Zoo Miami is home to several popular exhibits, including 3,000 animals of over 500 different species and over 1,000 types of plant life.

A fan-favorite exhibit of Zoo Miami is the monorail, nicknamed the “Zoofari,” which, due to management difficulties, is unfortunately ceasing operations after nearly four decades.

“The original manufacturer went out of business and replacement parts became unavailable and it became cost-prohibitive to maintain the trains in safe running condition, causing the difficult decision to be made to permanently decommission the system,” Zoo Miami Transportation Manager Henry Gomez said.

The monorail first opened in 1982 with three trains that offered transportation along a 2.2-mile track that leads throughout the zoo. Zoo Miami added two additional trains in 1987 after the World Fair in New Orleans.

A favorite for many Zoo Miami attendees, the monorail allowed guests to access a quick ride across the park. Especially during the hot Miami summers, zoo visitors enjoyed riding in the shade, cooling down and enjoying the view from inside the air-conditioned monorail.

Although the Zoo Miami monorail is no longer available, there are alternative ways to travel along the four-mile trail, including via public trams that run six times a day, cycle rentals and special VIP golf carts, which one can book by making a reservation on Zoo Miami’s website.

At the moment, there are currently no plans to add another type of transportation.

“There is no plan to have the system replaced with another form of mass transportation. We will acquire more trams and eventually introduce a new transportation route,” Gomez said.

The monorail decommissioning is scheduled to begin later this year.