Hello adventurers! While visiting my grandparents in Central Michigan this past week, I decided that I wanted to explore some of the surrounding towns near their farm. While Michigan is well-known for its gorgeous lakes and some of the bigger cities like Detroit, I wanted to see was hiding along the farm roads less traveled. So, Daniel and I ditched the lakes and came across the Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park in Alto, MI, instead.
Now, if you’ve never been to a wild animal park, you’re missing out on some of the best “zoo” experiences you’ll ever have. While wild animal parks may lack the size and variety of a full-blown zoo, I love these smaller gems because they’re usually less expensive, less busy, more time-friendly, and more immersive.
The Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park hit the mark on all these perks, and that’s why I want to share it with you today!
1. Affordable Admission
If something costs more than $10 to get into, I generally expect to be impressed. Few things are more disappointing than dropping $30 on an excursion, only to come away wishing you could get your money back. However, I was delighted with what Boulder Ridge provided with the $14 adult admission fee. The variety and number of animals were wonderful, as well as how close you could get to many of them. The park has everything from playful monkeys and safari animals to fruit bats and an 11-foot alligator.
In addition to viewing an impressive compilation of animals, you can enjoy both a petting zoo and a safari ride for no additional charge (more on those later). Seniors can get in for $12, children ages 3 to 11 cost $10, and kids under 2 are free. I’ve seen petting zoos charge $10 just to pet goats and llamas, so I was thrilled to get so much for $14.
2. The Petting Zoo
Most zoos have some sort of petting zoo these days, but many of them only allow guests to pet the standard domesticated animals such as donkeys, llamas, and goats. If you’re lucky, there might be a zebra thrown in there. But Boulder Ridge blew me away with their petting zoo! The most noticeable of these would be the giraffes, antelopes, emus, camels, and wildebeest. You can hand-feed each of these animals and pet them as long as they’ll allow you to. However, there are many more animals that you can pet and/or feed, such as kangaroos, goats, zebras, prairie dogs, and aviary birds.
All their petting zoo animals seemed to have such fun personalities, and many of them would wait along the fence for food and attention. The giraffes and camels are a bit more aloof, but you can bribe them to come to the fence with a bit of food. The male giraffe, in particular, was so fun to feed because he craned his neck over the enclosure and bent down to us to take the food.
You can choose to buy treats to feed the petting zoo animals and the birds in the aviary, but the prices aren’t bad. We paid $3 for a cup full of carrot sticks and fed most of the animals more than once.
3. The Safari Ride
One thing I hate about public zoos is that the safari animals always seem so far away. With the large habitats at most zoos, the animals rarely come near the fences, and I’m usually left wondering whether I’m looking at a wildebeest or an antelope. However, Boulder Ridge solves this problem with the Safari Ride.
As I mentioned before, the Safari Ride is included in your park admission. You can ride as many times as you want, and it’s a fun and informative tour. The Safari Ride is the only way to see the back section of the park with many of the herd animals, but on a hot day, it certainly beats walking.
The herd animals have large enclosures, but the bus route is well designed to get you views of every animal. It passes several exhibits on multiple sides, so you get to enjoy everything. The bus stops at each enclosure, and a pre-recorded voice-over guide gives fun facts and general information about each animal.
The Safari Ride passes more than 30 kinds of animals, including bongos, watusi cattle, capybaras, bobcats, water buffalo, warthogs, hyenas, blesbok antelope, and beisa oryx. It’s a wide-spread and fascinating range of animals, and you get very close to most of them during the tour.
4. Baby Animals!
Most zoos make a big deal whenever a baby is born, but these occasions seem to be few and far between. In contrast, Boulder Ridge is full of adorable baby animals! In fact, from July 8-14, 2019, they’re celebrating Baby Animal Week in the park. Guests will be able to interact with many of the babies and even take photos with them!
But even if you can’t make it to Baby Animal Week for close encounters, seeing the babies in their usual habitats is a treat! I’d estimate at least 40% of the exhibits had one or more baby animals. I have never seen this many young animals at a zoo, and they made the whole experience so exciting!
I know I’m forgetting many of them, but here are a few of the exhibits with babies: African crested porcupine, Patagonia cavy, red-ruffed lemurs, squirrel monkeys, red kangaroos, reticulated giraffes, goats, alligators, emus, kudus, yaks, Anoa cattle, zebras, and Bennett wallabies. Many of the herd animals had young animals prancing around as well, but there were literally so many I couldn’t keep track! If you love adorable baby animals, Boulder Ridge is a great place to see them!
5. Perfect Size
If you’ve ever tried and failed to see the zoo in a day—particularly with children—you’ll appreciate the size of Boulder Ridge. My husband and I walked around the park twice (once at a leisurely stroll and once just checking out our favorite animals) and did the Safari Ride in about 2.5 hours. We were on a bit of a time crunch as well, so we could have drawn out the excursion if we wanted to. But we didn’t feel rushed, and we covered every section of the park.
The park also felt very balanced between the walking section and the Safari Ride. We didn’t do so much walking that the trip was exhausting, but the Safari Ride was a well-timed break. The park is also laid out nicely, so nothing is more than a five-minute walk away.
If you have small children, it will take you a bit longer, and there are more things they may want to enjoy. Children can also ride a miniature train, play on the playground and animal statues, and explore the education building.
Boulder Ridge might not be the attraction you plan an entire vacation around, but if you find yourself in the central Michigan area, I highly recommend a day trip to the park, or at least adding it as a stop on your way to the Great Lakes! It’s an amazing park, and it supports such an incredible cause for animal conservation!
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