Drive Thru Safari Parks are a zoo alternative offered selectively around the country. These are most popular in the Western part of the country. In both 2018 and 2019, seven of the top ten parks in the “Best Safari Parks” category of the USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards came from Nebraska or further west. However, there are several such parks in the Midwest. African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton, OH has been around for years, surviving a fire in 2019. In 2020, Safari Lake Geneva in Lake Geneva, WI, altered their business model to become a drive-thru park due to social distancing requirements. Although it may appear as a “David vs Goliath” of an experienced veteran park against a rookie newcomer, we wanted to highlight these parks and give you reasons to visit each in this Drive Thru Safari Comparison.
Size: The African Safari Wildlife Park (ASWP) is a long, dusty path that winds around for a while. You weave through different sections separated by gates to keep certain animals apart. This method makes it pretty clear when you’re leaving one “habitat” and entering another. Toward the end of the loop, some animals are section off on the side by themselves, like the camels and giraffes. Safari Lake Geneva (SLG) was originally a park for the animals, with guided tours. Having not been built to be a drive thru park, the staff is still working on improving the paths, which currently are large, flattened stones. Both parks allow for unlimited loops. Advantage: African Safari Wildlife Park
Indoor Exhibits: Both of these facilities are outdoor parks, and don’t have any indoor attractions. However, the ASWP does have a “walk-thru” portion of the zoo where you can see several animals. Although this doesn’t count as indoor exhibits to see during the rain, the nature of a drive-thru safari is that rain isn’t as big of a hindrance. SLG also doesn’t have any indoor buildings. Advantage: N/A
Animal Interactions: Typically this section is devoted to specific animal feedings, or ways to interact with animals that are specific to that zoo. Animal feedings are the main premise here in the Drive Thru Safari Comparison, so to separate the two is a bit tricky. ASWP has a lot of animals. Upon entrance you’re swarmed by deer and llamas. As you move further along, you can feed camels, steer, bison, elk, and giraffe. Giraffe and elk are the differentiators here, as they are not found at the other park. At SLG, you can feed alpacas, bison, camels, emu, llamas, niglai, ostrich, water buffalo, watusi, and zebu. Advantage: African Safari Park
Habitats: Neither park is going to compete with traditional zoos in this category. The nature of the park is to have open land with animals roaming free. Because of this, you really don’t have staged habitats. ASWP’s best example of a habitat is the watering hole. The elk were grazing in there on our visit. There’s an island by the watering hole where the lemurs live. Outside of that, most animals roam free, with the exception of giraffe and camels which are kept separately. At SLG, the setup is a plot of land where the animals roam together. There is a small thicket in the middle, where several species enjoyed getting out of the sun for a bit. The yak are separated by themselves at the end of the loop. Advantage: African Safari Wildlife Park
Wow Factor: Unfortunately, I wouldn’t say ASWP has much of a wow factor. It’s a long driveway with a small entrance. Upon entering, it’s a dusty field with animals on the other side of a gate. SLG’s wow factor I suppose is that on the drive up, the yak are visible from the roam, and potentially the bison. Once in the park there isn’t necessarily a main attraction at either park. Advantage: Safari Lake Geneva
Price: The African Safari Park has summer pricing of $23.95 for adults and $15.95 for kids. However, they are currently honoring their Spring/Fall prices, which are $17.95 for adults, and $11.95 for kids, due to the fact that their walk-through area is not open due to social distancing precautions for the pandemic. ASWP is also an AZA reciprocal member, so members at reciprocal zoos get 50% off. Safari Lake Geneva is $18.95 for adults, and $11.95 for kids. For an equal cost comparison, we have to take the ASWP’s Spring/Fall costs, as that allows for a drive-thru only comparison. Also, it’s worth mentioning that the loop at ASWP is probably 2-3x as long as that at SLG. Advantage: African Safari Wildlife Park
Overall: We have to lean toward the experienced park in this shown, giving the victory to the African Safari Wildlife Park by a score of 4-1 in our Drive Thru Safari Comparison. I do still want to give Jungle Jay Christy, owner of Safari Lake Geneva, major credit for adapting their business on the fly due to the pandemic. They’ve pulled off an amazingly quick turnaround to make their business successful, and satisfy a lot of families. However, AWSP also should be heralded for their perseverance to recover from a fire last fall, and now the pandemic. We visited in the Summer of 2019 in a stretch of 10 zoos in 10 days, and this park was still one of the highlights, despite its unique format. Both offer a different way to appreciate animals.
Thanks for reading our Drive Thru Safari Comparison.
**If you’ve read our Zoo vs Zoo articles in the past, you’d know that we usually evaluate on eight different categories. In addition to not scoring for indoor exhibits, we eliminated the “Kids Play Area” and “Shows” sections, due to the nature of this comparison.
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