It's Opening Day Week!

Yes Yes Yes Yes and Y E S! Welcome friends and family! It is finally opening day week! Our 2018 season officially kicks off this Saturday April 28th. The Penguins are prepped, the foxes are furry and most importantly our staff is raring to go.

We’ve polished up Old Fort Dells engine number 9 and we have a bunch of killer new additions to our animals and facilities that will entertain you all summer long. From pygmy goat bridges to an addition to our gift shop, we spared no expense bringing your adventure to life.

One thing we’ve done for the last couple of years is have an opening day contest. This Friday we will select, notify and announce the winners. I have to tell you that we have gotten some really amazing pictures from the kids who have drawn pictures for us. We couldn’t be happy with the entries that we have received. Matter of fact we’re so impressed that this week we will show a lot of the entries in our social feed. Keep an eye out for your picture if you entered last week.

Now if you missed the contest details here’s the short version. The contest is open to kids aged 2-12. Have your kid draw a picture of their favorite animal. Take a picture with your phone, upload it and tag us in it. Put your child’s name, age and what animal they drew. Just like that you’re entered!

One lucky winner will receive a family 4 pack of tickets which include general admission for the park and a free Safari Train Ride. Three runners up will receive 2 free children’s admissions. Winners will be chosen randomly so this isn’t a competition, you don’t need to have your kid draw the Mona Lisa, it’s just the luck of the draw. Contest deadline is 11:59 PM Thursday night. Once the clock strikes 12 the entries are over.

This Friday we will announce the contest winners and and come Saturday? I am on the grounds in the park with you all enjoying the animals and celebrating the kickoff to our 2018 season! Enjoy the countdown and we will see you all next week!

Opening Day 2018!

Greetings friends and welcome to the official opening day kick off blog type thing! (I’m still working on the name, don’t judge me please) Back to the thing! Opening Day 2018! That is a thing! We’ve been working very hard to get ready and we are lights, camera, action come April 28th.

Opening Day in the spring at Timbavati Wildlife Park makes me think of one word, BABIES! That’s right, all of the critters don’t hibernate in the winter <wink wink>. That means that opening day will be full of new cuddly little fuzzy buggers.

Opening Day for things that can only happen during the summers remind me of Brewers Games and Summerfest and graduation ceremonies. That’s what Opening Day at Timbavati Wildlife Park feels like to me.

Perhaps you’re looking for a new tradition for you and your family to take on. Something fun, off the beaten path and adventurous. Timbavati Wildlife Park is the place for you. Why might you ask? There’s always something new every year. We work all winter long for this moment. We hope you and your family join us and ours this April 28th.

Here is a look at what Timbavati Wildlife Park is bringing back to the table in 2018! Talk With you all next week!

Meet Our New Baby Camel Brinkman!

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post! It’s been a chilly start to spring, you know with the blizzards and all! Don’t fret we have to get back to green pastures soon! I also have to talk to you guys about my most favorite part of spring! The babies! Like this little guy here named Brinkman!

Brinkman here is already starting to create a small but mighty hump. Fun fact is, camels are born without them. They also can run within hours of being born. A female camel’s gestation period is 12 to 14 months. She typically will give birth to a single calf but on rare occasions can have twins.

A male baby camel calf like brinkman here is called a bull calf. Baby camels weigh an average of 79 pounds at birth. This little guy will grow up to weigh around anywhere from 900 to 1300 pounds when he grows up. Camels also can travel as far as horses but with greater endurance.

That’s the beauty of Timbavati Wildlife Park in general. There is always something new to see around here. The nursery area changes just as much as the weather does it seems. From pygmy goats to impeyan pheasants you never know which one of these critters is gonna add to their litters lol.

Here’s a look at our petting areas where a lot of our younger animals hand out! Our opening day for General Admission is April 28th and don’t forget we’re running a kids drawing contest right now also! Until then, we’re open for guided tours daily at 11AM and 1PM. We will talk with you all next week!

Off Season Upgrades

In the tried and true tradition of the Wisconsin Dells off-season Timbavati Wildlife Park is hard at work making off-season upgrades. This week we’re talking about creating the new addition to our gift shop. That’s right, our gift shop is getting an addition! Bathrooms!

New additions to pre-existing structures are always tough jobs to tackle, especially in commercial applications. If you recall, the Safari Train Station actually had a set of bathrooms connected to a snack store. This structure and facility was original to the property and still had a water park vibe to it.

We wanted to create something a bit more comfortable for our guests and in line with the aesthetic of what the rock wall and safari snack shack look like. It’s a big job and we will report back to you when we’re finished with it.

In other local news we have a date set for opening day! That’s right! Opening Day for general admission is April 28th, 2018! To celebrate opening day we’re going to have a kids drawing contest. We will publish more details about our opening day kids contest tomorrow!

In the meantime enjoy a video about flamingos. Talk with you all next week and remember we’re open for tours daily at 11AM and 1PM.

Timbavati Wildlife Park Crowned Crane

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. Temperatures have been a bit cold this past week but they’re climbing this week and that’s great because we are working on projects like nobody’s business in the park. That said, this week we dig into the world of the African Crowned Crane.

This national bird of Uganda likes to roost in trees. They reside in smaller flocks sometimes in groups of up to 20 birds. The crowned crane is an omnivore their diets consist of plants, grains, insects, snakes, lizards and small fish. They also have a 6 foot wingspan, I have to tell you after spending a lot of time with them, they are pretty big birds. The stand around 3-4 feet tall so a 6 foot wingspan isn’t a stretch.

Crowned Crane In A Clutch

The crowned crane lays a clutch of two to three eggs. The eggs incubate for 30 days. Their chicks are born precocial, that means they can run as soon as they hatch. Both the male and female share all of the parenting duties. They both build the nest, incubate the eggs and also care for the young.

Check out this week’s video of the Crowned Crane, there are a lot more fun facts for you to learn for trivia night in this week’s video! Check it out and we will see you all in the park. Remember we have guided tours daily at 11AM and 1PM.

Matt Schoebel A Master In His Element

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post! The weather is changing the Days are getting longer and heating bills are getting lower. That means it’s getting closer to opening day. You know who else is ready for the summer? Our very own Matt Schoebel.

If you’ve been following our weekly blog then you know that Matt has been representing our park down at the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show. Now we’re from Wisconsin so we don’t have much of an idea what this grand event is, so let me try to give you some perspective on the show.

Think Summerfest, you know like Milwaukee has. Summerfest lasts for 13 days and is chocked full of bands to entertain the millions of visitors that float through. The Houston Livestock and Rodeo show lasts for an entire month and is just as big except with animals. It’s a national event and I should some Houstonians the video we ran a couple of weeks ago about the camel rides and they educated me on how big an event it actually is.

Michael Jordan, Tom Brady and Matt Schoebel

At first glance the notoriety of the other two names above would make one wonder what this has to do with Matt. When it comes to understanding and working with animals Matt is at the head of his class. You see, he is a third generation professional animal handler. He and the animals from Timbavati Wildlife Park have been all of television and in parks and zoos everywhere.

In David Letterman’s final late show season Matt took a camel on the show for Jack Hannah to ride. He also gives wildlife presentations daily at the Houston Show. You see what makes Matt special and worthy of being mentioned in the pantheon of lore with to all-time greats is… he actually understands the animals.

You’ll frequently hear Matt say, the animals have their own personalities, just like you and I do and as we work with them on a daily basis, you have to respect how they feel. Understanding their care and comfort is just one part of what makes Matt such an awesome pro.

It’s one thing to understand the animals and their care. It’s a completely different thing to also engage humans. Matt’s animal presentations are flawless. Talk to him about any critter in our care and he knows their habits, their diets, their gestation periods, their animal classifications and what’s most important is he says it so that it is entirely relatable to the audience. You have to have the chops for presenting and lecturing. When you talk about animals and multiple species. Matt is the total package. He has to be, there’s a fourth generation of Schoebels that will walk in his footsteps and when you watch this week’s video, I think you’ll agree that not only does he deserve to be recognized as one of the best in his field but also that our future is in good hands at Timbavati Wildlife Park.

We’re open all year round with private tours daily. Our staff is incredibly knowledgeable and they’re here to answer questions as well. We want your experience to be fun and educational. That’s exactly what this week’s video is. Enjoy and we will talk next week!

http://www.fox26houston.com/archive/242446070-video#/

Timbavati Wildlife Park's Porcupine Prickle

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. Looks like the snow is pretty well behind us now! I know i totally jinxed us. If it snows again it won’t last long, next week is the first day of spring! That’s right, Timbavati Wildlife Park is springing into action as well. Speaking of spring, did you remember to turn your clocks forward? Don’t be late, the porcupine awaits.

Timbavati Wildlife Park is home to a couple of porcupines. Speaking of which, what do you call a group of porcupines? They are called a prickle which seems pretty appropriate. A prickly posse of porcupines possibly present a problem. LOL only if you are the touchy feely type though.

Did you know that the porcupine is the 3rd largest rodent in the world? We know the capybara is number one and the distinction of number two goes to the beaver. That’s pretty impressive as I have had the pleasure of working with all three species and they aren’t small critters.

Another fun fact is that porcupines have roughly 30,000 covering their bodies? Check out this week’s video for more fun facts. When you’re at Timbavati Wildlife Park feel free to ask our professional animal handlers facts about the animals. I promise they wont be prickly about it. Have a positive week and we will talk next week! Don’t forget we’re open for tours daily at 11AM and 1PM.