Safari Lake Geneva brings family fun and a chance to meet over 200 exotic animals up close

LAKE GENEVA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- For those looking to travel this summer without going too far, there's a way to feel like you're halfway around the world while only driving a few miles away! Safari Lake Geneva is nestled among corn fields, providing an adventure you'd never know was there.

Over 200 animals from six continents were brought into Lake Geneva by Jungle Jay Christie and a dream he had as a kid.

“When I was a toddler, I was interested in working in a zoo. And by the time I was 10 or 11, I fixated on this idea of turning the zoo paradigm right on its head. Rather than having separate species in these kinds of small areas and allowing humans to walk around the property and them take it all in, what if you allow animals to run the place, put people in a cage?”

Wisconsin's original drive-through safari draws in around 85,000 people each year! It’s one of only a handful available in the United States. “It is just such a unique experience to have animals that are quite exotic coming to your vehicle and feeding from you. So, in many ways, it’s somewhat like a zoo, but in many other ways it’s more immersive than a zoo, and quite unusual in a zoological park to be entering with the animals,” shared Jungle Jay.

As you enter their space, animals may enter yours too! As our CBS 58 crew drove through the safari, many animals stuck their heads in our vehicle to get their snouts on the specialty grain.

The drive-through safari is about one mile long, available to be driven through as many times in a day as desired. Those moments create long-lasting memories for many families and kids, like Leah. The third grader said, “I like the most when the animals were trying to get in the car, and I like how they look. I like animals and I like the zebras and the buffalos, and the cows.”

Many guests, including Heather Goodwin, travelled from Illinois for this family fun. “The kids have had a blast. We had nine cups of food, and nine cups of food didn’t seem like enough! They thoroughly enjoyed the animals,” she said.

“The laughter and the newness of it, and the shock. When the animals try to grab the cup, they're struggling to hold onto it,” Goodwin continued.

This particular zoo space allows you to drive or walk through. Goodwin appreciated that, saying, “I think it’s nice they can approach you, it’s what they want to do. Getting to the kids, touching them, petting them, getting snotted on, it’s just interactive! The interaction is very different than when you went to a typical zoo.”

Jungle Jay described the safari as a “paradise” he found after viewing at least a thousand properties, personally walking through 60. He picked this space that has 75 acres, leaving lots of room for you to get up close and personal with the animals in an environment much like their natural habitat. “It's possible to take pictures here no one in the world would be able to tell weren’t taken in Asia or Africa... it’s a photographer's paradise,” he said.

Lake Geneva is home to one of three walk-through squirrel monkey enclosures in the United States, Jungle Jay said. They live alongside the world's largest rodents: capybaras.

“It’s certainly always fulfilling to me to see the reactions because it varies, but overall, it’s one of pure joy,” he said.

Because of parks like this, animals, including the scimitar-horned oryx, could be saved and even brought back from near extinction. “In many ways, it really is an insurance policy for these wild populations because if these animals in the wild disappear altogether, they truly are gone unless there’s places like this that help save them,” he continued.

Now, Jungle Jay's dream continues by bringing joy and inspiration. “It makes me feel terrific because of course I was inspired by children's visits to visit exotic animals, and if we can inspire the next generation of Jungle Jays to potentially devote their lives to wildlife conservation and saving animals in other ways, then that’d be a job well done.”

The safari often sells out, particularly on weekends and holidays. That’s why it’s recommended you make an online reservation ahead of time. You can do so through this link.