What a great experience! Tyler was awesome and so good with the kids and showing them the animals. We loved it!!! Thanks Tyler for an awesome day. read more

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Loved this place! We were going to go to another croc exhibit but we pulled up to that one and it was a total tourist trap, this placed was owned and run by a small group who truly cared for the animals they have dozens of rescues and plenty of cool and exiting animals and ones you get to feed and hold, this place over any tourist trap!!!! read more

If you are into gators, turtles, tortoises, and all sorts of other reptiles, you will enjoy stopping by this place. From an adult's perspective, it is a fairly quick place to explore and get a feel for the animals. It's best experienced with small children. There are options to hand-feed some of the tortoises and turtles, which can be fun -- especially if you haven't done anything like that before. They also offer photo opportunities while holding a baby gator. Kids love that stuff! The price for visiting is reasonable and it helps take care of sone awesome animals. read more

This is an amazing gator sanctuary. We found it through yelp yesterday whilst searching for kid friendly things to do. We are vacationing in the Tampa area and the day was colder than we expected. We called and reserved a spot on a morning tour. It cost roughly $100 for 3 of us, which at first I was like "really?" But this place was awesome! The guy in charge and his family were so nice and knowledgeable. You can tell these animals are really cared for. My daughter loved feeding the turtles. You get to go right in and play with them!! And there's a spot where you can feed "treats" to the alligators. That was a lot of fun. And at the end we got to hold a baby gator, snake, and lizard. They also have some amazing birds on site. Definitely check this place out! read more

I had my sons birthday party in my backyard and had Croc encounters come out with the reptiles and talk with the children and showcase the animals. They sent Tyler, he was amazing and so interactive. Not only did the kids love it but the adults were having such a good time too. I would 110% recommend these guys to come out to your event. So professional and fun! read more

So fun! We were looking for some family fun while in the area and came across this place. We did not do the guided tour, but had a great time ourselves checking everything out. Even the teenagers enjoyed it. read more

Croc Encounters - Zoos Near Me - Tampa, Florida

Went here today with family. It was quite a nice experience! Our guide, John, was very knowledgeable and really made a great impression on all of us. The animals seem very well cared for and I think the whole staff are really into rescuing animals that are simply too much for pet owners and zoos that can't support them any more. They also pick up animals that have come into areas where they cannot be. Today they brought in one that had come into the area of a high school. They brought it right past us on their way to release it into an enclosed pond. We got to touch it! All in all a great experience! read more

Amazing. Forgot his name but from Michigan very informative and fun to talk too. Knew all the information necessary. My kids and I enjoyed it and loved it. read more

Just Wow. I came here not knowing what to expect and was blown away. Get the tour, it's 100% worth it and so fun. They are non profit sanctuary and you can tell they really care about their animals. The guides are very knowledgeable and interesting. You get to watch them feed the animals and you can even feed some yourself. So much fun I would go again read more

Great time for the family. Had my three teenagers with me and they enjoyed the tour immensely.

Tyler (the Australian) was great. A true snake handler. Had a great time with the family.

My aunt, sons (12 and 6), and I took the guided tour today with John and it was fantastic! He had to leave part of the way through to rescue a 7' gator from a hotel but we got to see it when he came back which was very cool. John was awesome, fun and engaging and very knowledgeable. Daniel was terrific as well! I would highly recommend Croc Encounters to anyone interested in reptiles (they have a nice collection). We will definitely be back! read more

I took some family members from out of town here, as they wanted to see alligators. We all really enjoyed our visit. Clay was our tour guide and he was great! I would definitely recommend! read more

Great experience! Our guide was informative and very pleasant. I personally liked that the tour wasn't too long. It was about an hour and a half. We got to feed and pet the turtles and hold a baby alligator at the end for a photo op. The gators and crocs were very impressive and the facility makes every effort to treat them humanely. Good for all ages as there were young kids and senior citizens on our tour. read more

This place is amazing!!!! Our tour guid Tyler was so informative and knowledgeable. By far my most favorite thing we did on Vacation to Tampa. It's a must on your list of things to do. read more

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This place is awesome. We did a private tour during the week and so glad we did. My 5 and 3 year olds just loved it. Very educational and I am glad that my money is going to help these creatures! Highly recommend if you are in the area. TJ our guide was awesome, you can tell he loves what he does. read more

While visiting our daughter in the area, she had learned about Croc Encounters on FB and we're glad she did! We had a great visit - very relaxing tour, very informative, and fun feeding & holding some crocs & snakes! And Destiny was great - very knowledgeable & passionate about caring for these wonderful crocs & friends. We definitely recommend adding Croc Encounters to your Tampa exploration tour! read more

Destiny was awesome!!! By far the best thing we did in Tampa. All thanks to her!! So much fun got to see and feed some crocs

My mom and I were pretty on the fence about whether or not we wanted to come here... It ended up being one of the highlights of our vacation! The tours are private and believe me, it's worth the money! Our guide was so fun and informative. He told us a lot about the animals living there, most of them are rescues. You can tell that the people working here really care about the animals and educating the public which is really admirable. We got to hold a baby alligator and they let us hold a snake at my request. We had SO much fun, don't miss out on this opportunity. Thanks to our amazing guide, Skyler! read more

Loved it!! So cool, got to hold a baby gator and our tour guide Daniel was so knowledgeable! Got to feed huge sulcata tortoises. Definitely a trip to remember!! read more

Dan was a great host. Very knowledgeable guy and knew his stuff. My kiddo had a blast feeding and holding the crocs! Good price for a family of three as well! read more

Such a fun and memorable experience. Being from tampa we didn't want to drive far to see some gators so we went on yelp and found this place. Our group leader was Dylan and he was so nice and knew a lot of info and really cool facts. It's a smaller building but they have so much to see and do. We were able to hold a baby gator and feed the turtles. I recommend this place 100% but I suggest calling to make an appointment. We made one the morning of and we were able to bring 5 people with ease. Ask for Dylan! read more

Absolutely great experience! We were hesitant when we pulled in, hate to say it, but it seemed sketchy lol. The experience far exceeded our expectations and overall was amazing. Daniel was the tour guide and he did a great job. He's super knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. I would definitely recommend this experience to any animal enthusiast. read more

This was a wonderful and informative place to learn about many cold blooded reptiles. There was many interactive things that you could do at this location. Over all was fabulous. 5 star for sure. read more

My boyfriend and I flew into Tampa and we did the guided tour just a few hours from landing. I called the day prior and they were very kind enough to schedule last minute. We get there and they have gorgeous parrots to greet you. They are in cages but beautiful nonetheless. You check- in and your tour guide calls for you. Our tour guide, Daniel, was very knowledgeable, answered every question, and did very well with the little ones in our group. This sanctuary has done so much for unwanted reptiles and I would absolutely recommend!! Thank you! read more

The website makes it look like they're only open Saturdays- but they're open everyday and you get a guided tour that includes feeding animals and touching and petting some (-except Saturdays are self guided)MUST DO if you visit Tampa!! We had our 2 and 4 year old and they loved petting different animals, interacting with the birds, seeing the alligators and crocs but their FAVORITE thing to do was go in the tortoise exhibit and be chased around by so many. They got to feed them too which they loved and didn't want to leave. Our tour guide, Dylan was the best! He was in cages and feeding them with his hands like a crazy fool. So glad we came and such a highlight to our trip! read more

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This was amazing!! And you cant beat the price of 99$$ for 3 people!! Tyler our guide was knowledgeable, funny and professional. All the animals are rescued from people or places that didn't take care of them or could no longer care for them. Our guide did the tour despite it pouring rain which only lasted about 20 minutes but the whole tour was around an hour and a half. We got to feed sulcata tortoises and crocodiles and hold a baby crocodile. Even though we have been traveling around through Florida and going to Universal studios, this was the best part of our trip....I definitely recommend anyone and everyone to go here because it is a privately funded sanctuary so every dollar goes to food and habitat and support for these animals that deserve this better life then their previous. read more

If you love gators, this is definitely worth a visit. We did the guided tour vs the self tour and it was worth the extra money. The tour is given by the people that run it and have a passion for this. They let my kids feed the gators and turtles and hold a baby gator and turtle. This is basically a rescue for gators but it's really set up great. They let us watch as they released a gator into one of the pens which was really cool! They also have some other reptiles to see too, but the gators and huge turtles were the coolest. Thanks so much for an awesome tour! read more

The tour guide was great! I went by myself, joining a group of 6. Traffic was at a stand still and they even waited for me which i appreciated! Tour guide was informative and knew alot! Will def do again. Kid friendly as well. read more

Went here yesterday for the tour where the guide feeds the crocodiles and teaches you about the different crocs and gators they have there. It was awesome. I'm so glad we did this. Our guide, Tyler was super awesome. Getting to see them feed was pretty cool, when if some of them were being stubborn or 'but heads' as Tyler would say. Lol. Thanks Tyler and Croc Encounters for a wonderful tour. read more

Not safe for kids nails sticking out railing missing loose boards very dirty some cages were with out water if you go watch your step

Had a great time with the kids. Alligators, turtles, lizards and more. Feeding tortoises was the highlight. Would like more signs and didn't know there was a your. Must see! read more

I'm from Los Angeles, so the only thing I wanted to do in Florida ( other than visit with my family) was See alligators/crocodiles. Our tour guide, Marc, was very knowledgeable and made the experience very personable and fun. If you're in Tampa, we would highly recommend a stop at Croc Encounters! read more

Wow! What a hidden gem! We did a guided tour with Mark that lasted 1.5 hours. So many amazing animals: Crocs, Alligators, Lizards, Turtles, Tortoises, Parrots, Snakes and more! We loved going into the Tortoise enclosure and feeding the dozen plus tortoises climbing around and chasing you for salad - at tortoise speed! LOL! 15 acres of enclosures and growing. We will be back!! read more

What a great place! Tyler was super accommodating and knowledgeable and a fun guide. My favorite part is that all the animals there have been rescued. It's always great to see people love their work. I would definitely recommend Croc Encounters and will be back the next time I'm in the area. read more

I recently had Croc Encounters come to my home for a presentation for my daughter's birthday. What a wonderful experience for us all! Great value for the money and traveled to us. It was informative and absolutely worth this glowing review. I could recommend it any higher. read more

Whomever wrote the review from April, either was blind or was the owner or friend of....we went on a Saturday. Was told it was a $5 fee per person (lady with dark hair was super rude!) We were told it's a self guided tour. Let me say this before continuing, you park on the side of the road, which was scary... it was very trashy and dirty. There were Pepsi cans laying on top of exhibits. No clear markings of what anything was supposed to be. There was nails sticking out of boards (which for a boardwalk was barely held together), extension cords and trash absolutely everywhere! There were power tools and broken generators everywhere too. The crocs were in such filthy habitats. And in the turtle exhibit, there were a ton of turtles for such a small space. As for the baby crocs, again, super crowded for such a small space. There was trash in some of the exhibits that concerned us. When we tried asking questions, like "where do yall get the crocs from?" We were told "people that don't want them or rescues and things like that" it was vague. We wanted to ask more questions, however, the lady with the dark hair was super rude and they seemed to care more about what they were doing than to answer questions for my 8 year old doing his research project...... read more

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We flew into Tampa and had some time to kill before we could check into our hotel so we looked up "things to do with the kids" and came across Croc Encounters. We called and they were able to fit us in (personal tour) within the hour. Truly, when I got there, I was a bit skeptical, due to the construction and not a lot of business, but once John arrived, he explained that this is non-profit and they were updating. John took his time taking us to all the exhibits and explained EVERYTHING to us in great detail. The kids were also in heaven. I would not recommend the self guided path/tour, because just looking at the gators/areas would not do this place justice. John's stories, hands on, patience and time was AMAZING!!! He also fed the gators/crocs in front of us and even let the boys throw in some pieces. I cannot thank him enough!! He spent WAY more than 1 hour with our family. This little hidden gem was one of the highlights of our FL trip. That says a lot considering we also hit up LEGOLAND. WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND FOR ANYONE interested in also getting a GREAT educational experience!! THANK YOU JOHN AND CROC ENCOUNTERS!!!!!!! read more

Awesome! Tons of crocs and other critters, including "Tarzan", the giant croc who was in the original Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller in the 1940's(!). They give tours, kids can hold birthday parties, and these guys do crocodile rescue work all over the country. I paid extra to get my photo taken riding the back of a monster croc!!! (and all money goes to helping the rescue program). read more

Took a group of camp kids and had a horrible experience. The facility could not accommodate our group. I do not understand why they would book a group our size of they could not accommodate it. There was one disgusting porta-pot for all our kids and staff and it was extremely dirty and in the middle of a swamp. They had 6 or 7 6 foot gators in a very small murky pool. And other animals seemed to be in small cages. The little walk way bridges and board walk seemed to be rotting and slippery. And the railing was made of rotted wood. There also seemed to be about 30 turtles in a small bathtub sized pond as well. Overall the worst field trip we took our kids on all summer. I would stick with the aquarium or zoo in the future. This place seems very unsafe and unhealthy for the animals. read more