African Safari Wildlife Park

While in Port Clinton, Ohio, we visited African Safari Wildlife Park. It was fun, we saw a lot of animals (mostly deer) and had a good day. I have a few issues with this place, though. First of all, the price. We had 1/2 off admission because we're members at our local zoo, however we still had to pay $26 for three of us. Not horrible admission prices, but if we didn't have 1/2 off, we wouldn't have spent the money on it. Also, they bill a 9 year old as an adult admission (7+ is considered Adult in their book).

By the way, on this and any other post you can click on the photos and they open up into larger images. If you want to see the giraffe drool, you'll have to click on the photo first.

They give you one cup of food with your admission price (no matter how many you have with you I'm assuming) and Captain D's admission included one camel and one pony ride.

The animals were a little too friendly. I don't recommend this without air conditioning in your car. If you don't want an animal coming in with you, you'll have to keep the windows up.

Aidan was more than a little tired at the start of our visit, he got quite scared when the deer swarmed our car.

Got any food?

As I said, there were mostly deer, a few bison/buffalo, reindeer, some zebras in cages, bulls, and some lemurs that were well off the path.

Oh yeah, you're going to need a car wash when you're done. There's one in a local shopping center right up the road, but we didn't have time so I gave Old Faithful a bath the next day, at home.

I forgot to mention the llamas. Or are those alpacas? I don't honestly know the difference.

Another one of my issues with this place: animal care. There weren't many employees in the actual field, though there were several in the gift shop. Those who were in the field were selling you more food, not caring for the animals. They had lots of baby deer, but many of them had been abandoned. They were hot. All of the animals were, because they didn't have shade. I understand a certain amount of encouragement for getting them to visit the cars for food rather than sleep all day...but I also wonder if they were fed by the "zookeepers" at all, or if they starve them to keep the customers entertained.

This baby was caged off, along with another one. I fear worse for the other one though, it was lifeless the whole time we drove by-even through binoculars. They had no mommy deer in with them to nourish them, even if they wanted it. Oh yeah, once again, no large shade either--just the weeds along the fence line that some other babies decided to shelter in. The one below was panting in the heat.

The animal rights activist in me aside, we had fun. Aidan quickly fell asleep while we visited with the herds. They truly do swarm the cars as they go by.

Careful, they spit. We didn't see them do it while there, but we were on alert. Up goes the window...

What a sweet, hairy face.

How often do you get close enough to shoot the whiskers on a giraffe?

Again, "Got any food?"

Careful...

...you might get some drool.

White zebra. I think I read something about it being the only one in America in captivity. Still beautiful, though I feel bad for it.

They let you go around as many times as you want in the day-you can even leave the park and come back (they don't have gas there). We let Captain D sit up front the second time around.

Oh, give me a home...

The bulls were...more than a bit intimidating.

I didn't see any aggressive behavior out of them, though. They're just big. Those horns have to be uncomfortable.

That spotted one bumped our roof with his horn. That was scary. We worried he'd get stuck in our basket sticking out. Luckily he didn't. Warning though, they can break your glass--good luck getting the park to pay for it, and consider the risk it poses to your safety.

"Hair in my Eyes Like a Highland Steer"- Remember the band I dropped before? Corb Lund? Have you done your research? Good.

Towards the end someone woke up. He was in a much more inquisitive mood. He definitely knows how to point!

He reserved a little bit of fear, though.

Look at those teeth. Think he's British? Yuck.

Ahem. "Got any food?"

Checkin' out those giraffes.

That's better.

When he goes back to school, how many other kids can say they rode a camel this summer? That's right. Not many.

Ponies aren't quite as fun. We have those at the zoo and he's never asked to ride them, but hey, it was included in the admission.

As I said, when I stifled the activist in myself we had fun. "African Safari?" Not so much. They had more animals in cages behind the gift shop and pig races, but there were no lions (thank God), elephants, rhinos (thank God again), etc. The kids had fun, but I doubt that I'll be going back. They could do a lot better for those animals without detracting much for their customers. I almost feel guilty paying them as much as I did for admission, knowing how those animals looked.

I'm sure there are other safari parks that do better jobs, though they probably aren't as close to us.

It is pretty cool to be that close to the animals, though. There are many ethical issues about it that I haven't gone into, but I was a contributor so...

I think I'll pay a trip to The Wilds the next time I have a hankering for a safari. They are based on conservation and affiliated with the number one zoo in the country-one I know does well caring for it's animals and those in need around the world.