The Drive Thru Zoo You Must See

Just south of Waukesha County is a drive-thru zoo you must really see to believe. The animals come up to the car. The whole experience was unreal and so fun. The kids loved it! Many thanks to Safari Lake Geneva for providing Lake Country Family Fun with free passes in exchange for sharing our experience.

*If you come from the north like us, there is just a small sign on Hwy H before the road to turn on. So, keep your eyes peeled!

The Drive-Thru Zoo You Must See

It’s been officially summer in our house for two weeks now. After a rough start to our summer with a head injury for one the kiddos, we were on the lookout for low key fun, but high quality experience. Thus, we ended up at Safari Lake Geneva. We’ve heard of this venue, but summer 2021 was our first visit. Our family loves animals and outdoors, and this was a bit of a mix of both.

We hopped in the car and headed to Lake Geneva and arrived just soon after they opened. We were scheduled for the 10:00 am timeslot, but arrived around 9:40 am, and they let us go in early. The staff was very friendly, explaining which animals to feed and which animals not to feed (the newly arrived giraffes). She also explained that the zebras are nippy and the ostriches make a pinch like motion with their beaks, so definitely don’t feed any animals by hand. Instead, let them take it out of the buckets {like that camel above}.

Let me tell you, the ostriches were aggressive. As in they are not afraid to peck your car window and demand their feed. 😁 As well as the cattle upon first entering. It was so wild. We thought some were going to climb in our car! Not quite, but we’ve not yet experienced being so up close and personal with these big animals. The kids thought it was great! There was a staff present that cleared the animals out of the drive path when were done feeding. However, we liked to just let the animals be, and they eventually walked away.

If you are curious about what animals they have at the Safari, see their list HERE.

You can do the loop more than once, so we took two laps around to revisit our favorite animals. We really enjoyed the llamas, alpacas, and the mule. I left feeding a camel, and he was so grateful for finishing off our feed bucket before we exited.

Our first loop took about 45 minutes to complete. Time would depend on the speed of the car in front of you, how long you stop to feed the animals, and how many stops you make to feed the animals. Because we went early on a weekday, there was not a lot of traffic, and we spaced ourselves out pretty far from the car in front of us. They typically sell out of timeslots on the weekend, so plan ahead for that if you want to go on a weekend.

My kids can’t wait to go back!

Safari Lake Geneva: What You Need to Know

You must schedule your time slot online prior to arriving.
We’d recommend an early time slot on a weekday if your schedule allows.
We’d recommend folding in your car mirrors if you can. {A water buffalo thought my driver-side mirror was in his way.😁}
Get at least 2 buckets of feed or one per person to have enough for the whole loop.
Feel free to keep your car windows up or down, but you cannot put them up while an animal is feeding. I may have had some passengers that were intimidated by the ostriches, so we left up our windows when the ostriches were near and put them down when they were away.
Truly go slow and enjoy the animals. The speed limit is 2 mph. We went slow and took many stops to feed and observe the animals.
Bring a towel to wipe down any interior drool from the animals. We had a few animals that put their heads in our car and dribbled a bit.
Consider getting a car wash on your way home. We left with a few mud stripes on the outside from the animals brushing up against the car. Nothing that a little soap won’t fix.
They offer giraffe feeding with lettuce on the hour for 10 minutes (10:00 am to 10:10 am and 11:00 am to 11:10 am, etc…) This is done in a separate area, where you are outside your vehicle and can walk up to them. We did this after the drive through portion before we ended our visit.

Have you been to Safari Lake Geneva? Tell us all about it on our Facebook Page HERE or our Instagram Page HERE.

Find their website and ticket information HERE.