Family Fun at Lion Country Safari

In West Palm Beach, there is a zoo that is different from most other zoos. Lion Country Safari is a drive through zoo! The animals roam freely through different sections in the park. Sometimes they are behind fences or moats, sometimes they wander freely and can walk right up to your car. This is awesome and a little strange to get to close to some of these very large animals.

There are 7 sections of the drive through safari. Las Pampas, Ruaha National Park, Kalahari Bushvelt, Gir Forest, Gorongosa Reserve, Serengiti Plains, and Hwange National Park. The names are borrowed from real places in Africa and every section feature a different set of animals. For example, the Gorongosa Reserve is for the Lions, which are fortunately behind a fence. Some of the Lions were very active the day we were there and looked angry behind a fence. Most of them seemed lazy and content to lie around though.

There are many signs posted about staying in your car and keeping your doors and windows closed. This is for your safety. It takes about 1-2 hours to drive through the game park, depending on how much time you wish to take and how many other cars are driving through the park. We usually find ourselves taking about 1 ½ hours. There is no place to stop on the drive and use the restrooms, so pull off before to use the facilities prior to entering the drive through Safari. After you finish your drive through Safari, they have another area where you can park your car and walk around.

There is a petting zoo, small water park, putt-putt area, paddle boats, Giraffe feeding area, games, and more. You also aren’t done with the animals of Lion Country Safari, in the walking area you can see birds, turtles, snakes, alligators, flamingoes, etc. You could easily spend another 2+ hours in this area. It is easy to spend a half to a full day at Lion Country Safari and I would recommend it to South Florida visitors and locals alike.