duke lemur center

We took one of our Cub Scout dens to the Duke Lemur center last summer as part of their working on a STEM based award. Our visit to the Lemur center was interesting, engaging and well organized. The staff seemed engaged and did a great job with keeping the kids interested. The facilities are clean and very modern. I highly recommend a visit to the Duke Lemur Center.

Plan on spending the day. Tours are great as is just walking around on your own. If you've never seen Lemurs before, you're in for a treat :)

You need to plan ahead and make an appointment but it is well worth it. Interesting story on how this place came to be. If I remember correctly, there are more Lemurs here than in Madagascar where their habitat has declined dramatically.

We took a 10:30 tour and it was cold out - there was ice on the path - so the Lemurs were all inside. We did get to see most of them inside but some of the views were so-so since its through a door and down an aisle way. I found the ringtails curious and actually played a bit of hide and seek with a couple of them.The nocturnal ones were visible also because they have their habitats set to "Madagascar Time" So it dark in their areas during our day time. We did not get to see the mouse ones. They just did not want to come out and be seen.You do not get to "pet" a Lemur just in case you were hoping you could - its bad for the Lemurs. They can catch diseases from us.Though in peak times you may need to book ahead a few weeks, it was a last minute choice for us and there was spots open during our winter weekday visit. It was worth the $25 for the two of us.

We did the lemurs live tour. Very informative and interesting. Make sure you visit when it's above 41 degrees you will be able to see them much better. Cute and curious creatures.

Wonderful experience! The place is clean and well-kept. The staff are very knowledgeable and provide a wonderful educational tour.

You need to plan ahead most of the time to get tickets. But once you're in, it's a fascinating tour. You get to see lots of different lemurs with all kinds of personalities. The tour guides are quite knowledgeable and keep things moving at a pace that keeps everybody engaged.

We had wanted to visit the Duke Lemur Center for quite a while. We found an offer on Groupon for tour tickets, made our reservations, which you should make via phone well in advance of your desired tour date, since they book up early. There are multiple types of tours offered, and some can be quite pricey. However, we chose the 90-minute "Lemurs Live" tour ($12 per person or $16 for 2 via Groupon) on a recent fall Sunday morning. Our guide was quite good, stopping to tell interesting stories about the lemurs. He gave us plenty of time to look through the double cages both inside and outside at the lemurs. I was surprised by how many different species there are. Prior to seeing the lemurs, we watched an entertaining video in the tour office which gave us nice background and understanding about these rare primates. They're neither monkeys nor apes. It was fascinating to watch them hang upside down and leap across tree branches. We also visited the noctural house where the guide raised the shades on several exhibits so we could observe the lemurs without disrupting them with too much light.This is quite a conservation effort, and you'll learn quite a bit about some of hte current research projects and efforts to keep these species from becoming extinct.

The volunteer led tour was really informative. The guide knew lots of interesting facts that really made the trip worthwhile. We visited in the fall, so the lemurs were in the indoor facilities. This wasn't bad, though- since the lemurs were still really active (and vocal at times). We definitely want to go back during the summer so we can see them outside! This is great for all ages- I took my parents and they loved it; there were also toddlers who had a good time too.

Well worth a trip to see the animals and the work that Duke are doing for conservation. I think visiting when the animals are outside would be a better experience.

My son and I loved this tour. The lemurs are so interesting to see and the tour guide taught us some interesting stuff!

Located a couple of miles from Duke's West Campus, the Lemur Center is a research facility that allows public tours. You do need to make a reservation and you have to stay with the guide the entire time. We visited on a day where there was alternate sunshine and pouring rain, but still had a great time. Our guide, George, was knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The lemurs are really cute and you learn a lot about them on the tour. We were there at feeding time, so were able to see quite a lot of activity from the various inside viewing rooms. Photos and video without flash are allowed. We'll definitely return on a nicer weather day.

As others said, it's rather educational. And the most important part, lemurs are so adorable. Just one thing, don't go there in cold weathers. When it's cold, you are not likely to see lemurs outside.

My husband and I very much enjoyed our tour of the Lemur Center. Our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. Most of the tour is outside, so consider the weather. We only wished we had remember bug spray. I highly recommend visiting the Lemur Center for any age!

These little creatures are fascinationg, so my wife and I decided to take a tour of the center. The tour started with a video presentation that was entertaining and informative. The we met our tour guide, who was energetic, enthusiastic, friendly, knowledgeable and and intelligent. She (Cathy?) was simply terrific and made the tour very special. We thought we knew about lemurs. Now we do; before the tour ... not so much. We first toured a building set up for nocturnal creatures then walked around outside, visiting a wide variety of types of lemurs. In each and every case, Cathy knew each of their names and gave us their personal history. She loves her work and it shows. Thanks!