Do You Know about Michigan’s “Secret” Drive-Thru Safari?

Fun fact: as of right now, the entire state of Michigan only has 1 drive-thru safari! That surprised me quite a bit since I’ve been to several cool animal experiences in the state featuring non-farm animals. With all the large farms and plots of land, I subconsciously expected that more people would have created something like this. But that’s not the case.

The “secret” drive-thru safari is Site 57, located in the heart of the state at a fun place called Deer Tracks Junction in Cedar Springs. This little ~3500-person town is about 20 miles north of Grand Rapids, which means you can make a pretty easy detour here if you’re in that area.

It seems like most people steer clear of Michigan’s center in lieu of the gorgeous coastline–and quite frankly, I get it. However, since I have family in central Michigan, it’s forced me to get out and explore what’s more accessible, and we’ve found some fantastic experiences!

Some of my favorites include the Frederik Meijer Gardens, the Boulder Ridge Animal Park, and now Deer Tracks Junction.

About Deer Tracks Junction

Deer Tracks Junction has two parts: Site 57 Safari and Adventure Park. Both sections are filled with incredible creatures, big and small, that animal lovers of all ages will love getting close to!

Site 57 has quite a few larger animals, including rescued creatures like black bears, plus cows, bison, alpacas, and deer.

deer with antlers next to a car with blue sky and green grass in background. drive-thru safari — *Friendly deer at Site 57 Safari*

The Adventure Park is more like a giant petting zoo, with farm creatures, camels, and even emus ready to grab a snack from your hand! They also sell baby farm animals in the spring and summer (bunnies, piglets, goats, etc.), and they are so adorable! but more on that later…

There is a ton to see and do here, so I’m going to break this up into two posts. Today, I’ll be sharing some fun info about the Site 57 drive-thru safari and some tips for making your trip as enjoyable as possible!

About Site 57 Drive-Thru Safari

Site 57 is located on one side of Deer Tracks Junction. Inside this series of enclosures, you’ll find a wide variety of animals that are eager to get close and personal for a snack! There are 8 different sections here, and you’ll drive through two of them more than once as you make your loop. So it’s important to pace yourself (and your feed buckets), so you can fully enjoy the experience!

The creatures here range from typical farm animals to some more exotic creatures. However, almost all of these creatures are kept as farm animals in some parts of the world, which I thought was interesting. Even the camels and ostriches are technically “farm animals.”

llama eating out of a feed bucket at a drive-thru safari — *Feeding an llama*

The only truly wild creatures here are the black bears, which are rescues and part of Deer Tracks Junctions’ special conservation program. They even have 3 rescued cubs over in the Adventure Park who are beyond adorable! But that’s for another time.

Because these are wild animals (and should stay that way), your interaction with the bears is pretty much nonexistent, but you do get to see them from fairly close, which is an incredible experience.

Animals are Cuter on YouTube! Watch our Drive-Thru Safari Experience:

Quick Summary of the Drive-Thru Safari

stone archway leading to a drive-thru safari — *Entrance to Site 57 Safari*

The drive-thru safari starts at the big Site 57 archway, where you can buy tickets ($13 per person or spend $22 for a combo pass to both parks) and buckets of food ($8). After that, you’ll drive over a cattle grid and officially begin your adventure.

Llamas & Alpacas

In the first area, a herd of llamas and alpacas will have no qualms about sticking their heads right inside or walking next to your car as you creep along. They may also block your car with their enthusiasm, so drive carefully! This area also had a couple of random cows grazing around, but you’ll have plenty of them to feed later.

Bovines

Next up is the cattle enclosure! Here, you’ll find a fun variety of friendly bovines, from Texas Longhorns to gyr cattle. I particularly liked the fluffy ones, but beware. They’ll turn those big brown eyes at you and eat the whole food bucket if you’re not careful! They also slobber like crazy, which we learned from personal experience. But they’re still super cute.

Black Bears

After the cows, it’s time to roll up your windows and lock your doors–because you’re headed into the black bear enclosure! Site 57 has a number of rescued black bears who get to live in the expansive meadow here. They kept their distance from us, but we could still see them sprawled around or sniffing out food.

It’s very, very important that you do not feed the bears! These are wild animals in rehab situations. So it is a privilege to get this close, but you should not try to interact with them.

Once you exit the black bear habitat, you’ll re-enter the cattle area, where you can either feed the cows again or just keep cruising.

You’ll continue down a short side road that runs the length of the black bear enclosure. We ran into a couple of miniature donkeys here, but this stretch is otherwise pretty empty.

Bison

Eventually, you’ll drive into the bison enclosure, where a fairly large herd of buffalos live! They even had a few calves while we were there. They didn’t bother to come close to us, but we didn’t mind since we were driving a compact car and felt dwarfed by their size!

Ostriches

Ostrich approaching a vehicle at a drive-thru safari — *Site 57 has several ostriches*

Next up are the ostriches! Site 57 has a handful of these enormous birds roaming around in this meadow, and they are rather intimidating! They’ll forcefully peck the feed bucket right out of your hands if you’re not careful, so hold on tight! The staff also warns visitors to beware of wearing shiny jewelry around them because they may think that’s a snack as well!

Deer & Yaks

This next area was my absolute favorite! Dozens of deer and a herd of yaks roam this enclosure, and they were so beautiful! there were lots of common brown deer, but there was also a white deer and full-grown deer with spots like fawns! They came up to our windows so sweetly and didn’t push when we were out of food. The yaks stayed in the background, lounging in the shade or grazing in the field, but they were also fun to see so close!

Camels and Clydesdales

You’ll be craning your neck to see the animals in the next enclosure because they tower above the vehicles! Both the camels and the horses were huge and so fun to pet! They still had no problems with sticking their heads (what would fit) inside the car for some love and a few bits of feed.

Emus

I’m not going to lie–this next enclosure freaked me a little bit! The field here was comically decorated with dinosaur statues to accentuate the prehistoric vibes of the emus. And I was definitely getting some Jurrasic Park vibes as they pecked at our window and peered sideways at us through the glass. We were out of food, so we just rolled our windows up and kept going, but I couldn’t help but feel a little hunted, haha.

After the emus, you’ll circle back through the cow and llama enclosures to reach the exit. If you have any food left at this point, they’ll be happy to finish it off for you!

Tips for Visiting Site 57 Drive-Thru Safari

*Eager llamas waiting for us to enter the safari*

Buy multiple buckets of food and ration them. Thanks to the greedy cows (and their ginormous tongues), we were pretty much out of food by the 2nd enclosure. We also had no idea how big the safari was, so we didn’t know to ration them better. In hindsight, we should’ve bought at least 2 buckets and rolled right past the cows.
Take the right car. We were on a quick trip in the area, so we had nothing but our compact rental car–which we quickly realized was not the best choice for this activity. In addition to being dwarfed by all the animals, it was hard for us to pull the food away because they could still reach the middle console! Plus, we had to do a lot of cleaning up before we could return it to the rental agency–both cow slobber and spilled feed. I’d recommend a truck or SUV that you don’t mind getting dirty.
Go in the morning. Like most creatures, the animals here are more active when the sun isn’t burning down on them. Plus, they’ll be more likely to approach you for food since their tummies will be less full.
Take your time. There are tons of animals to see here, so don’t rush yourself (or let someone behind your push your pace). Let yourself enjoy all the beautiful creatures and the excitement of seeing them up close! Several of the enclosures have double pathways, so people can go around you if they want to keep moving.

Use your windows. If you don’t want to feed a particular animal (like the emus), just roll up your window and keep driving slowly. They’ll take the hint, and you’ll save food for something you’d rather see more.
Follow the rules. Sure, it would be cool to feed the bears by hand–but it would not be cool if you lost a hand because of it. Or if you sneak in your dog and it freaks the bison into a stampede. The park’s not responsible for personal stupidity or negligence, so keep the experience fun and follow all the posted rules.
Buy the double-park pass! We loved the drive-thru safari, but the Adventure Park at Deer Tracks Junction was equally fun! If you can spare an extra hour, I highly recommend buying the pass so you can enjoy both parts.

Closing Thoughts

Remember, this is just half of the fun you can have at Deer Tracks Junction! Check out my second post on the Adventure Park, which is a sprawling petting zoo that even offers bottle-feeding experiences for baby animals in spring and summer!

I would definitely come back here again for the experience, and the price is phenomenal, too!

Feel free to drop questions and comments below–I love hearing from my readers!

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Thanks for taking the time to read this post, and I hope to see you back here soon!

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Do You Know about Michigan’s “Secret” Drive-Thru Safari?

About Deer Tracks Junction

About Site 57 Drive-Thru Safari

Animals are Cuter on YouTube! Watch our Drive-Thru Safari Experience: