Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens

The small 12-acre zoo is dubbed to be the only zoo located inside a rainforest in the entire United States. The small zoo located in Hilo, Hawaii only has about 60 species of animals on display and more than 40 different species of flowers, plants and trees in the area.

As a rainforest zoo, everything that can be found in the Panaewa Zoo – or the Hilo Zoo – is tropical. Its most famous resident is a white Bengal tiger named Namaste who was born in Las Vegas in 1998 and was sent to Hilo in 1999. Namaste was planned to be bought from Dirk Arthur but Arthur decided to donate it after seeing the tiger’s 1-acre enclosure. Namaste died on January 16, 2014.

Other species that can be found in the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo include giant anteasters, parrots and axis deer. The best time to visit the zoo is around 2:30 to 3:30 in the afternoon when the petting zoo comes in full swing.