The ranches far south of San Antonio may rumble with the sound of cattle hooves, but it's a very different bunch of four-footed herbivores gracing the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, a few kilometres north of the city. Here in the wooded hills between San Antonio and New Braunfels, you'll find a truly amazing sight – an African Safari park recreated in Texas, complete with giraffes, rhinos and leaping lemurs.
The Ranch lies near one of San Antonio's natural wonders – the giant rock arch called the Natural Bridge. It has been in the same family for a century. In the 1980s, they decided to switch from ranching cattle to ranching zebra, setting up one of the state's first safari park. To keep things simple, the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch only hosts the herbivores from the wide African savannah, so no lions or tigers. But they still make a pretty impressive bunch.
The giraffes will probably be the first inhabitants you'll spot wandering around its 162 hectares of ranch land. But the other inhabitants will soon make themselves known. Because you can feed the animals from specially-provided feed bags, antelope such as the Aoudad or Kudu have learned to make a bee-line for your car. Perhaps the most inquisitive are the zebras, which have been known to poke their muzzles through open car windows in the hope of some extra morsels.
There are also African ostriches and emus – and the giant Eland antelope – strutting across the Safari portion of the Ranch. And bringing it closer to home, you may also see the mighty American Bison making an appearance. The Walkabout section lets you get up close to a more diverse bunch – gibbons, macaws, peacocks, and the ranch's young giraffe twins. The Lemur Island has been carefully constructed to recreate the Madagascan home of the ring-tailed lemurs, seen scampering among its trees.
Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch also has a petting zoo, perfect for younger children, a grill-themed restaurant and a shop dedicated to selling mementoes of your 'wild' day out. But perhaps the best take-home will be the memory of indulging in a full-blooded African wildlife experience, all done Texan-style.
