoo

As of 2011, individual Zoo admission is $14.95 for adults, $11.95 for seniors over age 65 and $9.95 for children aged 2 to 12. If you plan to visit multiple Audubon attractions, combination tickets offer a significant discount. For long-term visitors, annual membership offers a variety of discounts and benefits. Attractions such as Cool Zoo, the Swamp Train, Dinosaur Adventure and the Carousel, require separately priced tickets.

Our Experience

Lines are sometimes long, but usually move quickly

The Zoo is located off Magazine Street in New Orleans’ Uptown district. Unlike the downtown properties, the Zoo has a massive free parking lot attached. Unfortunately for us, a new section had just opened and it seemed everyone in New Orleans decided to visit! Time your visit for a weekday and you should be able to find a reasonably close parking spot.

There were long lines at the ticket booths, but they moved surprisingly quickly. You’ll get a hand stamp as you enter the gate, allowing you to come and go all day. Grab a park map on your way in, as the maze-like feel of the sweeping exhibits can be disorienting. There is a “suggested route” printed on the map, but we didn’t totally follow the recommendations. Take a look at the activity schedule, as feeding and training sessions are offered throughout the day.

The elephant ring provides excellent photo ops

We were just in time for the elephant demonstration, so we headed there first. An educator narrates, giving all sorts of interesting information about elephant behavior, while a handler leads the elephant through a series of exercises. This was a terrific photo opportunity, as the elephant ring is quite close to the gathered crowd.

Divided into sections such as “Jaguar Jungle” and “Asia Domain,” the zoo was filled with animal encounters around every turn. Unlike many zoos that require a long walk between exhibits, the Audubon Zoo is relatively compact and each exhibit leads seamlessly into the next.

The Zoofari Cafe serves typical fair foods

We had lunch at the main Zoofari Café, located roughly in the middle of the park near the historic Carousel. Menu options included such typical tourist fare as burgers and hot dogs. If you are in the mood for more authentic New Orleans dining, hold out for the Cypress Knee Café in the Louisiana Swamp exhibit. Red beans and rice and gumbo are among its more popular offerings. The Flamingo Café at the main entrance offers outdoor counter service. A variety of snack and beverage stands are found throughout the Zoo.

Historic Traditions

The Sea Lion habitat dates to 1928

Despite massive renovations, the Zoo retains much of its 1930s charm. The elegant columns of the Sea Lion habitat date to 1928, while the grounds are dotted with historic brick buildings from the WPA era. Monkey Hill is a New Orleans tradition, built in the WPA era to show the children of flat New Orleans what a hill looks like. At 28 feet tall, it is the highest point within city limits! Today Monkey Hill offers a rope bridge, animal sculptures and a wading pool, but retains a grassy slope. A roll down Monkey Hill is a time-honored tradition for local kids.

Louisiana Swamp

The Louisiana Swamp highlights the relationship between man and water

The massive Louisiana Swamp exhibit has won national acclaim for its portrayal of a well-balanced habitat. Along a series of walkways, you will discover the harmonious relationship that early Cajun settlers had with the land and water around them. Take time to check out the wooden buildings and catch an alligator feeding. Near the end of the Louisiana Swamp is a display dedicated to Audubon’s famed leucistic white alligators.

Leucistic alligators are incredibly rare

Unlike the somewhat more common albinos, leucistic white alligators have brilliant blue eyes. The first leucistic alligators were discovered in a swamp near Houma, Louisiana in 1987. Their bright coloring makes it impossible for them to survive in the wild, so 18 leucistic hatchlings were brought to the Zoo. International media attention quickly turned them into the Zoo’s most enduring symbol. A single female was discovered in 1994, and two more were found in 2009. All have become part of the Audubon family, although some of the gators are eventually transferred to other facilities around the country. These three discoveries are the only documented cases of leucistic alligators in recorded human history.

Separately Priced Attractions

Go back in time at the realistic Dinosaur Adventure

You could easily fill an entire day at the Zoo without indulging in any separately priced attractions. But they are fun, reasonably priced and potentially worth a stop. The newest upcharge attraction is Cool Zoo. This splash park, priced at $5 per person as of 2011, offers three distinct zones including one specifically for younger children.

Dinosaur Adventure is a walk-through exhibit that simulates the natural world in the age of the dinosaurs. Massive, highly realistic audio-animatronic dinosaurs are the highlight of the exhibit, which also features fossil digs and educational activities. As of 2011, tickets are $4 per person.

The Swamp Train is a fun narrated ride across the park, departing throughout the day from the Carousel and the Louisiana Swamp. The Gottesman Family Endangered Species Carousel features 60 animals from a wide variety of species. As of 2011, the Swamp Train costs $5 and the Carousel is $2.

Tips for Parents

The reptile house closes 30 minutes before park closing

The Zoo is easily a full-day park. The Reptile House closes 30 minutes before park closing, so make sure to budget your time. We were inside when it closed, and it was rather eerie when they started turning off the lights!

There is a single smoking area, located in the far corner past the aviary. The area once led to the loading dock for the Zoo Cruise, a riverboat ride between the Zoo and the Aquarium. The riverboat cruise closed several years ago, but the area remains a nice place to relax.

The Zoo offers plenty of opportunities for kids to run around and burn off energy, so don’t pack your schedule too full. Also remember that New Orleans is hot and humid. Dress in lightweight clothing and drink plenty of fluids to keep everyone hydrated.

Audubon Zoo is fully accessible. Wheelchairs, strollers and wagons are available for rent at a nominal charge. You must present a photo ID or a $5 deposit for all rentals.