Best places to visit in Virginia - Virginia Safari Park

There are few states in USA which can be considered as synonym to natural beauty and Virginia is one of them. It can be also called the natural jewel of the USA Eastern Coast.

"Virginia is for Lovers" is the state's tourism slogan and it holds true in many ways.
Whether you are a wildlife lover or nature lover, a mountain lover or beach lover, history lover or wine lover, this places has something for everyone which will make them fall in love with it.

We were quite excited about our trip to Virginia and were all set to experience some of the world famous places, which are a must visit if you are travelling to Virginia and are not short on time.
Below are the top five places to visit in Virginia -:
    1. Shenandoah National Park
    2. Luray Caverns
    3. Virginia Safari Park
    4. Virginia Beach
    5. If you love wine and history, visit towns like Williamsburg, Charlottesville, Richmond and
        Fredericksburg.

We started our tour of Virginia from Virginia Safari Park, which is a 180-acre drive-through zoo located in Natural Bridge, VA. It is a great place for people of all ages.

There are 4 main things to do here -:

1. Safari Drive thru
    This is the main attraction of the Safari Park.
    You can drive your vehicle in the three miles of maintained gravel road with over 1000 animals
    running and roaming around freely. There will be yalks, bisons , elks, ostriches, rheas, oryxs,
    blackbucks, more than 6 types of deer, antelopes, llamas, watusi and many more animals coming
    to your vehicle for the food and you can feed them the specialty grain which is provided by the
    park. You are not allowed to feed your own food.

    

There are other animals like Zebras, Rhinos, Giraffes and Camels which are also seen in drive thru
    but they are inside the fence and not allowed to room freely, may be because of the security 

    reasons. The interaction with animals, watching them from so close and especially feeding huge 

     animals like yalk, bison or elk is a lifetime experience.

    If you don’t want to take your own vehicle inside, there are safari owned wagons where you can
     get a seat for $6.5.

Check out from videos from the Drive Thru -:

                                           

                                           

2. Budgie Adventure Aviary
     If you are a bird lover, especially of those small colorful ones, than this is the place for you.
     You can walk in this free-flight aviary and there will be many colorful budgies flying and  

     roaming all around. You can feed them with the Budgie feed sticks which you can get at the gift 

     shops for $1.5 each.

     There are more than 6 types of colorful budgies, parrots and cocks here.
     Feeding these amazing creatures, especially when the gentle and vivid colored budgies perch on
      your hand, is simply incredible.

 
3. Giraffe Feeding
    What is it like getting close to and feeding a 20 feet animal? Well in most of the cases it will be
     thrill, excitement and an experience of a lifetime. Giraffe feeding to me is something amazing and 

     I would definitely recommend it to all my readers.

    You can get lettuce pack for $4.5 at the feeding point.

                                         

   

4. Safari Village walk thru
    There is another part of the park other than the Safari drive thru which is equally awesome, The
     Safari Village walk thru. 

    It is divided into different territories -:
    1. Tiger Territory, where you will get to see the great Bengal Tiger from India.

    2. Kangaroo Walk about, where you can walk through the enclosure with Kangaroos hopping
        around and lying in the sun.

    3. Reptile house, where you can watch snakes and dragons crawling.

    4. Petting area, where you can feed goats, pigs, chickens and baby llamas.
    5. I personally loved the cute monkeys doing somersaults and having fun. 

    

6. Apart from the above ones there are many other animal also like wolves, penguins,
     cheetahs and big tortoises.

7. Do check out the vultures there who believe in living life king size.

Tickets & Fees
The entry fee for the park is $25 for an adult

Connectivity

Easily accessible and has lot of free parking space available.

Food

There is café inside where you will get a variety of options to satisfy your hunger.

Stay
There are hotels available in vicinity but they are a bit costly, I would suggest to go for Airbnb so that you can get a homely feeling in reasonable price.

Now time for some gyan from Explorer Lens
1. If you are looking to photograph and feed the animals, it is advisable to take the wagon instead of
    taking your own car because you will be busy driving and have to be more cautious because of
    animals coming from all around.
    Also with wagon ticket you get the bucket of grains free while individually it costs around 

    $4/bucket.
2. The animals are fresh and energetic in the morning so plan to go before 12 p.m. so that you get to
     have the max interaction.
3. Keep some quarters handy as there are lot of feeding machines which accepts only quarters.

Here are few more pics and videos from the Drive Thru, hope you will enjoy them.