Last weekend I went to San Francisco for a small get away. When planning a trip to such a big city I didn’t expect that the highlight of the trip would be nature-focused. While there I walked through the Golden Gate Park, making my way to the California Academy of Sciences. As you approach you take in the impressive dome shaped building covered by a living green roof interspersed with circular sky-lights. Inside there were many different exhibits, but the two that captured my heart were the tropical rainforest and the marine aquariums – both of which I highly recommend to adults and children alike!
The tropical rainforest ‘room’ is a globe-shaped inner building, spanning three stories tall with a slow sloping walk-way all around the side. This humid space was designed to highlight the different levels of a rainforest starting with the undergrowth layer, working through the understory, and all the way to the upper canopy. Each level was dotted with well camouflaged insects and lizards like leaf insects and leaf-tailed geckos for the keen eyed, and the top canopy was filled with colourful butterflies. At the top was also an elevator that brings you down all the way beneath the rainforest globe into the basement aquarium.
The aquarium was massive, taking up the entire basement area of the whole building with sections dedicated to different regions and species, including a ‘toxic’ room with only poisonous species on display. My favourite part of the aquarium was the Pacific coastal region, which dazzled me by how many exotic and amazing looking creatures live right here in BC. Red spiny sea cucumbers, humongous fish, and neon bright nudibranchs kept me in awe for hours. While walking around I also got to enjoy all the kids’ gasps and statements of wonder and share in moments of agreement with them around the leafy seadragon display: “yes, this is so cool!”. If you’re ever in San Francisco make sure to stop in here.