wildlife safari port clinton

African Safari Wildlife Park

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Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

African Safari Wildlife Park - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024) - Tripadvisor

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Things To Do | Dinosaurs returning to African Safari Wildlife…

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Things to do | dinosaurs returning to african safari wildlife park in port clinton.

More than 20 moving, roaring, life-sized prehistoric creatures are returning to Port Clinton as part of Dinosaur Takeover, returning April 27 to African Safari Wildlife Park , according to a news release.

Highlights include fan favorites like triceratops and stegosaurus, the carnivorous australovenator and allosaurus, and a 40-foot-long tyrannosaurus rex, all scattered throughout the Park’s Walk-Thru Safari, 267 S. Lightner Road in Port Clinton, the release said.

Dinosaur enthusiasts can pose for photos in larger-than-life eggs and pick up an educational scavenger hunt in the Safari Gift Shop, the release said.

As part of the park’s mission to promote an appreciation for all living things, visitors will learn about the conservation challenges faced by today’s wildlife and how the park is helping to prevent extinction in the 21st century, according to the release.

“Dinosaur Takeover was a huge hit last summer and added another level of excitement to the guest experience,” said park director Kelsey Keller in the release. “It’s a real ‘blast from the past.’”

Dinosaur Takeover is included with general admission and runs daily through Labor Day.

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Go Wild at African Safari Wildlife Park

Published March 2021 Get ready for a wild time when you visit the Midwest’s largest drive-thru safari – African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton, Ohio! When was the last time you hand-fed a bison from your car? Or, had a giraffe stick its head through your sunroof? Have you been on a camel ride lately, or had hundreds of budgies land on you and eat directly from your hand? All of these experiences and more are available when you visit this amazing zoological park, open late March through early December. Experiences available may vary by season, but the fun is constant!

Nearly 20 different species of animals are able to be viewed along the drive-thru where you take your personal vehicle. You can see llamas, deer, bison, giraffes, zebras, and more. Admission includes one cup of animal food and additional food, such as carrots and leaf lettuce, is available to purchase (outside food is not permitted in order to keep the animal’s diet consistent). The length of the drive-thru depends on how much you stop and visit with the different animal species – they are a friendly (and hungry!) bunch. Roll down your windows and expect the animals to come right up to your auto – hold out your cup and they will enjoy a tasty snack. Or, scatter some on the ground if you prefer not to hand-feed. Be prepared to have your windows, mirrors, and door licked and rubbed against; it’s all part of the fun! You’ll laugh your way through the safari, while reading about each of the species along the way from the hand-out provided at admission. Admission includes unlimited trips through the drive-thru portion of the park.

The walk-thru safari, which includes white-handed gibbon, porcupine, wallaby, and more, is available during the warmer months, beginning in May. The walking path winds through tree-lined trails and viewable habitats. Photo opportunities abound and visitors delight in viewing these animals outdoors. Animal encounters include camel rides, educational programs, and feeding experiences, among others. The Aviary Adventure allows guests to walk through an enclosure with more than 400 budgies, interacting with and feeding them. Play with domestic pigs in the HogWILD Experience.

Want to experience it all? Purchase the Zoo-It-All Animal Feeding Experience which includes kangaroo, porcupine, tortoise, and rabbit feeding, plus one budgie feeding stick for the Aviary Adventure. The Zoo-It-All pass does not include park admission.

This family fun park also offers a playground, café and dining area, gem mining, and gift shop. African Safari Wildlife Park is open daily from March-December, rain or shine. To maximize your drive-thru experience, the last car is admitted one hour before park closing. Reservations are available for weekends and can be purchased online beginning the Monday prior to the weekend you wish to visit.

Reservations are not available Monday through Friday and are not required for entry. However, African Safari Wildlife Park is a very popular attraction and reservations to guarantee your entry in the event the park reaches capacity for the day. Discounted tickets to African Safari Wildlife Park are sold at the Lake Erie Shores & Islands welcome centers in Sandusky and Port Clinton. Let’s get wild!

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African Safari Wildlife Park

Top ways to experience nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

African Safari Wildlife Park - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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What is there to do at the African Safari Wildlife Park in Ohio? Review

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This past year we explored outdoors in Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island, Ohio for Green Island Week – it was amazing! While we were in town the African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton, Ohio invited us to come and enjoy their attraction – which was just THE BEST! My family had so many giggles and fun memories here – there is so much to do at the African Safari Wildlife Park!

Looking for other things to do in the area? Check out Ohio’s Lake Erie Shores & Islands !

We absolutely LOVE animals and in a past life I used to care for animals in a college biology lab – not to mention the literally 100+ animals we’ve had at our house since we had kids. I was thrilled to see how well cared for the animals were at African Safari Wildlife Park!

All of the animals – straight down to the budgie aviary – had access to food and water at all times, no matter if they were fed by guests or not! All animals had access to shelter and “non human” areas that were roped off for the animals to go if they didn’t want interaction with people.

Exhibits had signs to read and learn more about each animal that we visited – everything was extremely well done! I’m pretty sure my mushy brain will remember the difference between a dromedary camel and a bactrian camel for life now!

Spend 3 minutes with us for some in person highlights during our trip to the park:

Where can I find coupons for the African Safari Wildlife Park?

Being a family of 5 we’re always on the lookout for a good sale or coupon, and the African Safari Wildlife Park coupons are no different! You can look on their coupons page , sign up for their e-mails at the top of their page, keep an eye on their Facebook page , and always check Groupon before you go!

Can I walk through the safari park?

Yes – well some of it! There’s a walk through portion of African Safari Wildlife Park and there’s a drive through section – I highly recommend doing both! When we first began on the walk through area we arrived at the gibbons area – they were SO MUCH FUN!

We visited right when the park opened and these gibbons were swinging all over the place having a blast! I’ve been to zoos and wildlife centers all over the country and never seen gibbons having so much fun!

I recommend starting off walking through the safari park and enjoying that area before doing the drive through area. You can purchase food in the gift shop for animals in the walk through area as well as buying food for the animals in the drive through area.

If you drive through PLEASE for the love drive up to the red pole like the employees will ask you to! They try to get the cars to drive half way through the exhibit and THEN let the animals come there to feed instead of being stuck right at an open gate. Trust me – if you have food – they will come!

What animals are at the African Safari Wildlife Park?

You’ll find red river hogs, sulcata tortoises, warthogs, white-handed gibbons, kangaroo, porcupine, white alligator, alpacas, bactrian camels, bison, bongos, elk, fallow deer, giraffes, zebra, rabbits, budgies, guanaco, llamas, Scottish highlanders, sika deer, white bison and more!

Can I feed the animals at the safari park?

YES! This is the best part! I absolutely LOVE hands on animal encounters and there’s plenty of that here! I recommend checking their website to see all of their current feeding options but at the very least I highly recommend buying some food for the drive through park. You can also buy sticks to feed the budgies, lettuce for the rabbits, and the new Zoo-it-All Animal Experience pass which lets you feed the kangaroo, porcupine, rabbits and tortoises.

Out of all of the budgie encounters I’ve been to across the country this was one of my favorite! It’s the ONLY encounter I’ve ever been in where they had numerous bird feeders AND water out for the birds in addition to the birds truly being very active in flying over to us. I absolutely loved it.

Can I bring my own food to feed the animals at the safari park?

This one is a no-no – even though it sounds like it would be nice! All food that is fed to the animals here has been cleared for the animals’ consumption via stringent regulations.

How much is food for the animals at the African Safari Wildlife Park?

Food is sold in “packages” if you will. For the drive through safari park you can buy food at $15, $30, or $45 amounts. We bought the $30 package for our family which pretty much covered our 3 kids plus a little. There’s also a $14.95 option per person for the walk through park which allows you to feed the kangaroos, porcupine, tortoise, rabbits and budgies. OR you can also buy the budgie food separately!

Will my car get damaged by animals at the safari park?

Wild animals are animals! But seriously, I’ve been to the African Safari Wildlife Park twice now and have not had any damage. I have had plenty of slobber and mud though! I DO however, highly recommend folding your mirrors in before going through the drive through safari! There are BIG animals, some with horns – anything can happen.

My best suggestion is that if you feel uncomfortable at any time just roll up your windows and the animals will soon realize you have no food for them and they will walk on. Also – make sure you hold all food outside of your car so the animals aren’t prone to constantly sticking their heads in!

What ELSE is there to do there?

Yes – the animals of course are the main attraction at the safari park but there’s a lot of other things to see and do! There are educational animal programs during the summer, a playground, camel rides, gem mining, places to eat, and the gift shop. We spent several hours at the park and didn’t even make it to any of the animal programs because we had such a long distance to drive back home. It was a really nice morning!

Animal experiences are very important to me as I raise my children. My kids LOVE animals, they love learning about their habitats, and visiting the African Safari Wildlife Park was a fabulous hands on way for my children to see the animals they learn about up close and personal.

Not only will my kids remember this trip to the safari park for the rest of their lives but it further instills their love for learning, animals and nature!

My youngest daughter especially loved Rabbit Row! It was a lovely little path that you could walk on with oodles of bunnies running around everywhere! It was so fun!

I was also happy to see how especially active the kangaroos were in the morning when we went too! In fact I could barely get a photo of one because they were so busy hopping around!

And perhaps one of my favorite animals in the park are these gentle giants – the giraffes! They’re so sweet!

Overall we had such an awesome day!! I know if we are back in the Port Clinton area my kids will be begging to visit the African Safari Wildlife Park again! It was a fantastic experience, again (I’ve been before but my kids hadn’t!)! If you live near by they even offer an annual pass which would be fun!

If you’re looking to tent camp nearby I recommend Sunset Shore Campground in Port Clinton! There are no showers but it comes with a killer view and private beach front for your tent!

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About Crystal

I'm the product of a family who never travelled and now I can't get enough! Please leave a comment or send me a message with some of your favorite lesser known places to visit - my bucket list in the USA is always expanding! My passion for travel motivated me to drag along my husband and 3 kids until now they are as eager as I am to hit the road! What should we visit near you?

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African Safari Wildlife Park

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

African Safari Wildlife Park - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• Sun - Sat 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• (1.02 km) Holiday Inn Express & Suites Port Clinton-Catawba Island, an IHG Hotel
• (2.39 km) Our Sunset Place
• (1.37 km) Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Port Clinton, OH
• (14.76 km) Getaway Inn at Cooper's Woods
• (1.21 km) Sleep Inn & Suites
• (0.57 km) Toft's Ice Cream Parlor
• (0.92 km) Ciao Bella
• (1.11 km) Casa Las Palmas
• (0.88 km) The 'Que Barbecue & Brew
• (0.58 km) Hong Kong
• (1.51 km) Liberty Aviation Museum
• (0.75 km) Island Adventures Family Fun Center
• (0.89 km) Cheese Haven
• (1.05 km) Ottawa County Visitor's Bureau
• (0.97 km) Bodi N Balance

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Port Clinton's African Safari Wildlife Park nominated as one of best in US. Vote daily.

PORT CLINTON — African Safari Wildlife Park has been nominated as one of the top safari parks in the United States in the USA TODAY 10Best Readers Choice Awards .

Public voting is open through March 4 at bit.ly/bestsafaripark . Readers may vote once per day.

“We’re simply thrilled that 10Best recognizes the incredible experiences our park has to offer, from the Drive-Thru Safari to our unforgettable animal feeding experiences, educational programs and more,” park Director Kelsey Keller said.

The park has more than 400 animals to see.

Interactive wildlife experiences

“Our park has two parts. We have a drive-thru portion, where you drive your vehicle through the park as you go. That is sort of our claim to fame, and that’s what most people recognize us for. As you drive through, you see everything from giraffes, to zebras, to camels and alpaca. It’s a pretty big collection,” Keller said.

The second portion of the park is a walking safari.

“The Walk-Thru Safari also has a lot of animals on display, but we also have interactive animal experiences,” Keller said.

Among the interactive animal encounter options are camel rides and feeding budgies, rabbits, tortoises and giraffes.

“There are also educational animal programs,” Keller said. “They are all part of a hands-on animal experience. We have guests that come for as little as two hours, but we also have guests who spend the whole day.”

Keller said admission allows guests to go through the drive-thru as many times as they like, until 30 minutes before close.

From Memorial Day to Labor Day there are educational animal programs that take place in bleacher-style seating throughout the day, free with admission. Keller pointed out that most zoos charge extra for the educational programs.

2021: African Safari Wildlife Park growing by 22 acres

The park has changed over the years, both in presentation and experiences with the animals.

Keller said that in the 1980s the owners changed to the interactive model, which led to changes like removing the lions.

“We believe that is how you connect with wildlife, when you get to interact with them. We like to make those memories for kids and families to be able to actually get close enough to feed them dinner, or feed a giraffe and make that connection with wildlife,” she said.

African Safari Wildlife Park celebrates its 55th anniversary

“We have been open since 1969, so we are coming up on our 55th season,” Keller said. “We have been a staple in our community for a very long time. We open for the season on March 22, just in time for spring break.”

She recommends the African Safari Wildlife Park as a very reliable option for something fun to do, especially if there is a staycation planned for the holiday.

The longevity of the park has led to having a lot of fans, which Keller credits the park springing into the top 10 of nominees. As of the interview, it was ranked fourth .

“Remember to vote every day!” Keller said.

[email protected]

419-332-2674

This article originally appeared on Port Clinton News Herald: Vote for Port Clinton OH African Safari Wildlife Park in 10Best awards

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