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Wildlife Safari

Safari park in Winston, Oregon

Field	Value
zoo_name	Wildlife Safari
image	Wildlife Safari, Winston, Oregon.jpg
image_width	300x300px
date_opened
location	1790 Safari Road
Winston, Oregon, U.S.
area	615 acre
coordinates
num_animals	Over 600
num_species	Over 100
members
website

Winston, Oregon, U.S.

Wildlife Safari is a drive-through safari and zoological park in Winston, Oregon, United States. The park’s main draw is the 615 acre pastures and field enclosures visitors drive their vehicles through, enabling many up-close animal encounters and photo opportunities. These field exhibits, divided into regions such as Africa, Asia and the Americas, mainly feature the park’s ungulate herds and larger hoofed mammals (including rhinos, hippos, giraffes and elephants), as well as larger species of birds, including cranes and ratites. Visitors also drive past naturalistic exhibits featuring black and brown bears, cheetahs, lions and tigers.

Wildlife Safari has a visitors’ area in its free Safari Village, which contains the park’s retail, dining, and customer service amenities. The area includes a petting zoo, seasonal camel rides, reptile exhibits, aviaries, animal interactions, as well as walking trails featuring numerous exhibits of the park's smaller species. Wildlife Safari currently maintains Oregon state’s only captive African elephants and maned wolves (as of 2021).

The safari has been a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) since 1986, one of the only privately owned zoological establishments in the AZA, and one of only three such animal attractions in the state. In 2021, it received a certification from the Zoological Association of America.

History

Frank Hart, a frequent visitor to Africa, created the safari park, which opened in October 1972 as ** World Wildlife Safari**, on a 600 acre site. "World" was dropped from the name on June 9, 1974, at the request of the unrelated, non-profit World Wildlife Fund, to avoid confusion. Wildlife Safari became a non-profit organization in 1980, and is overseen by the Safari Game Search Foundation. Two African lionesses, Mtai and Serafina, arrived from the Saint Louis Zoo in late spring of 2014. Mguu, the female southern white rhinoceros, was introduced to its residential southern white rhinos, Taryn and Kayode in September of 2024. She arrived from the North Carolina Zoo. Two African lionesses named Lindelani and Thabisa, arrived from Riverbanks Zoo to join its pride in late 2025.

Animals

Africa

African bush elephant (Loxodonta a. africana) — not drive-through
Ankole-Watusi cattle (Bos taurus)
Burchell’s zebra (Equus quagga burchellii)
Common eland (Taurotragus oryx)
Dromedary (Camelus dromedarius)
Lion (Panthera leo)
Reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata)
River hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) — not drive-through
Scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) — not drive-through
South African ostrich (Struthio camelus)
Southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium s. simum)
White-bearded wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus)

The Americas

American black bear (Ursus americanus) — not drive-through
Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia)
Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) — not drive-through
Guanaco (Lama guanicoe)
Plains bison (B. bison bison)
Roosevelt elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti)
Western pond turtle (Actinemys marmorata)

Asia

Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra)
Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)
Fallow deer (Dama dama)
Greater rhea (Rhea americana)
Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus)
Sika (Cervus nippon)
White-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys)
White-naped crane (Antigone vipio)
Yak (Bos grunniens)

Other facilities

The Safari Village includes a narrow gauge railroad, Safari Grill Event Center, Cheryl Ford Center, Safari Grill, and Gift Shop. The village area is a traditional zoo setting with smaller exhibits of animals worldwide. The newest feature of the Safari Village is the Wells Fargo Australian Walkabout exhibit. The Australian Walkabout immerses the guest into Australia allowing guests to go in with the wallaroos, black swans, emu, and the Budgie Aviary.

Conservation

Wildlife Safari has a well-established cheetah breeding program which, as of July 2021, has produced 231 cubs. In cooperation with the AZA's Species Survival Plan, the cubs are sent to other accredited zoos across the United States.

At least one animal rights organization endorses Wildlife Safari for its animal-focused conditions and care.{{cite web

References

"Zoological Association of America - Accredited Facilities".
Federman, Stan. (August 12, 1973). "Wildlife Safari jaunt difficult trek". [[The Sunday Oregonian]].
"Farewell World" (photo and caption only). ''The Oregonian'', June 9, 1974, "SunDAY" section, p. 20.
https://www.oregonlive.com/travel/2014/04/wildlife_safari_in_southern_or.html
https://kcby.com/news/local/wildlife-safari-introduces-new-rhino
https://kqennewsradio.com/2025/12/17/wildlife-safari-adds-two-new-lions-to-the-park/

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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