Burts on the Run: Wildlife Ranch--African Safari, Texas Style

Seriously, this is the slogan for Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, a 400 acre plot of land just outside of San Antonio, TX that is home to 45 "exotic, native, and threatened species" from all over the world. And it is one of the weirder field trips that Wes & I have been on since we got to southern Texas.

We woke up late one morning and, having no other real plans--and no motivation to get up and out of a seated position for the day--we decided that a "Texas Style" safari sounded like the thing for us. One simply drives around the looping six-mile roads of the Wildlife Ranch with a bag of animal feed, and creatures that thrive in the hot, arid environment mosey up to one's Ford Focus hatchback and grab a snack. It was pretty fun, but exceptionally weird to have Damaraland zebras and barasingha walk up to eat out of your hand, just "as they would in their natural habitat," according to the brochure we purchased at the front gate.

While the animals really do have the ability to roam in their designated "ranges," cattle guards keep them corralled throughout the area, and employees line the paved roadways with feed grasses so the animals stick close to where the patrons are comfortably seated in their air conditioned cars. All in all, we had fun and the animals seemed pretty fat and happy. We even saw a shiny new baby barasingha nursing in the middle of one of the paths.