Double Trouble, Twice: Atlanta to Chattanooga
Great Hammerhead Shark - Georgia Aquarium
2026 is off to a strong start when it comes to trips! I always get bad cabin fever over the winter, so the 1st trip of the year is one of the things I look forward to most. This February I traveled down to Atlanta to hang with some old college buddies and we made it to 4 zoological sites and 1 wildlife location in 2 days!
As soon as I flew into Atlanta, we went to right to Zoo Atlanta! Its been several years since I last visited, and besides the loss of the Giant Pandas, the zoo was just as impressive as ever! The new lion habitat was a good improvement, and its always a pleasure getting the chance to see Sun Bears again. After that we went to the world famous Georgia Aquarium! Not only to see the incredible collection of marine life on display, but also because one of my buddies was able to put his Scuba certification to good use in the Ocean Voyager tank alongside the mighty Whale Shark Yushan! It was great to revisit this amazing facility and really appreciate the amount of work that goes into managing so many aquatic habitats.
After a good nights rest, we decided to make a mission to visit the Chattanooga Zoo/Tennessee Aquarium! Both of these were new sites for me, always fun to add some new ones to the list! The Chattanooga Zoo was on the smaller side, but still had a good variety of wildlife on display. The real standout of this zoo was seeing 4 species of active cats, including some wrestling Jaguar brothers! Then it was off to the Tennessee Aquarium! This may be one of the most overlooked aquariums in the whole country! Two buildings filled with amazing aquariums, and what is certainly the best freshwater habitats I have ever seen. Any aquarium that has to follow up Georgia Aquarium is in for a tough time, but Tennessee Aquarium takes the spot as my fourth favorite so far! Finally we ended the day up at Dickson Creek Falls, high up in the mountains looking for salamanders. We were pretty lucky and found 5 Northern Slimy Salamanders within the roughly hour and a half we had before I had to go back to the airport in Atlanta! Overall it was a great time, and I couldn’t think of a better way to start off the 2026 season!
