If you are ever in Central Illinois, this place is worth a visit. It is situated on the grounds that used to be Rockome Gardens. Because of this, there are several beautiful stone statues on the property. There are multiple options for visitors to enjoy – drive-thru, walking safari, or both. When there’s not a pandemic, they also have wagon and foot tours available. We chose to do the walking safari, and we loved it. This one is comparable to the Branson’s Promised Land Zoo, in that it has both drive-thru and walking. What’s great about this one is that you can see most of the drive-thru safari from the walk-thru part, or from the parking lot.
Highlights:
- Drive-Thru Viewing – As mentioned above, you can see many of the drive-thru animals from the walking trail. We got great pictures of the elk, bison, zonkey, and water buffalo without going into the drive thru.
- Hyenas – Hyenas are not commonly found at zoos, so this was fun. Not only did they have multiple, but we saw one very active.
- Petting Zoo – The petting zoo has a feeding opportunity, with feed cups only costing $1. This was a great, as we fed sheep and deer.
Lows:
- Drive-Thru – one of the reasons we elected not to do the drive- thru component was that there was no feeding option. Other drive-thrus, like Port Clinton, OH, and Safari Lake Geneva (Wisconsin) do have a feeding component. It would be nice to offer that.
- Bear exhibit – This exhibit was neat, but it was difficult to see the bear. I wish they could extend the visitor path all the way around the exhibit to increase the chances of seeing the bear.
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