We took a day trip to Glen Rose, TX to visit the lesser known Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. We all had a blast. Tracy spent a lot of time fearful of how close the animals were, Evie loved to wave and say "bye bye" while Claire and Daddy tossed pellets of food out the windows and shot pictures out the sunroof and side windows when opportunity arose. On arrival, we found the fee to be charged per person and not per car but the rate was quite reasonable. We purchased our tickets and a bag of animal food, listened to a short lecture about what you can't feed and where you can't go, signed a damage waiver, and headed off on a truly unique experience.
You slowly drive through over 9 miles of rough paved road on a private, 1800 acre non-profit wildlife area. Our first visitor was an Ostrich. The guide pamphlet emphasizes that these birds have eyes larger than their brains and they can run up to 40mph... hmmm.... we're limited to 15mph on this drive... better keep the windows up for a while.
As you continue through grassy prairie you come upon many Blackbuck, Axis deer, and other deer-like animals.
Though not caught on video, our best experience was being able to get so close to a herd of zebra, a normally timid and easily scared animal. They're so used to being fed from car windows that they just come right up and wait. If you don't throw food out in a short timeframe, they will take a nibble on the side view mirrors on the car. We now have the zebra slobber and scratch marks to prove it.
This short video clip (click here for low resolusion version) is one of many similar experiences we had with the animals. This happens to be a Aoudad, native to Morocco and other areas of northern Africa.
There are several more higher resolution photos of our intimate animal experience (stop laughing you pervert) including wildebeest, sika deer, southern white rhinoceros, giraffe, emu, cheetah, and other grrrrranimals.
