Texas Hill Country Safari & Wildlife Park

During a fun weekend in the Hill Country, we decided to grab the cameras, take the top off the jeep, and surprise the grandkids with a Texas Safari – and they loved it. If you haven’t experienced an African safari and wildlife park Texas style, then you need to head to Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch which is located just a few miles from New Braunfels in the rolling and scenic Texas Hill Country.

Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch is home to around 500 animals and over 40 species of wildlife from every contintent except Antartica – I don’t think any Antartica species would enjoy our Texas summers! Several of the species are threatened or endangered and others have been born at the Ranch as a part of a very successful breeding program. The Hill Country provides a natural habitat for the animals which roam freely through the 100s of acres of Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch.

What makes Natural Bridge Wild life Ranch fun is that you get to grap some animal food and at your own pace drive through the ranch to spot, pet, snap a picture, or feed the animals. If you get lucky you may see some horn-to-horn combat, mating rituals, or maybe the birth of a newborn. You’ll get up close and personal with several animals, a few of which, like some of the ostrichs will most likely stick their heads well into your car in search of food. And you’ll experience lots of laughs and giggles as they search for food and you feed and pet them.

You’ll also get lots of photo opportunities to capture some pictures of the animals in their native environment. But what makes this trip fun is feeding and touching the animals – at first the small kids may be hesitant, but by the end of the trip, their hands filled with food will be hanging out the windlows and they’ll be begging the wildlife to come up to your car so they can feed and pet them. And they won’t be disappointed. Make sure you pick up enough food at the entrance – you don’t want to run out.

There are over 4 miles of trails that meander through the ranch and into differnt areas of the ranch that are brooken into several animal preserves, each of which has wildlife unique to the area. For example:

• Massai Savanna has Ostrich, Llama, Sicilian Donkeys, Addax, Blackbuck, Rhea, Emu and more

• Tatonka Range has Kudu, Waterbuck, Watusi, Longhorn, American Bison, Springbok, Gemsbok, and Aoudad

Once you’ve driven all the trails or run out of food, and you can drive them as many times as you like, make sure you stop by the petting barnyard and Walk-A-Bout area. Kids will love the petting barnyard where they can mingle with, pet, comb, and hug several variety of animals. The Walk-A-Bout area has Lemurs, Girafee, Kangaroo, Muntjac, Patagonian Cavy, Peacocks, and a variety of other feathered firends.

The Safari Trading Post has everything that you would want to take home to help remember your trip – t-shirts, hats, cuddly plush animals, fun educational kids items, and more.

The Safari Camp gill has some tasty food to rejunivate you after a wild safair – made to order burgers, queso, sandwiches, ice cream, and lots of other options

Have fun and say hi to the Ostrich for us! We visited Nature Bridge Wildlife Ranch as part of a fun weekend – read our Camels, Caverns, Crochet Weekend Adventure.