On our way home from Virginia last weekend, we stopped at Virginia Safari Park. This place was new to me. I’ve driven past it probably a hundred times and never knew it existed, but when we stopped in Lexington (on our way to Virginia), the folks in the Visitor’s Center shared this with us an an option for things to do in the area, and my kids jumped at the chance to see wild animals up close and personal. They were determined to go and wouldn’t take no for an answer. My husband and I were a bit hesitant, but after reading a few reviews online, we decided that there wasn’t much chance we’d get our heads bitten off so we agreed to stop in on our way home.
Safari Park is pretty much a drive-thru zoo. Animals roam freely on the 180-acre property, and you drive through on a 3-mile paved loop and feed them out your window. This was the scene that greeted us as we emerged from the ticket booth:
I am serious!!!! We were laughing so hard. At first the kids were afraid to roll down their windows so mama had to show ’em how it’s done.
Soon the kids decided to get in on the fun.
This guy right here… He was a pistol.
He was happy to eat my food.
Then before I could blink, he STOLE my bucket.
It was hard to get good pictures. This girl had the right idea.
They have bison, llama, camels, pigs, deer, emu, ostrich, elk, giraffes, antelope, oryx, wildebeest, buffalo, yak, cattle, watusi, pigs, zebras, rhinos, kangaroos, peacocks and monkeys.
Not all are in the drive-thru area. There is a separate village walk-through for certain animals including the giraffes. Don’t skip that part. The giraffes walk right up to you.
You can feed them too, but rather than buckets, you feed them right out of your hands. R really wanted to do it, but the second the giraffe’s wet tongue touched her hand, she squealed and dropped the food, much to the dismay of the unfortunate giraffe. I got a great shot.
Hilarious.
One of the highlights of the excursion was seeing a mama kangaroo with a joey in her pouch. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.
There was even an aviary where you could walk though and the birds would land on a stick you hold out to them. I don’t do birds *shudder* so I waited outside.
The kid had a BLAST. This was the coolest thing we’ve done in ages. Yeah, I had to wash my car, and I still need to vacuum out the animal food, but it was so fun to get that close to animals that we usually only see behind large fences at the zoo.
If you’re ever on your way down I-81 through the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains and want a place to stop for a half-day family adventure, I highly recommend Virginia Safari Park or one of their reciprocal zoos, Gulf Breeze Zoo in Florida and the Reston Zoo in Vienna, Virginia.
We paid for our tickets, and this post is not sponsored in any way, not that there’s anything wrong with that . . .
(Funny how I now feel the need to provide disclosure even when there is nothing to disclose. HA!)
HA!! We’ve done that before & our bucket was stolen as well!! I swear, I thought some of them were going to get in our SUV with us. Fun for sure (and maybe just a *tad* bit overwhelming LOL). Glad y’all enjoyed it!
We have something similar to that here in northern Ohio. You’re brave to drive through the animals!
Fun! We have been to something like that here in Washington and the kids loved it! We had a bison stick his entire head inside the window, which was a little scary. Glad you had fun!
hahah you’re braver than I am! I may have fed them but I would have been terrified the entire time! I got spit on once by a camel and it was sooooo gross.
This looks like so much fun! My kids would love this. Thanks for sharing your fun family adventures!
We have something similar to that here. I love the camel. He is so friendly and tries to nuzzle up to you 🙂
I giggled at the nothing to disclose, disclosure 🙂
ACK I don’t do birds either.
WHAT A GREAT TIME OVERALL!!!
My husband and I went here today on the way from Williamsburg to Blacksburg…thanks for the tip! It was HILARIOUS! We got 4 buckets of food and one got stolen from me first then my husband got one of his stolen, too. Those llamas were greedy things! We got 2 huge elk with massive antlers to come up to the window – they were so gentle. My hubby is a big animal lover, so he was having the time of his life. 🙂