safari north

Took my 17 year old sister who is an animal lover and we both had a good time. Variety of animals to see, although it seems the cages are a little small.

Let me just start by saying.... I love Zoos. I go to each one I can and have been to dozens upon dozens- multiple times. THIS ONE IS BY FAR THE BEST! My family and I (a group of 15 of us!) went there as a family activity and each person LOVED it. We were hooked from the first enclosure! Talking and singing tucans! They were so fun! From there it just got better! I am a giraffe lover and we all delighted in feeding the giraffe carrot sticks. Such joy and adoration on the little kids faces! The camel ride was auspicious! The monkeys were delightful to watch- they seemed to love putting on a show for an audience. I must say that our favorite overall was the Parakeet Landing! Hundreds of Parakeets that you could walk amidst and they would land on you and peck at your hair our try to pull on the tag of your shirt! The kids were giggling in delight and the adults were smiling and laughing just as much! We spent so much time there because it was an unparalleled joy and delight to have found!

My wife and I went here for an outing with our grand-daughter. It was interesting for adults, but our grand-daughter loved it. Many of the animals are up close, and some can interact with. She loved feeding the giraffe(food is purchased there). The large animals are in a large fenced area, but still close enough for viewing. A must is to purchase the seed sticks for the parakeets. The kids will make instant friends with the birds. There is a petting zoo where the kids can touch and feel the animals and interact with them. Another highlight is the deer which allowed to be petted.We enjoyed our visit, and the staff were very pleasant and helpful.

My family and I recently visited Safari North Zoo in September. They have a really nice facility with well made buildings and nice structures. Some of the animals were really fun to see and great to be close to look at them. It all looks good from the outside... My concern was with the small enclousres that very large animals were in. Also, lots of the animals looked very distressed. Lots were pacing, foaming, attacking the cage. There were even a few animals that had marks on their face and bodies where they were rubbing themselves on the structures. The farm animal area, was concerning as the young cow was just laying there. The goat area smelled so awful we couldn't get close.There were several young kids out driving around on a golf cart. I was concerned on how experienced these individuals were on a golf cart with several spectators walking around. Lastly, there was NO SOAP/sanitizer to wash our hands in the entire Zoo!! All of the hand washing stations were empty. I went to the snack shack and asked to use there hand soap. They had no hand soap in the snack shack. So I asked to borrow their Dawn dish soap. NO dish soap. Really... you are working in a snack shack preparing food (which I can see) and preparing bird food for the parakeet cage and you have nothing to wash your hands with? OH gross. My family and I had touched deer, feed birds, touched goats, turkeys. camels, horses, tortoises and you have nothing for my 1 year old to wash with. GROSS!!

A brand new zoo recently opened in the Brainerd Lakes area. A HUGE collection of animals from all over the world, many not often found in zoos(and not in any other zoo in MN to the best of my knowledge!). It is obviously in its first year of operation and I expect to see improvements made over the next few years. The cost was average for zoos in MN. You can pet deer(if the deer want to be pet, they have an open area, with a rope you do not cross so the deer can get away if they want), feed a giraffe named Puzzles for $5(for a dixie cup full of carrots), ride a camel for $5, feed parakeets for a $1. There is also a petting zoo with the $.25 grain dispensers that houses goats, pigs, chickens, a warthog, cows, miniature donkey, llama, miniature horse and an American pony. Worth the visit and I hope this zoo gets the community support and gets to make a go of it!