Wedding & Event Venue near Saluda, SC

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Visitors to one of the Midlands’ main attractions will soon have a new view on a familiar location.

Riverbanks Zoo on Thursday showed off the first of the gondolas that will whisk visitors across the Saluda River as soon as later this summer, the capstone of an ongoing project to develop its riverside amenities.

Nineteen of the aerial craft arrived in South Carolina from Switzerland just last week. Within the next few weeks the zoo will stretch a cable over the river between two platforms currently under construction in the rear of the zoo and the botanical garden on the opposite bank.

The aerial gondolas can seat eight people, with retractable seating that can make space for wheelchairs or children’s strollers. Riding them will require a yet-to-be determined fee, with a tiered amount for zoo members. But one purchase will allow visitors to ride throughout the day. The Skyride will run during the zoo’s hours of operation from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

“We were able to do a lot of customization” to meet guests’ expected needs, said Riverbanks chief operating officer Lochlan Wooten, as one sat just inside the zoo entrance Thursday, beside a sign touting the projected fall opening of the Saluda Skyride. “They’re Riverbanks blue, and we’re going to add our logo on there.”

Once up and running, they will provide a quick way for visitors to zip from one side of the river to the other. Zoo officials said one of the 19 gondolas will come through every 20 seconds to pick up passengers for a journey of a little over two minutes across a width of more than five football fields.

Once the cable cars are up and running, Riverbanks estimates that between 1,500 and 1,600 people will be transported across the river every hour. The zoo claims an annual attendance in excess of 1 million, which breaks down to a daily average of more than 2,700.

“We’re hoping to get them on the cable by April 1,” Wooten said, although the earliest Riverbanks expects customers might be able to ride one of the gondolas is July.

The installation of the gondolas continues the zoo’s ongoing multimillion-dollar Bridge to the Wild improvement and expansion program, which has added new exhibits and is set to also bring a planned primate habitat and a dining facility on the banks of the Saluda along with a redevelopment of both the zoo and garden sides of the river.

The zoo previously completed the $32 million, privately funded, first phase of the Bridge to the Wilde upgrades, including returning black rhinos to the zoo for the first time in three decades, along with renovations to Riverbanks’ aquarium and reptile center that reopened last year, and other infrastructure work. The second phase is drawing funding from an $80 million bond from Richland and Lexington counties, with those two local governments kicking in $44.8 million and $35.2 million, respectively.

The Skyride is meant to make it quicker and easier for visitors to get around Riverbanks while also offering a new view on the attraction. Wooten said only a small number of visitors enter the park through the botanical garden in West Columbia because of limited parking compared to the zoo side right off of Interstate 126.

The zoo and garden are currently connected by a trail and bridge, with tram service available.

“It solves a transportation issue for us and allows us to maintain connectivity, so it’s important to get it off the ground,” Wooten said.

This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 5:00 AM.

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