One of my favorite things about being a parent is remembering what I was doing at my child’s age. My daughter Josie is five years old, and I recall my parents taking me to the now-defunct Catskill Game Farm when I was that age. The Catskill Game Farm (located ironically in Catskill, New York) housed many exotic animals during its 70 years in operation. It was so cool to visit a place where you not only got to see animals but were also able to feed and pet them!
Forty-five years later (that hurts to type) and I am delighted that one of Josie’s favorite places to visit in Broome County is Harpursville’s Animal Adventure Park! Much like the old Game Farm, there is an amazing array of animals to observe and interact with. The animals on display range as big as the Tibetan Yak to as small as the Patas Monkey.
Not all the animals on display are exotic. Josie’s first stop on the well-marked trail is to feed the barnyard goats that you can hear bleating throughout the park. She gets skittish when she approaches larger animals such as the Asian Water Buffalo, mainly due to how slobbery they are when taking the kibble. We continue exploring and discover reindeer that might be pulling Santa’s sled soon, peacocks strutting their finest feathers, and even lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) The park offers extensive educational opportunities with handlers and trainers participating in ‘encounters’ and special meet and greets with the animals.
Some of Josie’s favorite animals to observe are the extremely cute capybaras. Just a short stroll from there is her favorite animal, the long limbed flamingos!! Yes, it’s because they are pink!
We pass by other odd looking birds such as the African guinea fowl with its helmet hair and always poke fun at the alpacas’ need for orthodontic work! Our last stop is always our favorite as we visit with the world famous Animal Adventure giraffes. The giraffe holds a special place in Josie’s heart as it's her Grammy’s favorite animal. We have lost count how many giraffe trinkets she has in her Florida home. In my research for this article I was happy to discover that Animal Adventure’s most famous giraffe, April, who became famous for her 2017 livestreamed pregnancy, was originally born at…the Catskill Game Farm!
In addition to its regular park which has been open since 2013, Animal Adventure now has a Preserve Safari that you are able to drive through! We took the tour this past summer and it was a blast being able to drive around deer, alpaca and even water buffalo. Our one bit of advice is to hold on to the feed bucket really, really tightly. Those animals are determined to get every last bit of food before you drive away. We were even tailed by a gang of donkeys! Josie described the entire experience as “hilarious!”
While normal hours for the park have changed with the colder weather, Animal Adventure’s annual “Jungle Bells” light display is running throughout the holiday season! Animal Adventure Park is located at 85 Martin Hill Road in Harpursville, New York.
