Ardastra Gardens From the Nassau Cruise Port

Ardastra Gardens is off West Bay Street, an eight-minute drive or a 35-minute walk from Nassau Cruise Port, close enough to fit into a few hours ashore. It's the only zoo and wildlife conservation centre the directory lists in the Bahamas, and its marching flamingo show, timed three times a day, is worth building your port stop around.

What not to miss

Featured location Ardastra Gardens, Zoo and Conservation Centre Nassau, The Bahamas The name comes from Latin, meaning striving for the stars. The government imported flamingos in the 1950s to breed them after they had become scarce locally, and Norman Solomon bought the gardens in 1982, starting the country's first zoo there. It now holds about 200 animals and is chiefly known for its flamingos.

Ardastra was founded in 1937 by Jamaican horticulturist Hedley Edwards, who named it from Latin words meaning "striving towards the stars" after his vision of a "utopia of peace, beauty and tranquility." Norman Solomon bought the gardens in 1980 and built the collection into a boutique zoo centred on wildlife and conservation education. In 2019 the facility rebranded from a zoo to a wildlife conservation centre once rescue and rehabilitation cases came to make up more than 75% of its animal population, and it now describes itself as the only wildlife conservation centre in the Bahamas.

The centrepiece is still the flamingo. Caribbean flamingos, the Bahamas' national bird, were brought here from Inagua in the 1950s, after which Edwards developed a breeding programme for them; by the late 1950s the wild population had fallen to around 5,000 birds. Decades on, the flock has been trained to march for visitors, a show that runs three times a day and is built into the daily schedule alongside keeper talks. Environmental work started in 2022, including vegetation clearing and better water quality and diet, produced the first rise in nest-building in five to six years.

Ardastra Gardens & Wildlife Centre depends on philanthropic support from the public to meet its operating needs and to fulfill its educational and conserving missions.

Beyond the flamingos, over 135 animals live on the four-acre site, and the Interactive Tortoise Experience runs daily at 11:30am for a $7 add-on, letting you feed, pet and groom the tortoises during a keeper talk.

Getting there

From downtown Nassau, near the cruise berths, a car or taxi heads west on Bay Street for about a mile, turns left on Chippingham Road, then right at the curve to reach the gate. Without a car, any westbound bus from across the Hilton Hotel makes the same corner stop; get off at Chippingham Road and West Bay Street, then walk up and turn right. If you're coming from Paradise Island instead, the same corner off West Bay Street and Chippingham Road is where you're headed.

When you arrive

Wheelchairs can be rented on site for $10 a day. Every visitor, regardless of age, must sign a waiver form before entering the property, so budget a few extra minutes at the gate on a tight schedule.

Tickets and saving money

As of September 2026, non-resident adults pay $35 and non-resident children aged 4-12 pay $25, both inclusive of VAT; Bahamian residents pay $18 for adults and $10 for children in the same age band. Children aged 3 and under, and members, are admitted free.

The gardens open at 9:30am and close at 4pm, seven days a week, with only Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day closed. The flamingo show runs at 11am, 1:30pm and 3pm, keeper talks are at 10:30am and 2pm, and a rabbit feeding experience runs at 2:30pm. Last entry is 3pm, an hour before closing, so a ship that sails mid-afternoon still leaves room for a full visit if you arrive by early afternoon.