Photographs From Our October 2011 Trip to the Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain, Georgia

The Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain, Georgia is one of the most interesting places my family has ever visited. I remember a place called Wild Country Safari as a small child. My parents drove our personal vehicle through the park while animals came up to our car. If I remember correctly, visitors were asked to say in their vehicles, but some dared to exit anyway. It was fun but frightening at the same time. Wild Country Safari eventually closed, but all is not lost. Anyone traveling through central Georgia would do well to visit Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain. Visitors have the option to drive their own vehicles, but it is not recommended. My family chose to rent one of the park's Zebra vans. The vehicles look a little intimidating at first. Visitors will notice the dents, dings, and torn seats as they quickly appreciate the decision to rent a park vehicle. The park vehicles are painted with Zebra stripes with bars installed over what was once windows.

As we began our journey through the Wild Animal Safari, I took great delight in the smiles and looks of great expectation on my children's faces. One would expect a parent to take delight in such expressions, but my delight was in the fact that my nearly grown children had those expressions of early childhood that I had missed so much. The children in our vehicle were 13, 16, 18, and 18.

The guidelines we were given were simple:

1. Stay on the course.

2. Stay in the vehicle.

3. Don't feed the birds.

The birds were known to bite more than the food visitors can purchase before beginning their journey. Though my son's girlfriend felt sorry for the little feathered friends and was tempted to feed them, we wanted to keep all our appendages attached, so we obeyed rule number three.

The entire trip took about an hour, give or take a few minutes. At the end, our children expressed to us that they had enjoyed that morning in the Wild Animal Safari about as much as anything we have ever done. It was a wonderful morning.

The following photos will likely do more to convince you to visit the place than any story I can put into words. Enjoy the photographs.