Visitor Center & Tropical Encounters: Como Review

A post discussing my experience at the Visitor Center & Tropical Encounters Exhibit at Como in St. Paul in October of 2021.

This post is part of a Como Review series from a visit in October 2021. You can read the first portion detailing the Zoo portion here. This post will cover the Visitor Center and Tropical Encounters portion of Como.

The doors to the Visitor Center at Como from the Zoo side.

Once you’ve exited the Zoo portion through the doors into the Visitor Center building, the ZöBota Café is inside.

The closed doors into the Zobota Cafe at Como in the Visitor’s Center.

Unless I visited this eatery when I was younger, I do not remember ever frequenting this place. As an adult, I have a lot of dietary restrictions for health reasons, and as such, I do not usually eat out anywhere. Even so, part of me still yearns to get a drink in a Krazy Kritter bottle to take home as a little something every time I see one.

Also inside the building is the Garden Safari Gifts store.

One of the entrances to the Garden Safari Gifts shop.

There are a variety of items for sale including clothing, toys, housewares, and art. While they do have information about accessibility and store info listed online, I do not believe they have any sort of online store. Personally, I think this is a missed opportunity on their part, as only offering items in person definitely limits their sales.

Various bonsai trees on display in the gift shop.

I did contemplate getting a bonsai tree at the gift shop, but I thought I’d learn how to not kill my current houseplants prior to branching out into that territory. If you’re in the market for a bonsai tree though, they had a decent variety for sale on display.

A large bird art piece near some plants in the Visitor Center.

Throughout the grounds, they have plants and art pieces nestled in everywhere. One day, I might create a highlight post of all the statues and art pieces I’ve photographed throughout my visits.

Attached to the Visitor Center is also the Tropical Encounters exhibit. This is an actual rainforest environment replicated indoors in Minnesota.

The yellow birds hanging out indoors at the Tropical Encounters Exhibit at Como.

It always delights me to see birds existing freely indoors. Como’s website refers to them as “free-roaming.”

Some River Turtles are hanging out in the water in the Tropical Encounters Exhibit at Como.

There are other animals in this part including the River Turtles, frogs, toads, and fish.

The series of photos I took captures the one tortoise moving towards the other one until their bodies and faces are aligned towards each other.

I took a series of photos of these tortoises. But then people started to crowd around me to see what I was looking at, and I decided to dip. Gotta keep it moving when people start to congregate close to me.

This is not my best pic of Chloe the sloth hanging out in her tree in the Tropical Encounters Exhibit at Como.

Usually, I find Tropical Encounters to be one of my least favorite parts of Como, but this isn’t for lack of cool things inside. Rather it is because there are usually a lot of people around trying to get close to all the cool things, so it can be hard to enjoy the moment.

This written part of the exhibit has words that are faded and hard to read as it discusses trying to find a sloth and descriptions of a sloth.

There are a lot of signs and written information intermingled throughout Como and the Tropical Encounters exhibit is no exception. I usually try to photograph them as I go through, just in case I feel compelled to move further along (away from people) before I’ve had time to thoroughly read and process them. Plus, this way if I have further questions when I get home, I have something to reference later.

I believe these yellow birds are saffron finches.

I find that writing helps me process what I have seen and done while photographs help me to remember details. Creating these blog posts helps me reflect on the events of my past while I can share my experiences with others.

Next time, the post will cover the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at Como.

~The Overstimulated