African Safari Wildlife Park African Safari Wildlife Park - Port Clinton, OH

Hello everyone,
I am currently on the road and am thinking of stopping in at the African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton. Has anyone ever visited? Their website (Home of African Safari Wildlife Park) has some basic info, but few details - especially on what species they have. They are registered with ISIS ("IAE OH"), but do not submit data (or have not since Jan 2007, and they make no mention of the gazillion fallow deer they have), and are apparently owned by IAE (International Animal Exchange), which lends some credibility to their statement of having giant eland on their Ohio campus.

From photos online, here's what I think they have:
plains zebra (including "white zebras")
warthog
dromedary
llama
alpaca
giraffe
fallow deer
Pere David's deer
American elk
American bison
Watusi
Highland cattle
bongo
(giant eland)
sable antelope
gemsbok

guereza colobus
gibbon (white handed?)
hedgehog
serval
ostrich
flamingo sp.
python sp.

 

A few more photos show:
Bactrian camel
Blue wildebeest
Mouflon
Crowned crane

 

Not worth seeing except for seeing the giant eland. Last time I was there they did have 3 cape buffalo bulls but they sold them since then.

 

Thanks for the response!
I decided to visit the park since it was (relatively) close to where I was in Detroit. The park is divided into two parts, the drive-through and a 'village' area.

As you enter the park, you get a little booklet of rules (how to feed, what to do if ...). At the entry to the drive through, there is a booth selling large cups of herbivore pellets (the small variety!), and in the middle of the drive through there is another booth where carrots are available for purchase. Although the drive through is divided into several paddock areas, all of the gates were open during my visit, so that everything was everywhere. The main species held (by number) are fallow deer (1,000+??? Several hundred, at least) and American elk (75ish). Also present in the drive through area are llamas/guanacos and alpacas, sika deer, a highland bull, as well as a herd of bison and a small group of Ankole cattle. None of the animals are especially shy, and the elk are downright bold. I arrived early, so the animals were all hungry, and as soon as I opened the window a female elk had her head INSIDE the car rummaging for the cup of pellets. Not very good manners, if I may say so myself. Although the "welcoming crowd" were very persistent, crowding around the vehicles, those later in the park were much mellower and would approach the cars only if the cups were shaken. (They were all very quick to pick up on a lack of pellets in a car, even with all of the windows open). The bison were a bit pushy at times (not such a good thing), and one Ankole steer kept approaching vehicles (I don't think anyone fed him ... who would want those horns near their car???)

The paddocks were rather plain, and smaller than most of the other drive-throughs I have been to. Each had a pond area for the animals to keep cool in, as well as some shade structures and large shipping containers (like are used for transporting goods by train) were also available for the animals to take shelter in. There was some grass cover, but a lot of bare dirt due to the large number of animals. Minimal topographic interest and watchman's fence barriers made the facility itself rather displeasing to look at, no matter the angle.

A lemur island in a pond in the second large paddock held a group of ring-tailed lemurs with a painted house and rather lacklustre climbing structure.

At the end of the drive through are several enclosures at the side of the road separated by fences; feeding is possible in some (the first two described below) if you drive right up to the fence. The first separate enclosure held a single male giant eland; the paddock was a very nice size for him, although like the rest of the park there was minimal variety in terms of landscape. The second held giraffes and zebras together, including a leucistic (white) zebra that was either cool or freakish, depending on your viewpoint. The giraffes were popular to feed, and at one point there was a line up of cars waiting to get close to them. On the other side of the road were medium sized paddocks with: mouflon and a few markhor; an attractive herd of sable antelope; a mixed group of female common eland and waterbuck. The sable enclosure was the best in the drive through, with solid fencing (thankfully!) and tall grass. The exit is through a set of automatic gates; two yards attached to the barns held a single young giraffe and a zebra. Dromedaries had a paddock on the other side of the road.

In total, if you did not stop to feed the animals, you could drive at a slow pace through the entire drive through in 5-10 minutes. It was a bit of a disappointment, especially since there were few standout animals.

The village area was typical of a small zoo ... horrid primate cages and decent hoofstock areas. The layout was very poorly done - entering from the parking lot, the village is set up as a "T" with an arm going either direction; you have to go to the end and backtrack in both cases, entering and exiting through the gift shop (of course). The village was more typical of a roadside zoo; I was surprised, since the facility is AZA accredited.

The primate cages were of the round corn crib variety; a circle of mesh on a concrete pad, with a steel roof and a small holding cage ("hut?") at the back. Primates included colobus monkeys, white-handed gibbons, and spider monkeys. Other species in identical enclosures included two-toed sloths, ocelots, North American river otters, and Military macaws. A pair of gibbons was exhibited on a pathetic island next to the restaurant ... on it was a small house and a climbing structure which offered minimal opportunities for brachiation. Poor guys, although at least they had natural substrate.

Warthogs and a yellow-backed duiker were held in a pair of rectangular mesh exhibits which were small and boring (especially for the pigs, as they had nothing but limestone screening substrate and a large tube). Alpacas were held in a bare yard nearby. The best exhibits, in my opinion, were a reasonably sized, partly treed, grassy exhibit housing a greater kudu, nyala, and bongo (all young males), and a (dorcas?) gazelle, and two decent sized, very grassy enclosures for dik-dik (Kirk's and Guenther's).

I was surprised to see that pony and camel rides were free with admission, and there was a small stage area with picnic table seating for the four-times daily show (the show was nothing special - handlers holding animals ... chinchilla, pig, python, hedgehog ... while someone talked about them). There are also pig races four times daily.

There were no graphics or information for the drive through section, although most exhibits in the village area had small educational plaques with a brief description. (Unfortunately, several of these were incorrect in the species exhibited).

If you are driving through Port Clinton, OH, stop in for an hour or two. If not, don't go out of your way to see this park.

 

One last thing ... because the park is owned by IAE, I think there is usually some turnover in the species exhibited, especially the hoofstock in the "Village" section. The three spiral-horned antelope were obviously acquisitions (the nyala had a Bronx Zoo tag), and likely get shipped to other institutions at the end of the season or whenever a home can be found.

 

Sure another institution, possible a zoo, animal park or hunting ranch who ever has the money to pay there prices they will sell to them GUARANTEED! Most zoos don't deal with them because there is not telling where there animals will end up.

 

Thank you sooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Much "Ungulate" for posting this review! I was tempted to go their I live in Ann Arbor and was thinking about going. But from your review it defiantly doesn't sound worth the trip. Didn't International Animal Exchange own another safari park in the south? But then a huge flood killed most of the animals and ruined the park. I believe it was called the International Wildlife Safari Park. They had the same species but more large ungulates such as Fringed Ear Oryx.

I can understand "Safari Park" the whole situation on IAE. The actually have sent many animals to dealers overseas.

 

Very surprising to see someone mention they are AZA accredited, since I thought they were not. But I just checked the AZA website and sure enough. I have never been there (and likely never will) but from what I have seen on the internet it looks very substandard.

 

My dad actually helped with the underfloor raident heat for the animal's barns. He said it was basically a pen, some grass, and a barn. Hopefully they are either excluded from AZA or close. Does anyone know how many giant eland they have currently?

 

I was thinking of maybe going to this next summer since im going to detroit zoo and toledo zoo. It looks like its on the way to those zoo's. A much updated status on the place is much appreciated. Like what current animals they have on exhibit? Both drive thru tour and walk in safari? thks

 

Its probably not worth your time to stop here.The park is overall very disapointing especialy the walk thru portion its nothing but some small primates and a couple of bongos in small wire mesh silos,absloutley awful.The only thing which keeps this place drawing in crowds is its close proximty to Cedar Point which is arguably the biggest and best roller coaster amusement park in the world.To be honest in our opinion you would be better off making a stop in Cleveland for visit.Anyways if you have any questions about any of these zoos (Detroit Toledo Cleveland or the ASWP let us know.

Team Tapir

 

I've been at cleveland metropark zoo twice. loved the grizzly bear cubs. and elephant crossing is the best african elephant exhibit i've seen. I seen you guys are getting a primate callled a aye-aye. that's really awesome. They had one at cincinnati zoo when i went this past summer but didnt see it. oh well. I have a couple ?'s for ya 1) does ASWP have the following animals kirks dik-dik, Gunthers dik-dik, dorcas gazelle,bongo,nyala,greater kudu, yellow back duiker,sable antelope,mouflon, waterbuck and markhor? 2) Is the detroit's zoo's Arctic ring of life and Toledo's zoo's Hippoquarium worth seeing? and btw if you can tell me a little more bought the hippos at toledo. like how old? what sex they are? thks team tapir

 

1.Here is what we found out in regards to the varoius hoofstock you asked about

kirks dik dik 1-0
bongo 3-0
greater kudu 1-1
gunthers dik dik 0-1
nyala 1-1
yellow backed duiker 1-0
sable antelope 3-1
mouflor-0-3
as far as we know no dorcas gazelle or markhors

2.Detroit's artic ring is a truly incredible exhibit and well worth seeing its size is immense.In our opinion the only polar bear exhibit that comes close to competing is Columbus.By the way have you ever been to the Columbus Zoo? Its an outstanding zoo.But back to Detroit they also have a very good chimpanzee and gorilla exhibit as well as being one of the only zoos in the US to exhibit drills.
3.The Toledo Zoos Hippoquarium has been closed for awhile during the zoos african elephant expansion which should all be open for your visit.The zoo has one male and 2 females hippos.We are going to try to get out to Toledo sometime this winter to see the new amur tiger cubs and we can try to get you more info on the hippos.

Team Tapir

 

The hippos are back in the outdoor enclosure but if it is too cold you can view them inside.

 

Thks team tapir for the info. to answer your ?, yes i've been at columbus zoo twice. loved it. also been at clevelands twice, erie zoo,akron zoo,wheeling's ogelbay good zoo,cincinnati zoo and smithsonian national zoo. I wanna do detroit zoo,toledo zoo,buffalo zoo,maryland zoo,philly zoo and the wilds again this year. last time it was raining real hard and didnt see alot of the animals. also another ? bout the ASWP. do they have Giant eland? and what primates do they have? and any carnivore animals?

 

ASWP has one giant eland a male.They exhibit white handed gibbons and spider monkeys and they have a ocelot and we believe they have a bobcat.

Team Tapir

 

Does anyone know a current list of animals at the safari park? thks matt

 

Visiting for the first time on 8th, I was very surprised with the quality!!!
The species I saw in the drive-through were (in order):
Dromedary camel
Scottish Highlander cow
Llama/Alpaca/Guanaco, etc.
Elk
Bison
Fallow deer
Gemsbok
"Lemur Island"
Bactrian camel
Giraffe
Zebra
I also saw the white bison.
The walk-through was lacking, but I did see-
Nyala
Agouti
Woolly-necked stork
Military macaw
Springbok
White alligator
I highly recommend ASWP.

 

I am new here and my first post is a rather sad one. Unfortunately today at around 6 PM, EST, a fire broke out at the African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton, Ohio. One of the barns caught fire and spread into the walk through zoo (reason unknown as of this posting), and claimed the lives of 3 giraffes, 3 bongos, 3 red river hogs, & 1 springbok. This is all the information that is known as of now and I’ll be leaving a link for personal readings, for those interested. I will bring news when available.'Devastated': 10 animals killed in barn fire at African Safari Wildlife Park in northern Ohio

 

These are some of the most important news of the park since the start of the year:

3 female Watusis arrived:
On March 26th, Waffle, Bagel and Pancake arrived to the zoo.

Alpaca baby born:
Although it was born on September 2019, I will announce it. It was sexed as a female.

Watusi born:
On June 2nd, Bagel gave birth to a male baby. He has been named Dunking Donut.