Want to take a ride on the wild side? You can do so at Lion Country Safari in West Palm Beach, Florida.
I took a group of Youths to Lion Country Safari and we had a blast.
Have you ever seen those movies or videos of people driving in the Savannahs in Africa and the animals running along side them or away from the vehicles in their herds. Well you don’t have to go to Africa to have that experience. Lion country is a real life Safari, that you can drive through and get a close up view of the animals. But that is not all that you can do there, there is a lot more.
If planning a trip to Lion Country Safari, there is enough to do to take up a whole day. Your kids will love it.
On our trip we drove up to the ticket booth, paid for our group and then drove into the Safari. At the ticket booth we were given a CD to listen to while we drove through the Safari as well as pamphlets that had pictures of the animals and their names and a map of the park.
As we approached the entrance to the drive-thru there was a sign telling us to insert the CD. The CD is basically a narrative that tells you about each animal that you see as you drive through. The drive-thru is divided into different sections and the CD also introduces each section and continues to talk about the animals and their backgrounds.
As we drove through we were able to see;
- Ostriches
- Alpacas
- Lions
- Water Buffaloes
- Zebras
- Giraffes
- And much more.
While passing the Asiatic Water Buffaloes we were able to pull over and experience one of them giving birth. We spotted it when we saw her standing and “stuff” started coming out her rear end, the buffalo then laid down and look like she was pushing because the stomach started going up and down and next thing we saw was a head pushing up. It was the baby, trying to stand up already and it just came out, but each time it tried standing up it kept falling back to the ground. The kids all loved it and other cars were pulled over behind us to observe this amazing event.
What was even more interesting to me was how one by one the other buffaloes started gathering around the mother, as if they were all showing their support. Wow! as one of the other group leaders said “even the animals”.
The drive through took us about a hour and a half, this included time to pull over and observe different animals because we chose to, for photos, just to see there tricks that they were doing at the moments, or to wait until one of them crosses the street. While driving you are only allowed to drive at a speed of about 8 mph, and windows and doors should be closed at all times.
The lions are fenced off so nothing to worry about. They won’t be able to jump out at anyone, plus when we were driving they were fast asleep.
As we passed by the chimpanzees we couldn’t help but pull over to watch them do their tricks, like climbing down a ladder or swing from one home to the next on ropes.
Later on towards the end of the drive-thru we were able to see the humongous rhinos and while they were close to the vehicle, they did not mess with us or with any of the vehicles driving by. We were also able to stop and observe the Giraffes and Zebras. The zebras and rhinos dine together under the same shed. I think I was most excited to see the zebras. A lot of these animals I have never seen in real life and maybe you haven’t either.
While our van was passing, zebras stopped in the road, giraffes crossed the street, walked side ways and stared at us. This is something that you should try and experience atleast once.
After we were finished with the drive-thru our group went to eat at the picnic area located in the park. You are allowed to bring your own food or you can also buy food from the restaurant and snack shops located on the property.
Once everyone was filled up, we went to the nature walk, then we headed over by the lake.
As I mentioned before there is a lot more to do at Lion Country Safari than the drive-thru safari. Things such as;
- Paddle Boating
- Kids and Parents Riding the Flying Elephant (Bulwagi Ride)
- Merry-go-Round
- Going on a boat tour of the lake
- Mini-Golf
- Water Play areas
- Walk-Through – This is where you can walk, view, and pet the animals.
- Find your way through the maze.
Once we were over by the lake the youths wanted to ride the flying elephant aka bulwagi ride. After they were done with that, they wanted to ride the merry-go-round and of course myself wanted to enjoy the up and down motion of the merry-go-round so I hopped onto one of those fake horses.
After we were finished with that, we took turns going on the paddle boats, this is where you can have up to 4 people on a ride and the 2 in the front uses there foot to pedal and one person uses the shift to stare into the direction you want to go. None of us opted to go on the boat tour, to me it was more for folks who may not have wanted to go on the paddle boats.
The kids went off to play mini-golf and after that we went to do the thing they wanted to do the most. Go on the waterslides.
We spent the rest of the day at the water areas. I say areas because there are 3 areas to enjoy the water. There is the Safari Splash Water Playground, an area for smaller kids where water spews out of the ground, kids can go through it as they like.
Then there is another water slide play are for young kids as well as the older ones. It has a pool and inside that pool is a play area with stairs, slides, and the pan that fills up with water and then turns over into the pool.
And then there is the bigger slides, The Safari water slide, that twist and turn as you slide down, and right beside it is a much steeper slide, that doesn’t twist around, it’s one straight slide. These slides are not for the much younger kids.
There is also the Safari Fun Slide which is a dry slide. You have to be extremely dry in order to go on that slide. You are given a brown bag to sit on and make sure your feet are in the pockets, you then push yourself off and slide all the way to the bottom. I did go on this slide and I was nervous at first, but I conquered that fear and went for it.
So the youths ended their day at the water play areas. While they were having fun I could not resist going to get a funnel cake from the Safari Snacks Food truck that was close by. It was hot and yummy when you get it, I shared mine with other leaders, and some like it so much they went to get their own.
Apart from the Safari Snack Food truck there were other areas in the park to buy snacks, like the nearby shop that sold candies and ice-cream.
We had a great time and I think you will too. We were there until it closed and we still did not complete all of the activities.
There is also quite a few gift shops there to buy paraphernalias to take home.