is a wild animal park in Port Clinton, Ohio that houses over 200 species of exotic animals from the world over. Established in 1968 by Jack Hanna, he has since retired but continues to serve as an emeritus director on the board of the park.
First off, you have to drive right through Jeff Lowe’s Animal Preserve to get to African Safari Wildlife Park which is just as much fun as the park itself.
The sign out front says it all: “Warning! Wild Animals May Bite or Stomp on Unsuspecting Visitors.”
What I really like about this place is they have a lot of low fence areas that give you almost face to face encounters with the animals.
It’s not all just caged enclosures here – so being an animal lover, I find it very exciting to see these creatures in their natural habitat rather than in cages.
Table of Contents
Useful Information
Walk-Thru Safari
With a walk-thru tour, you get to see the most exotic of animals. And they’re all in display areas that are open and spacious so your view is unobstructed by fencing or caging.
Daily Tickets
Daily admission is here and includes the walk-thru tour as well as all shows and exhibits (except those shows involving animals such as horse or dog shows).
Gift Shop
The gift shop here is pretty much your standard souvenir stand. Nothing out of the ordinary but they do offer some nice items.
Drive-Thru Safari
Okay, so animals aren’t really in the safari but it’s not just a regular highway either.
This drive-thru is basically an unenclosed path through an open preserve where you get to see your favorite animals roaming free and doing what they do best… be wild and free.
It’s pretty awesome and I love how you can see the animals up close and personal. And they even have some areas that you can stop and feed them as well… if you’re willing to take a chance with your life.
Animal Encounters
You can also do Animal Encounters where you get to play with animals like kangaroos, gorillas and even an elephant.
Or if you’re willing to pay extra (and I highly recommend it), they have the Behind-the-Scenes Encounter where you actually get to interact with many of the animals in their habitats. And when I say interact, I mean you get to pet them, hand-feed them and even play with the babies. It’s really an amazing experience that you can’t get at home or anywhere else for that matter.
Hours of Operation
You can find it here.
How long does it take to go through African Safari Wildlife Park?
As long as you want I suppose.
Their basic tour is about 3 hours so if your schedule is tight, try to keep it shorter than that. But there are lots of nice photo opportunities here so be sure to take advantage of them!
How much does it cost to get into African Safari Wildlife Park?
Here you can find the prices.
Can you drive your own car through the wilds?
Yes, you can drive your own car through the wilds. But if it’s a rental, I wouldn’t recommend it because there are no insurance policies that cover this kind of thing and chances are you probably won’t get anything out of your contract for an accident involving animals either. So unless you want to take a chance on that, I’d recommend against it.
How far is African safari from Cedar Point?
It’s a good little drive from Cedar Point.
41 miles by the way they measure things in Ohio. If you’re into that kind of thing, then you can see it mapped out here .
How much does it cost to go on a safari?
As I mentioned earlier, their basic tour is about 3 hours long.
What is African safari?
African Safari Wildlife Park is a drive-thru safari that lets you into the wild all in one day!
