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Wild Florida Wild Florida - Review May 2017

Discussion in 'United States' started by SwampDonkey, 31 May 2017.

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  1. SwampDonkey

    SwampDonkey In the Swamp Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Wild Florida
    3301 Lake Cypress Rd
    Kenansville, FL 34739

    My wife and I visited Wild Florida on Memorial day weekend 2017. This is a small zoo outside of Central Florida just south of Orlando. I was not expecting a facility as nice as this place was, to be honest. It is not large, but it took us about 1.5 hours to go through. Their main attraction is an air boat tour of the swamp/lake that the property is on, but the "Gator Park" is actually a small zoo.

    Gator Park:
    Wild Florida has been open 7 years as of this June and the Gator Park is really a quite nice small zoo. Overall the zoo is a large oval shape, so one can walk the main path and see basically all the animals. The star attraction is of course the gator pond, which is a large enclosure with many different size American Alligators. One enters through a entrance gate and is asked to take a picture that they try to sell you at the exit. Just after entering there is an enclosure with macaw, African spur thigh tortoises (different enclosures), Eland, and various birds.

    Then there is a petting zoo with the normal goats and an alpaca (feed is $5). Across from the petting zoo is a medium sized walk in aviary with monk parakeets that one can feed (closed when we were there). There are also a reasonably large enclosure for nile crocodiles. Following the path takes one past several small animal enclosures with bob cat, cockatoo, kookaburra, and other small animals. Following the main path takes one to the African Savannah with zebra, watusi cattle, and oddly emu. Beside this is another enclosure with a zonky and zorse. Across from the savanna is a large enclosure with white tail deer and turkey.

    Making the last turn takes one to another section with medium sized enclosures separated by geographic area. The South America enclosure has two toed sloths and cotton topped tamarins, Madagascar has red ruffed, collard, and ring tailed lemur. Africa has porcupines and tortoises, and another enclosure with large burmese pythons.

    The large gator pond has feedings and there is also a small animal show.

    Overall this is a really nice little zoo, the exhibits were on par with most larger zoos and the facility was incredibly clean. They are not accredited by any organization that I am aware of. Entry is free through the rest of 2017, but it was $5 when we went. They also have "sloth encounters" where you can feed a sloth. While it does not compete with DAK, it can compete with the Central Florida Zoo on exhibits and that is really something for a small park like this.
     
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  2. Arizona Docent

    Arizona Docent Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Interesting - never heard of this place. Thanks for posting.
     
  3. SwampDonkey

    SwampDonkey In the Swamp Premium Member 5+ year member

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    I had not heard of it before either, my wife found it. Honestly, I expected to find your run of the mill roadside zoo, but I was incredibly impressed with the build quality of the exhibits and overall facility.

    It looks like they were charging $18 for the Gator Park, or $5 with any other tour (air boat, animal encounter, etc.), but it is free through the end of the year.

    Here is a map of the park:
    [​IMG]
     
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  4. snowleopard

    snowleopard Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    Thanks very much for the review. Since Florida has almost 100 zoos it is easy to forget about the many small ones that sometimes fall through the cracks and go unnoticed by ZooChatters.
     
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