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Go on Safari Without Getting the Shots.

Salvage 2020 as an exciting Travel Year despite the Coronavirus

8/10/20

We have been fortunate enough to go on three safari vacations.  The one to Kenya required hundreds of dollars in shots as did the second to Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The third to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, TX did not, yet offered much of the drama and excitement of the first two for a tiny fraction of the cost and about 36 fewer hours on an airplane.  If you want to “see if you would like it” this is the authentic way to test it out.

Despite 2020 being a disappointing year for travelers, this short trip could plant the seed for the “big safari next year or in the not-to-distant- future.”  Only time when you will have to really use your imagination is when the sky is dark and you will have to imagine millions of stars in the sky!  Your proximity to Ft. Worth will require a big imagination.

Fossil Rim is only an hour and half from DFW International Airport and offers “Lodge” and “Camping” experiences that are as real as the African experience.  Food and beverage (adult) are quite good.  The animals get up at the crack of dawn and are most active in the early morning so the early safari drive leaves at 7 am.  There are also afternoon drives.

The park is truly a hidden American gem.  As much as Disney satisfies the adventure and fantasy enthusiasts on both coasts Fossil Rim gives animal aficionados the real deal and is smack dab in the middle of the country, probably less than three hours from most U.S. airports.

The story of Fossil Rim is that an oilman, Tom Mantzel, from Ft. Worth, bought it in the 70’s and his passion was exotic animals.  The park grew until the mid-80’s when the oil industry went bust and Mr. Mantzel decided to open the park to the public.  Running out of money later in the decade, he took in partners.  As he ran out of money and faced foreclosure, the partners bought him out and took ownership in 1987.  There is a longer, interesting and more detailed history on the website, fossilrim.org.

Look at the website.  Whatever they promise, they are under-estimating.  Your experience will be even better.

Let me conclude by saying we had the good fortune of spending a lot of exciting times with our granddaughters, now young ladies, and can’t remember them having more fun or laughing as hard as when the giraffes ate out of their hands on the drive,   It’s a memory none of us will forget.

As a bonus, when you leave Fossil Rim, you are in one of the prettiest parts of Texas.  Texans call it the North end of the Hill Country.

Add-on trips of a few hours’ drive can take you to the state capitol in Austin along with many lakes and parks in the area. Or maybe Waco to help Chip on demo-day (the city tour is one of the best), San Antonio and the great River Walk and nearby missions, the Hill Country including Kerrville and Fredericksburg or back to DFW and a visit to Ft. Worth, where the West will always begin or Dallas and its’ many attractions.

We will cover all of them in future blogs but let Fossil Rim be your Texas launch to a memorable, unique and enjoyable get away.

It will make you a 2020 travel hero. 

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