Zoo Review: Tanganyika Wildlife Park, Part II

Tanganyika Wildlife Park bills itself as the most interactive wildlife park in the Midwest, and not without just cause.  The facility offers several opportunities for guests to interact with animals.  Some of these opportunities are fairly run-of-the-mill, typical zoo experiences.  Others are quite unique.

Upon purchasing a ticket, a visitor is given tickets to participate in a certain number (it was five at the time of my visit) of "basic" animal interactions.  They can use all of them on a single type of interaction, or spread them out among different experiences.  Among the typical zoo experiences is the giraffe feeding station.  Tanganyika maintains a very large herd of giraffes, split into two groups and rotated between the feeding yard and a back yard.  Another fairly typical feeding experience (though one that is very popular with the public) is the lorikeet feeding aviary.

The zoo also boasts of a kangaroo walkabout, as well as encounter stations where visitors can pet/feed African tortoises, rabbits, guinea pigs, and goats.  I remember thinking that all they needed was to add a stingray touch tank and they could complete the standard hands-on zoo experience.

There were, of course, a few more unique opportunities for visitors to get hands-on with animals...

Walk-through lemur exhibits are fairly common in European facilities, but very rare in American ones.  Tanganyika has an island habitat for ring-tailed lemurs, which visitors can enter under staff supervision.  Upon being given a small cup of feed, the visitor will soon find himself/herself with eager lemurs sitting on their lap, happily feeding (while staff take pictures/try to keep the troop in line).

Many zoos offer behind-the-scenes tours with rhinos, but at Tanganyika rhino encounters are part of the daily experience at the outdoor exhibit.  At certain times of day visitors are allowed access to the Indian rhinos to feed and touch the behemoths (the rhinos had just welcomed a calf at the time of my visit, so this encounter was not available that day).  I remember how absolutely spellbound I was as a young zoo visitor when I got to pet an Indian rhino for the first time (photo safari at San Diego Zoo Safari Park), so I can imagine what a thrill it would be for kids and adults alike.

Perhaps the most unusual of the "basic" animal encounters is the pygmy hippo feeding experience.  This is what really drove me to visit the park, though I'll admit, I found it a little... underwhelming.  Mainly because there was no hands-on aspect, which I suppose is fair, as they don't advertise it as such.  The hippos approach a barrier, and you are given the opportunity to toss carrot sticks into their mouths.  Note: a pygmy hippo's mouth is much smaller than a Nile hippo's, so it's a much harder target, especially as carrot sticks don't toss as easily as one might suspect.  Fortunately staff gave me a mulligan after one of mine bounced off the hippo's mouth.

Tanganyika also offers additional paid encounters to feed and interact with other species.  Doubtlessly the most unusual of these is the opportunity to swim with the African penguins - as far as I can tell, this is the only zoo in the country that offers this experience.

Tanganyika was certainly a unique facility, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it when I left.  Seeing so many hands-on opportunities always makes me feel ambivalent.  On one hand I worry that it is too much exposure for the animals (especially the lemurs in this post-COVID era).  On the other, I've had all of these opportunities (minus the hippo feeding) before, and I know how transformative they can be for some people.  I do worry about exotic animals being in a situation where they mostly function as feed-consumers and pet-acceptors, rather than as... well, animals.

Tanganyika's enclosures seemed adequate, if not exciting, and the collection looked well cared for and healthy.  I've heard concerns from some zoo folks about the zoo supplying animals to less-appropriate facilities (this is the main producer of African penguins outside of AZA).  That being said, many AZA zoos do collaborate with Tanganyika, which means they've cleared their vetting process.

I suppose it comes down to values, then.  If you're a visitor who's priority is to see animals in naturalistic habitats with an emphasis on natural behavior, or want to see a variety of species, especially smaller animals, such as birds and herps, this might not be your favorite facility.  If you want to have interactions and close encounters with animals, however, this might be your favorite zoo.