During our full day at The Wilds in August 2015, we took two tours, the Open Air Tour in the morning and the Wildside Tour in the afternoon. Both tours cover the same general route through the park. The Open Air Tour has 20 folks in an open air bus and is more of a general tour, while the Wildside tour has 8 or so people in a smaller, more mobile truck and provides more up close interaction with some of the animals. Our Open Air Tour was scheduled for 10:00 but we had to check-in at 9:45, so we started heading to the visitor center from our yurt about 9:30. There were a couple of animal exhibits here as well. Lynn spotted the Serval Cats right away, plus this is where the Hellbender conservation efforts take place. There is a tour of this area and we thought that we might fit that in between our other schedule tours, but that just did not work out so we’ll leave it for the next visit. We checked in at the visitor center then walked down to the embarkation point for the tour. Our bus and driver were waiting for us and loading was just staring when we walked up, so perfect timing. The short story is that the Open Air tour provides an excellent over view of the park and offers great access to the animals. The buses stick to the roads but the tour covers a fair amount of the park. I think that we saw each species on the grounds except for the African Wild Dogs as they were not out due to the alpha female having been recently spayed. While it was a hot and sunny day, I found the trip comfortable as there was a breeze and the bus was covered. Our guide was also very informative and did a nice job of keeping the dialog going throughout the 2-plus hour tour. He was entertaining some of his family on the bus as well, including an aunt who kept calling for him to stop so that she could get pictures. They were fun to watch as they were sniping at each other. So a few tidbits that I recall from the tour: • There is a reintroduction program ongoing for the Scimitar Oryx. The program pulled animals from several zoos and animal park breeding programs including The Wilds. One of the bucks from The Wilds herd stepped up to become the leader of its new wild herd. It is thought that this was because the animal was used to a more natural herd environment while living at The Wilds. • There were a couple of stops along the tour where we got to get out and look around. The first was at the Lake Trail and there was a new addition to the area (well, I have no idea how long it has been there, but it was new to Lynn and me), the Budgerigar house which was full of Australian parakeets or budgies. We walked the trail down to the lake and saw the endangered Red-Crowned Cranes. • The other stop was at the carnivore facility. As mentioned, the African Painted Dogs were not out this morning, but the Cheetahs were as was another newer member of The Wilds herd, a Dhole which is an Asian wild dog. Very pretty animal, looks like a very big fox. • The Wilds has the largest breeding herd of White Rhinos. • The Pere David ’s deer have a very interesting story. They would be extinct today if not for the work of a European missionary who had some of the deer sent to a zoo in Europe. The deer were already extinct in the wild and the only native herd was in the garden of the Emperor. However, during the Boxer Rebellion, the palace grounds were captured and the remaining deer to killed and eaten but the peasants. The deer are now being reintroduced into China. The tour ended back at the dining hall at 12:15, so just in time for lunch and a little chill time before our Wildside Tour.

Road Trip

Ohio, United States

time : Sep 7, 2015 10:00 AM

duration : 2h 12m 38s

distance : 10.3 mi

total_ascent : 738 ft

highest_point : 1178 ft

avg_speed : 4.7 mi/h

user_id : OhioHick

user_firstname : Allen

user_lastname : Arrington

During our full day at The Wilds in August 2015, we took two tours, the Open Air Tour in the morning and the Wildside Tour in the afternoon. Both tours cover the same general route through the park. The Open Air Tour has 20 folks in an open air bus and is more of a general tour, while the Wildside tour has 8 or so people in a smaller, more mobile truck and provides more up close interaction with some of the animals. Our Open Air Tour was scheduled for 10:00 but we had to check-in at 9:45, so we started heading to the visitor center from our yurt about 9:30. There were a couple of animal exhibits here as well. Lynn spotted the Serval Cats right away, plus this is where the Hellbender conservation efforts take place. There is a tour of this area and we thought that we might fit that in between our other schedule tours, but that just did not work out so we’ll leave it for the next visit. We checked in at the visitor center then walked down to the embarkation point for the tour. Our bus and driver were waiting for us and loading was just staring when we walked up, so perfect timing. The short story is that the Open Air tour provides an excellent over view of the park and offers great access to the animals. The buses stick to the roads but the tour covers a fair amount of the park. I think that we saw each species on the grounds except for the African Wild Dogs as they were not out due to the alpha female having been recently spayed. While it was a hot and sunny day, I found the trip comfortable as there was a breeze and the bus was covered. Our guide was also very informative and did a nice job of keeping the dialog going throughout the 2-plus hour tour. He was entertaining some of his family on the bus as well, including an aunt who kept calling for him to stop so that she could get pictures. They were fun to watch as they were sniping at each other. So a few tidbits that I recall from the tour: • There is a reintroduction program ongoing for the Scimitar Oryx. The program pulled animals from several zoos and animal park breeding programs including The Wilds. One of the bucks from The Wilds herd stepped up to become the leader of its new wild herd. It is thought that this was because the animal was used to a more natural herd environment while living at The Wilds. • There were a couple of stops along the tour where we got to get out and look around. The first was at the Lake Trail and there was a new addition to the area (well, I have no idea how long it has been there, but it was new to Lynn and me), the Budgerigar house which was full of Australian parakeets or budgies. We walked the trail down to the lake and saw the endangered Red-Crowned Cranes. • The other stop was at the carnivore facility. As mentioned, the African Painted Dogs were not out this morning, but the Cheetahs were as was another newer member of The Wilds herd, a Dhole which is an Asian wild dog. Very pretty animal, looks like a very big fox. • The Wilds has the largest breeding herd of White Rhinos. • The Pere David ’s deer have a very interesting story. They would be extinct today if not for the work of a European missionary who had some of the deer sent to a zoo in Europe. The deer were already extinct in the wild and the only native herd was in the garden of the Emperor. However, during the Boxer Rebellion, the palace grounds were captured and the remaining deer to killed and eaten but the peasants. The deer are now being reintroduced into China. The tour ended back at the dining hall at 12:15, so just in time for lunch and a little chill time before our Wildside Tour.