Wildside Tour at The Wilds in Ohio

If you have watched “Secrets of the Zoo” on Disney+, then you may be familiar with The Wilds, a conservation center in Southeast Ohio. This really is an amazing place to visit and I am so lucky to actually live not far from The Wilds. I have done the open air safari tour several times and enjoy that tour immensely, however as part of a recent stay-cation, I did the Wildside Tour. As amazing as the open air safari tour is, I had no idea what I was missing with the Wildside Tour! The Wildside Tour is a bit pricey at $125pp and that is why I had never done it before. However, I am here to say it is worth it. On this tour you are able to be closer to the animals and there are a few animals that you can feed or touch. Each tour is a small group (our group was 7 people) in the back of a modified truck with bench seating. Our guide was great and answered our questions and provided more in-depth information on the individual animals we saw on our tour. Since we live so close, I purchased a Wilds membership that dropped our price to $100pp and free parking, plus we can go visit again for “free” with our membership to do the open air safari tour. This year, all tours are purchased online in advance and are a timed entry. If you have a Columbus Zoo and Aquarium membership, then you are eligible for discounted tickets for the open air safari (daily) tour. If you live further away and have a zoo membership for a zoo near you, check to see if they have a reciprocal agreement with The Wilds for discounted tickets. These discounts do not apply to all tours available however.

As you can see we really get up close to the animals on this tour. Halfway though the tour we stopped at the carnivore center where you can use the restroom and purchase drinks, snacks and view the animals that are housed here.

After a 20 minute stop at the carnivore center, we continued on with our tour. Videos are really the best way to see what you get to experience on this tour, so here are a few more.

I hope you get to experience The Wilds someday and this post inspired you to visit this conservation center in Ohio! I will leave you with a couple more of my favorite photos from this tour.