Out of Africa Wildlife Park – Camp Verde, Arizona
Out of Africa Wildlife Park was founded by Dean and Prayeri Harrison in 1988. The park was originally in Fountain Hills and then later moved to its current location on a larger property in Camp Verde in 2005. You can read more about their story here.
The park has nearly 40 exotic big cats including lions, tigers, leopards, a jaguar, and cougars. It has hundreds of mammals, birds, and reptiles from around the world including Africa and other continents. Some of the animals at the park are classified as threatened or near threatened
Included with general admission, you can go on a bush safari tour where you will see animals roaming freely as they do in the wild such as giraffes, antelopes, zebras, ostriches, water buffalo, and gemsboks. You can even feed a giraffe!
Plan to spend around 4-5 hours at the park. They have several shows including Tiger Splash that are included in general admission. They also have VIP tours and zip lines that are extra. Check out their website for more info.
My most recent visit to the park was in May 2018. I enjoyed my visit and plan on going back again since I live fairly close. I just did the general admission this time, but maybe I will be able take a VIP tour next time!
Here are some pictures I took on my recent visit and a little bit of info about each animal.
The first few photos were taken from within the tour vehicle during our bush safari. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining!
Sable Antelope (Hippotragus niger)
Sable antelope are native to wooded southern savannahs in Southeastern Africa in parts of Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique to Angola, and Southern Zaire. They form herds led by a single bull.
When sable antelope are threatened by predators, they confront them using their scimitar-shaped horns. They have even killed large cats with their horns!
Plains Zebra (Equus quagga)
Their website says they have both Burchell’s zebra and Grant’s zebra. I think my photo is of a Grant’s zebra. Both are a subspecies of plains zebra and are from eastern and southern Africa.
Interesting fact about zebras is no two zebras have the exact same stripe pattern, each is unique!
Ankole-Watusi Cattle (Bos taurus)
These are domesticated cattle with their history dating back 6000 years to Egypt. They have been referred to as “cattle of kings.”
Check out this website to learn more about them.
Addax (Addax nasomaculatus)
Addax are also known as white antelope and are from the Sahara Desert. They are well adapted to life in the desert and can go without water for long periods of time. They form small herds that are led by the oldest female.
Addax are critically endangered in the wild due to unregulated hunting.
Ostrich (Struthio camelus)
Ostrich are large flightless birds that are native to Africa. They are the largest living species of bird. Ostrich can run for long periods at a speed of 43 miles per hour (70 km/h).
Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)
Water buffalo were domesticated around 5000 years ago. Many people around the world depend upon them. They are used as working animals and are better for ploughing rice fields than other animals.
Gemsbok (Oryx gazella)
The gemsbok is a large antelope from desert areas in Southern Africa. They have long horns that can reach 30 inches long. Both males and females have horns, and the female’s horns are longer and thinner than the male’s.
Reticulated Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata)
Reticulated giraffes are native to the horn of Africa which includes Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. They live in herds. Reticulated giraffes are one of the subspecies of giraffe that are most commonly seen in zoos. They are considered threatened with an estimated 8500 living in the wild.
Giraffes are the tallest mammals in the world. Males can get up to 19 feet tall!
Black and White Tegu
Black and white tegu are intelligent, omnivorous reptiles that are native to east and central South America. They can get up to 3 to 4-½ feet long from nose to tail with the males being larger than females. As pets, they can be house broken and some even come when their name is called.
Rhinoceros Iguana (Cyclura cornuta)
The rhinoceros iguana is threatened in the wild. They are native to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. They are primarily herbivores, but have been seen to occasionally eat insects, small lizards, and snakes.
Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus)
Spectacled caiman are native to Central and South America. They can live in both salt and freshwater and prefer areas with slow moving water. They are known to be the most vocal of all reptiles. Spectacled caiman are the most common of all crocodilians.
If you would like to know what the differences between crocodiles, alligators, and caiman are, click here!
Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)
Bengal tigers are found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. They are an endangered species. The Bengal tiger is the national animal of India and Bangladesh. Bengal tigers are the second largest of all tigers with the largest being the Siberian tiger.
White Bengal tigers are caused by a lack of the pigment pheomelanin, which causes their fur to be white instead of orange. Both parents must carry the gene for white coloring in order to get a white tiger.
African Lion (Panthera leo)
Lions in the wild are currently only found in fragmented areas of Sub-Saharan Africa and are considered vulnerable with their population decreasing. They live in grasslands and savannas.
Lions are the only cats that live together in groups, which are called prides. Males are larger than females and have large manes, which the species is most recognized for. Female lions are the hunters for the pride and commonly work together to take down larger prey.
Gray Wolf (Canis lupis)
The gray wolf is native to wilderness areas of Eurasia and North America. Wolves live in packs that average 6 to 10 animals led by the dominant male and female mated pair. Their preferred prey are large animals such as deer, elk, and moose as well as smaller prey such as rabbits, rodents, birds, fish, and reptiles.
Wolves play an important role in keeping the ecosystem healthy by controlling deer and elk populations which benefits plants and other animals.
American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)
American black bears live in forested areas of North America. They are omnivores, mainly eating vegetation, fruit, nuts, insects, honey, and occasionally fish and small mammals. Bears are believed to have the best sense of smell of any animal on the planet. Their sense of smell is 7 times better than a dog’s!
Southern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum)
White rhinoceros are the largest of all rhinoceros. They are found in South Africa. There are two subspecies of white rhinoceros, southern and northern. The northern white rhinoceros is almost extinct with only 2 known living (as of 2018) and both are females. There were an estimated 20,000 southern white rhinoceros as of 2015.
Out of Africa Wildlife park has a male southern white rhinoceros named Jericho born in 1995. He lives on 6 acres and has his own climate-controlled house. The shuttle driver jokes that he even has an Xbox and PlayStation in there!
I enjoyed my visit to Out of Africa Wildlife Park and definitely plan to visit again in the future since it is pretty close to where I live.
They have tons of information on their website and you can see a list of all the species they have here.
