Last week I wrote about a brief road trip I took with my daughter and grandsons to Oregon’s only drive-through animal park, Wildlife Safari. We were all entertained by our 90-minute drive looping through the park and observing the wide variety of animals we saw along the way, but by the end we also were ready to get out and stretch our legs and have some lunch. We parked in the large lot near the entrance and made our way into the Safari Village. This area is “always free,” which is nice for those who’d like a pleasant outing with the kids but can’t or don’t want to pay the full entrance fee for the entire park.

Masks and social distancing are required in all public places in Oregon indoors and outdoors where social distancing can’t be maintained, and these protocols are maintained at the Village. The Safari Grill, an indoor restaurant serving burgers and other fast food options, has great views over some of the exhibits, but we opted to bring our own lunch and sat at one of several outdoor picnic tables. There were plenty of family groups about, but we didn’t find it difficult to find a spot a safe distance from others. After sating our appetites, the boys made a beeline for the large play structure at the center of the village, a good place to expend a little more of their pent-up energy.

We then headed out to check out the other attractions and exhibits scattered about. Here and there along the pathways were large topiary animals including bears, a camel and an elephant;   the boys enjoyed trying to figure out which animal was depicted.

They also were impressed with the tall, elegant Chilean flamingoes gathered in a shallow pond, sharing it with striking Mandarin ducks. Not far away, an alligator sunned himself, proving he wasn’t a statue only when he would occasionally blink. We spent quite a while watching a troop of lemurs leaping about and chasing each other on their own private island in the middle of a pond cruised by enormous koi.

We took a brief interlude Down Under, visiting a comical-looking kookaburra, some curious wallaroos and a walk-through aviary full of noisy, colorful budgerigars (parakeets) and cockatiels. The boys were fascinated by the camel ride   and also thought the small train ride looked fun, but the heat and the morning’s excitement were clearly taking a toll on their energy levels. We assured them that we’d have to return sometime soon to enjoy those activities. (Both also require additional payment.) As we made our way back to the entrance to the Village, we noted a couple of spaces (the Safari Dome and Wild Americas) set up to accommodate audiences for performances or talks, but these were empty and apparently not available at this time.

The Village also offers large, clean restrooms; a gift shop; facilities for birthday parties; a theater space for presentations and films; a farm petting zoo; and unsupervised kennels for visitors’ pets (which aren’t allowed in the village area). Just before we left the Village, we paused at the Cheetah Spot to see two of these beautiful creatures up close. Wildlife Safari boasts the most successful cheetah breeding program in the Western Hemisphere (and second in the world), with 219 born here since 1973. A keeper squatted between the two very docile “ambassadors,”  one of them licking her knee with its long tongue. (She said because it seems to like to lick that particular spot repeatedly, her skin gets a bit sore and abraded from the rough tongue.) It was a wonderful conclusion to a fascinating day with such a bounty of wild creatures.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor