I will start at the beginning. A friend of mine posted a link on Facebook that offered a great deal on tickets to a place called Niagara Safari, which I had never heard of it before, but from the looks of their website it would be a great place to take the kids and you can't argue with $13.00 per ticket regular $20.00.
I bought and printed tickets for Keira, James, Sascha and myself (Sawyer got in free because she is 3 years old). We decided that we would go on a Sunday as it's a 2.5 hour drive at least.
The trip there was awesome. We left at 6am, all three kids were asleep by 7am. They slept until we were almost there. Once we were there, the staff were awesome, and to our delight they offered wagon rentals. The place was pretty much empty when we first got there. We arrived when they were just opening, in hindsight I wish we hadn't gotten there that early.
As we took the tram through the park to stop 7, I saw things I wish I hadn't, such as the wolves pacing inside an extremely small enclosure, and the bears were doing the same thing. At stop 7 Sascha took the kids on the paddle boats (which is included in the ticket price), everyone used the washroom facilities and had snacks. We started through the "Safari". We saw many different kinds of animals. The children were so excited to see them all. By the time we got to the Kangaroos I had already made my mind up about the "Safari" and we would never bring the children there again. The Kangaroos (which I think were one of the few animals that actually looked happy), were hopping around, socializing and playing with each other. The kids decided they were going to hop like the Kangaroos, and it was neat to watch the Kangaroos become very interested in the kids once they started to hop all around.
The budgies exhibit was one of the only animal areas I enjoyed. You buy a seed stick (it is a Popsicle sick dipped in sap and covered in seeds), enter the area and the birds come up and eat off the stick. It was quite a neat experience. While we were getting ready to leave the budgie enclosure the young man running it said we could not leave because when the last family was leaving a bird had gotten out. The poor young man couldn't catch it so of course I jump in, Sascha and I help catch it and put it back in the enclosure. With about 30 other visitors watching, I gained the title the bird whisper. It was kind of an ironic title as I am not much of a fan of birds, yes they are pretty to look at but, I would rather not be pooped on or attacked by a flock.
We came to the Adventure Zone. This was a rope maze that was extremely high. They had a little one for the little guys. Sawyer and I stuck to the little one, Sascha, James and Keira decided to give the big one a try. You are harnessed off, it was kind of neat and all the kids enjoyed it for the most part. This was included with your ticket price.
At this point we have been walking and doing things for 5 hours, kids are getting cranky and I am as well. We decide its a great time for lunch. We packed a cooler the night before so we wouldn't have to pay for food within the park. We took the wagon out to the car grabbed our cooler and sat in the grass under some trees for a much needed break and lunch. Once lunch was finished we didn't have too much of the park left to do.
The bears was one of our next stops, the black bears were bored and pacing along the fence. The brown bears were playing and interacting with each other. It was neat to watch how they played together and got along. Their space was far too small for what they needed.
Oh the monkeys, how I love monkeys and watching play and interact it amazing to watch, these ones were bored and wanted attention. The babies played a little bit, but mostly they were reaching out to you.
The big cat section was a big let down, they didn't have even close to enough space for them. Many had their backs and heads turned out of fear or just wanting to be left alone.
We didn't end up doing the splash pad because it was cooling down, the kids were tired and so were we.
There was lots to see and do at Niagara Safari, but the way they keep their animals, the way the animals behaved, the longing looks in their eyes made saying we will never go back and I will never recommend it an easy call to make.
The Niagara Safari should be called a zoo, not a safari because that is just what it is. I give it more credit then the road sides zoos but not by much.
http://www.safariniagara.com/
http://www.groupon.ca/
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