Hidden Gems of Gainesville: Carson Springs Open House Safari

A local wildlife conservation facility will be welcoming guests for an open house and introducing visitors to newly acquired exotic animals.

Carson Springs Wildlife Conservation Foundation will be hosting its third annual Spring Safari on April 14 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors will have the opportunity to tour the park, interact with over 80 animals and grab a bite to eat from an assortment of food trucks.

This year will be the largest Spring Safari yet, according to park vice president and cofounder Barry Janks. One of the new attractions this year will be a first meeting with Abigail the jaguar.

There are events scheduled throughout the day to keep visitors entertained. Visitors will have the chance to feed Henry the rhino and interact with lemurs. There are also opportunities to watch big cat feedings and two warthog races.

“The warthogs run down out of their enclosure and around a track,” Janks said. “It’s quick, but the kids love it— well, everyone likes it.”

He said that the park has over 80 animals right now, but there is a chance that new babies will be born before the day of the event.

Food vendors including PDQ, Cilantro Taco and Taste will be at the event. Janks said there will be no shortage of treats throughout the day.

Last year’s event drew a crowd of around 2,500 people and he believes that this year will be even bigger for the park.

A lot of the crowd consists of young children, but there is a good mix of ages, according to Janks.

Ticket prices for the Spring Safari are $10 for adults and $5 for children under the age of 12. Tickets will be sold at the door on the day of the event.

Every penny the park makes at the event will go directly to animal care. Janks said that he does not take any compensation from the safari.

One of the ways that Carson Springs is able to pull off this event is with a team of volunteers. They have partnered with the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business. Students are assigned to help fundraise for the event and to work at the safari as part of a class assignment.

“It’s a really fun time now that more UF students are becoming involved,” Janks said. “That’s just really important to us that they’re becoming involved.”

Daniel Santa Cruz, a fourth-year student at UF, was one of the student volunteers for the 2017 Spring Safari. He chose to work with Carson Springs for his sales management class along with a few other students.

It’s a really fun time now that more UF students are becoming involved.

“The whole scope of the project was to fundraise for that organization,” Santa Cruz said.

Santa Cruz and his team members reached out to local business owners and worked to persuade them to donate to the event.

At the event, Santa Cruz said he helped to check in visitors, but he also had time to explore the park. His favorite part of the day was meeting the giraffe.

He said that it is a bit surprising to find out that Gainesville has a place like Carson Springs, but that’s why it is important to spread awareness about its events. He is excited to return to the Spring Safari this year and see the ways the event has been able to develop since his previous involvement.

Santa Cruz said that his class had options when it came to deciding which organization to pair with for the assignment. He was drawn to Carson Springs because of its emphasis on animal care and rescue.

Janks said that the main mission of Carson Springs is to educate people about real-life conservation. He believes that keeping animals in the wild isn’t always the best option.

“The wild is just getting smaller and smaller,” he said.

Carson Springs works to provide the best living situations for exotic animals in need of rescue, according to Janks. This has allowed the park to open its doors for educational purposes too.

Other than the Spring Safari, Carson Springs welcomes tour groups every Saturday, field trips throughout the year and a summer camp for children in July.

“This isn’t your average zoo,” said Janks.

Visitors leave Carson Springs with a memorable, hands-on experience.

To find out more about the event, visit the Facebook event page here.

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