Watching them play was worth every penny of the $18 admission. The Virginia Safari Park opened in the spring of 2000 because we felt there was a need and desire for people to be able to see wild animals in a much. But still, the highlight was those swimming bears. The Virginia Safari Park, located in Natural Bridge, offers visitors the opportunity to see and feed animals up-close from their vehicles in the safari drive-thru attraction. If we had more time, I would have loved to take a second trip around closer to closing time (you get two-trips through the drive-thru with your admission), I bet more animals would have been up and about. The elephants were in their own enclosure, not much different than at the Oregon Zoo. It’s such a large animal but we almost didn’t see him, the camouflage with the trees works really well. Seeing a giraffe up close was really neat. We were hoping to see some cheetahs or tigers but they all must have been sleeping or hiding. We didn’t pay for the food, but the animals still came up to the window hoping for a handout. They are very cute, and not shy about coming right up to your car window. There is nothing dangerous there, just a bunch of little deer and some birds. There is one area were you can feed the animals for $5. Experience Safari Lake Geneva’s game reserves from the comfort of your own vehicle Enhance your interaction with these amazing animals by purchasing a bucket of grain to feed them from your window or sunroof. One of the highlights of the entire trip. Temporarily closed Closed until Apr 30, 2024. It was fantastic to watch, in fact we stayed for a good 10 minutes. We caught the brown bears in the middle of a pool party! All of them, were lounging in the pond, catching fish, playing with floating pieces of wood and wrestling. It was hot day, 90 degrees or more, so most of animals sleeping and laying around in the shade, but not the bears. In just the first couple minutes we saw ostrich, rhino, long-horns and a hippo.

The drive-thru takes about an hour and a half and we really, really enjoyed it. But the really dangerous animals (lions, cheetahs, tigers and bears) are behind an extra security fence, so don’t worry, they won’t attack your car. It’s a cool idea and a great alternative to a traditional zoo. The animals are loose and you stay in your car. The Wildlife Safari is a drive-thru animal preserve. I’d visited once before when I was a kid, but all I can remember is that I loved it, so decided to check it out again and it ended up being one of the highlights of our trip!

On the way to the Ashland/Medford area, we stopped in Winston to visit the Wildlife Safari. Wildlife Safari stretches across more than six hundred acres of rolling, oak-studded hills and savanna-like grasslands in southern Oregons Douglas County. Its like a zoo except you are in the cage. More highlights from our southern oregon road trip: There are lions, tigers and bears plus another 1,000 animals that roam free while visitors are in the cages at Winston, Oregons Wildlife Safari.

Oregon safari drive thru