Last week the girls and I went on a little over night trip to Put-In-Bay with my parents and I thought they would have a blast checking out the African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton, Ohio on our way home.  There is so much to do at the African Safari Wildlife Park including a drive-thru safari, walk-thru safari, pig races, educational shows and so much more.

We arrived soon after the park had opened and so we decided to do the drive-thru safari first with the thought that the animals would be very active in the morning since it wasn’t too hot out yet and they hadn’t received too many visitors yet, hehe.  And we were definitely right.  On the drive-thru safari you take your own car through the exhibit and I want to mention that the African Safari Wildlife Park is not responsible for any damages that make occur to your vehicle as you can see on the sign that is posted before you even enter the park.  We took our Ford Escape through and had absolutely no problems though…. well besides animal drool and food all over the place – but that was to be expected.  Oh and speaking of food you can purchase a cup of grain and carrots to feed the animals if you would like… which the animals will much appreciate, but you can not bring outside food in.  Also while feeding the animals you are to hold the cup out with the food in it and allow the animal to eat.  You can not hand feed or throw the food.  Once we were ready we headed out to see the animals and gosh there were lots including alpaca, bison, bongo, camel, deer, giraffe, guanaco, kudu, llama, nyala, scottish highlander, and zebra!

While riding through the safari my mom squeezed in between the girls while my dad and I occupied the front seats… she was a bit squished but still had a great time.  And it was definitely a good thing because while Alleigh loved seeing all the animals up close Kaelyn would spaz out if her window was down at all…. as you can see, poor Kaelyn, hehe.

   Now both girls loved watching all the animals come up to their pap and momma’s windows to watch us feed them…. especially the BIG animals.
Yes, that is a bison with his head in my car.  These guy are HUGE and can weigh over 2,000 pounds.  Check out how he compares to a mini van…

My shocked expression in this picture is quite funny…. but whatcha need to know is this is a Scottish Highlander which can weigh up to 2,200 pounds.  And those horns stretched about 10 feet wide!  Thank goodness he couldn’t get those in the car too, hehe.  He did enjoy licking my belly though, hehe.

We saw lots more animals…. the giraffes enjoyed reaching straight down through the sunroof to eat carrots and grain.  And all the other animals were absolutely adorable too.  It was so much fun to see them up close!

Oh and don’t worry about all that animal food and what not that will inevitably be all over the floor and seats of your car.  When we pulled out of the drive-thru safari we came across some car vacuums and for $1 you can clean your car out.  So no freaking out about animal drool and crumbs while you are having fun!

Once we were finished with the drive-thru safari we headed over to the walk-thru safari which is more like a zoo type setting.  All of these animals are in cages and you can not touch or feed them.  You will see galapagos tortoise, gibbons, ocelot, warthog, and even a rare white alligator.  All of these animals had very large cages and Kaelyn liked them much better than the animals that had approachd her window, hehe.  They were all shaded very nicely too which was great.

In addition the walk-thru safari there was also a nice playground area for the little ones to enjoy and camel rides!  The first camel ride was free and additional rides were $5 each.  I wish I coulda convinced my girls to go on a camel ride, but  no such luck….

They did, however, thoroughly enjoy the pig races and educational animal shows.  At the animal show they were able to touch a few different animals and even saw a 6’ Burmese Python which they could have petted and gotten their picture taken with, but we all passed on that, hehe.  I loved how they were not only getting to see and touch the animals, but were also learning new things.

Before leaving we had to check out the gift shop which was really big and full of tons of great items to remember our visit by… I of course had to get my normal fridge magnet.  Plus if you get hungry while visiting there are quite a few options to tame your hunger including the Ice Cream Shop, Safari Grill, and Mombasa Café Snack Bar.  And there is a really nice deck area with plenty of shading to enjoy your lunch.

I must say we definitely enjoyed our afternoon at the African Safari Wildlife Park and would love to visit again!  If you are interested in visiting you will find all the information you need below plus discount codes just for my readers!

AFRICAN SAFARI WILDLIFE PARK
267 S. Lightner Road, Port Clinton OH 43452
(419) 732-3606

Discount Codes:
$41.95 (6 people) carload price  – code 82361
$5.00 off Regular Admission – code 82362
$3.00 off Child Admission – code 82363

And guess what?  You can enter below for a chance to win one of two V.I.P. Car Pass’s good for a maximum of 6 guests each!  Please be sure you live in or within traveling distance of Port Clinton, Ohio so that you will be able to use the tickets before entering – they are valid through the 2012 season.  Just fill out the Rafflecopter entry form below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway