You can walk if you prefer, but it’s close to a mile away (uphill) so the shuttle is really the way to go. When you arrive at The Wilds, you’ll park in their lot (which costs $6), and there is a shuttle that will drive you up to the visitors center. Not a bad spot to find yourself when you take a wrong turn! To avoid any mishaps, I’d recommend using the directions provided on The Wilds’ website. We did miss a turn on our way there, but we were at least treated with some lovely scenery until we got back on track. It’s pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, and you most likely won’t have cell service to help guide you there unless you were able to put the address into Google Maps or Waze before setting out. Getting to The Wilds is a bit of an adventure if you’re from out of town.
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You and about 30 others board a bus with no windows and set out onto the approximately 2,000 acres that currently provide a home (and ample room to roam!) to several different animal species. In 1994, The Wilds started offering tours and ten years later they created their open-air safari, which is the tour we took when we visited. Many of the species at The Wilds are extinct or seriously endangered in the wild, and The Wilds participates in various breeding programs to help regrow these animals’ numbers and, in some cases, reintroduce species to their native lands.ĭespite the idea for The Wilds being conceived in the 70s, it wasn’t until 1992 that The Wilds was finally ready to release its first species out into pasture: the Przewalski’s Horse. The Wilds formed a partnership with the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium back in 2001 and they have several other partnerships with conservation and species-survival organizations.
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Jack Hanna, an animal expert, conservationist, and TV personality, is on the board of The Wilds and one of the strongest supporters of the work being done there. The Wilds is a seriously legit organization, and they have been accredited by the Association of Aquariums and Zoos (the AZA) since 1996. This nonprofit was gifted the land The Wilds currently sits upon by a subsidiary of American Electric Power, and work began to make the idea of The Wilds become a reality. In the late 70s, the idea for The Wilds was conceived and a nonprofit was created in 1984 with the name International Center for the Preservation of Wild Animals, Inc. The Wilds is located in Cumberland, OH, on land that had been used for several decades for mining. If you love wild animals and yearn to see them roaming in wide-open spaces, The Wilds is the place for you! About The Wilds The view of some of The Wilds from the Overlook Cafe’s patio Located about an hour and a half from Columbus, The Wilds is the largest wildlife conservation center in North America, and visitors can take an open-air safari throughout part of their nearly 10,000 acres of property. My husband and I recently returned from a road trip out to Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia, and one of the first stops on our trip was at a wonderful place called The Wilds.