Timbavati Wildlife Park - Into The Grasslands

Greetings friends and welcome to April 2019! Wooo that’s right this rock has already completed a quarter of this year’s orbit around the sun. Today of course is April Fools’ Day so I want you to be mindful of the pranksters out there telling you that your shoes are untied ok? All jokes aside, the Grasslands Area of Timbavati Wildlife Park offers a seriously great time for people of all ages.

The Grasslands Area is open during our general admission season which begins at the end of April. This area is home to our signature Giraffe and Camel feeding encounter. It’s encompassed by our signature Safari Train Ride. Timbavati Wildlife Park is home to Old Fort Dell’s Engine No. 9. When you take the train you’ll ride through exclusive pastures accessible only by our Safari Train Ride. You’ll have a chance to see animals like zebras and ostriches, emu and wildebeests.

If there’s one thing you have to do when you’re in the Wisconsin Dells it’s feed a giraffe right? The camels love a good carrot as well. The Giraffe and Camel feeding encounters are entertaining for people of all ages and is a stop on our Safari train Ride. This is a great place for you and your loved ones to take some time to relax and enjoy the company of the animals.

The Safari Train and Grasslands Area will be available at the end of April but don’t fret. We are currently open for our tour season. We have two Encounter Tours that run daily at 11am and 1pm. The Encounter Tour is a great way to spend spring break. We have guided interactions with multiple animal species 7 days a week. Visit our website for more information.

Timbavati Wildlife Park - Into The Interaction Area

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. This is a super exciting time of year for us because we’re only about six weeks away from the start of our summer season. In the next few weeks leading up to opening day we will be taking a look at all of the different areas of the park and what their general offerings are. Before we dig in I am inclined to remind you that the species of animals and their locations within Timbavati Wildlife Park are subject to change without notice. With that said, let’s take a look at the Interaction Area.

The “Interaction Area” is always a hit with our guests, especially the really young kids that visit us. The photograph featured in today’s blog is one of our interactive areas. We have a few interactive areas within the park and they are always teeming with animals. These areas have everything in them from alpacas to baby camels to pygmy goats. The smaller animals are a really great way to get young kids used to nature and wildlife in general.

Our “Parakeet Encounter” is another area in the Interaction Area that’s a hit. The Parakeet Encounter allows you to enter a huge bird house filled with little budgies from the land down under. Grab a feed stick, hold it out like you’re hailing a taxi and be still. Before you know it you’ll have a bird in the hand. You can’t beat that one.

We have two nurseries. Nursery one is where you will find a lot of our newborns and nursing animals. Baby kangaroos and sloths, reptiles and exotic birds. Nursery one has it all. Nursery two has a lot of our nocturnal creatures. Really big eyes are a good sign of a critter that moves around in lower light situations. Take owl monkeys for instance. With their big eyes you take one look at them and you can tell those are set up for low light. No matter the day there is always something to see in the nurseries.

We have a large parrot cage filled with McCaws and other larger tropical fowl. Sometimes you walk past and hear someone say, “Hello.”  You think someone is behind you but you look and it’s a bird. It wants some attention. Just walk up and say, “Hello.” it might jaw with you.

Lastly, during our general admission season we have “Swine Time Pig Races” and “Wildlife Presentations.” The Pig Races are a fun time with lots of jokes to keep you entertained while the athletes go all out in search of the vaunted Oreo cookie at the finish line. The Wildlife Presentations are a great experience also. Our professional animal handling staff gives you a lot of great information about animals that you’ll be able to see up close and personal.

The Interaction Area is an oasis of family fun that has a pace which is really comfortable for everyone who stops in. That’s what we come to the Dells for right? To be somewhere that takes us away from the hustle and bustle of boardrooms and punch presses. We have two encounter tours daily at 11am and 1pm. Check out this week’s video for a look at the Interaction Area and we will see you in the park!

Timbavati Wildlife Park Talking Camels

Greetings and salutations dear friends and welcome to this weeks blog! Seems as if we’re right in the middle of winter and springs annual tug of war as we set the clocks forward last weekend and prepare for the big thaw. One creature who is at home in almost any climate is the camel. We often think of the camel as a hot desert animal. The desert gets very cold at night also. Camels are built Ford tough LOL.

There are two kinds of camels. Dromedary (Arabian) camels have one hump. Bactrian (Asian) Camels have two. The largest myth about camels is that their humps are filled with water, which they aren’t. The hump is a fat reserve that a camel can metabolize for survival in times when food and water are scarce.

Camels have two rows of eyelashes to keep the sand out of their eyes. Im sure these lashes would be solid in a blizzard also. Camels live all over the planet so they see a wide array of climates. There are still a lot of remote villages and communities all over the globe. These places don’t all have roads, sometimes the only way for these people to move supplies is by camel. Camels also possess the ability to close their nostrils to protect their airways from sand as well.

A thirsty camel can drink up to 135 liters of water in 1 sitting and rehydrate faster than any other animal. They drink to replace the water they’ve lost. Camels roam the deserts in herds of up to 30 members. Camels can also run at speeds of up to 25 miles an hour for extended periods.

A camel has a gestation period of 12 to 14 months and usually only give birth to one baby but can have twins. A newborn calf is able to walk within the first 30 minutes of birth. The mother will keep the baby from the herd for the first couple of weeks in the calf’s life and a camel is considered fully mature at the age of 7 years.

Check this week’s video out to see some of the camel life in Timbavati Wildlife Park. We have Camel Rides from Memorial Day to Labor day during the summer. We have two Encounter Tours that run daily at 11am and 1pm. Enter through the Gift Shop. That’s all for this week, talk with you all next week!

The Wildebeests of Timbavati Wildlife Park

Greetings friends and welcome to the first Monday in the month of March. Basketball tournaments aren’t the only sign of the 3rd month of the year. This month begins the countdown to our opening weekend which is only about 8 weeks away. That’s a very short period of time in animal years LOL.  One thing that won’t be short is your trip to Timbavati Wildlife Park where you can see really cool animals like our Wildebeests.

This native of Africa can be found in the southern half of Africa. It is also referred to as a gnu. The wildebeest is one of the largest antelopes, from head to tail it can be 8 feet and weigh up to 600 pounds. There are two species of wildebeests, the blue wildebeest and the black wildebeest. The blue can weigh up to 595 pounds while the black can weigh up to 340 pounds.

A Wildebeest Family Affair

Wildebeests live in herds comprised of males females and young. During migrations large herds comprised of all kinds of antelope all move together for safety and well because they’re all following the fresh water sources and grazing pastures. Males attract females by rubbing their scent into the ground. The gestation period for a female is 8.5 months and she will give birth to a single calf. The calf can walk at birth and is ready to run with the rest of the herd a few days after birth.

During the African migration that occurs at the end of the rainy season about 1.2 million wildebeests join zebras and gazelles as they all travel to the savannas where there is plenty of food and water.

The gestation period of the  wildebeest is 8 and a half months. At the start of the rainy season which is February and March, female wildebeests give birth to baby calves. Calves weigh 44 to 49 pounds at birth. Calves learn to walk within minutes and the join the herd within a few days.

Timbavati Wildlife Park is home to all manners of creatures both large and majestically diminutive. We're open for tours daily during our winter season at 11am and 1pm. Stop on into our gift shop to take the tour today. Talk with you all next week.

The Eland Antelope of Timbavati Wildlife Park

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. By my calculation we only have 3 weeks of winter left before the weather breaks. That is of course if you listened to Puxatawny Phil that is. The groundhog never saw his shadow so winter of course is almost over. No matter how long the frozen season lasts, one thing is for sure. We’re going to be open (minus major holidays), and the animals will be here too. This week we take a look at one of the mighty antelope that we have living in Timbavati Wildlife Park, the eland.

The eland is a an antelope from the southern and eastern plains of Africa. The eland is the largest antelope, there are two species of eland, the giant eland and the common eland. An adult male eland can be as heavy as 2200 pounds and stand about 5 feet tall at the shoulders.

The eland can jump really high also, it can easily clear a two meter fence if it has a good head of steam. The eland is crepuscular. This means that they are active primarily at dusk and dawn, during the heat of the day they rest to conserve energy and stay cool. A herd of elan can have up to 500 members and they will travel the plains with other antelopes and zebras.

Mating typically occurs when the plains are lush with fresh vegetation. The gestation period for a female eland is nine months and the mother gives birth to a single calf. The mother leaves the herd to give birth and can be gone for up to 24 hours. The young actually form their own herd and are hidden in the herd until they wean which is after about 6 months.

For more awesome animal facts come and take our Encounters Tour. We have two tours that kick off daily at 11am and 1pm. Tickets can be purchased online or at the park, just enter through the gift shop. Don’t forget to check out this week’s video and we will see you in the park!

When Is It A Tortoise And Not A Turtle?

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog. I was sitting around and thinking to myself, “Self, When is a turtle not a tortoise or vice versa? Then self said to me “well you have that really killer video clip of Ashley explaining the large fundamental differences between the two” and myself was right! Ok I am kidding but I do have the clip and it does give us some fundamental differences.

The largest one of course being the difference between being able to swim or not. Tortoises dwell on land. There are a great many other differences between them also. When you’re looking a tortoise you’ll see more of a dome shaped shell. A turtle’s shell is more streamlined to be aquadynamic (like aerodynamic but in water). A tortoise’s shell is generally heavier than a turtle’s also.

When you look at their appendages you see a fundamental difference as well. A tortoise has short feet that are pretty sturdy. A turtle has webbed feet with claws on them. A tortoise will live between 80 and 150 years while the lifespan of a turtle is 20 to forty years. The oldest tortoise on record was 326 years old. It’s name was Adwaita and it lived from 1750 to 2006 in India. The current champ is going strong at 186 years old on the Island of Saint Helena.

There are a lot of other really killer facts about the differences between the two and to help us talk more about the differences this week’s video features Ashley and Lexi in a keeper talk discussing the differences. Lexi is showing off a red footed tortoise. Don’t forget we have two Encounter Tours that begin daily at 11am and 1pm. Thanks and we’ll talk again next week!

Swine Time Pig Races At Timbavati Wildlife Park

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s post. I am ecstatic this week because I am setting things up for the summer. On top of that, people like you who are planning your 2019 vacations are asking about the park and our offerings for the upcoming year. We thank you, we want to be one of your “must see” destinations when you come to the Wisconsin Dells. This week we will take a look at our beloved Swine Time Pig Races.

When you hear the bugle charge in Timbavati Wildlife Park you know that can only mean one thing. It’s time for Swine Time Pig Races and the runners are at the starting line. You know, I’d have to say one of the best parts about the pig races are actually you.

Watching people laugh at the jokes or cheer on their favorite pigs (by stage names of course) is a big part of that experience. We love to have a good time and Swine Time Pig races entertain adults and families of all ages. As for the pigs, well they’re pretty much natural athletes. Pigs can hoof it at 11 miles per hour. I think I would like to try my hand at racing a pig, I might be able to compete at that speed.

This weeks video actually shows the women’s division of our Swine Time Pig Races. Lindsey Lowham and a few others make cameo appearances in it. Now our pig races don’t begin until the start of May but that doesn’t mean you can’t visit us right now! We have two encounter tours daily at 11am and 1pm. Stop on in and see what we have to offer, our petting areas and nurseries are a big hit with people of all ages. That’s it for this week’s blog if you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out to us and we will see you in the park!