‘Safari’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Visit: Six Flags Safari {Jackson, NJ}

July 20, 2020 · Narrative

Looking for a fun and safe activity that is family-friendly? Let’s visit the Six Flags Safari in Jackson, New Jersey!

If you’re a regular visitor, you know how much we love to visit places with animals, so after being on lockdown for several months, when I heard the safari at Six Flags was reopening, I was all in. The first time we went was in 2011, and we loved it. You drive through in your own car and the animals meander about relatively freely. In 2012, we heard they were closing to reinvent how they do it, so went again. That was when they changed it and you could still visit the safari, but you ride in their trucks instead. This year, it’s back to your own car, which I love.

For the most part, you can go at your own pace, except when there is a bottleneck because there are giraffes in the middle of the road! They have several staffers throughout the path to move cars along, which is a bummer because you KNOW I’d stay there forever (this was our 2012 visit including a quick video when the giraffe licked our radio antennae, so fun!).

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Summer Bucket List 2012: Six Flags/Great Adventure Safari

August 23, 2012 · Narrative

Earlier this week, ABC News reported that Six Flags/Great Adventure will be closing their safari on September 30th. Although we’re sad to hear that (we love the safari!), they went on to say that the animals are staying on the property, so maybe they’re planning to turn it into a zoo of sorts (further details to be released at the end of August). Here’s hoping.

Luckily for us, we managed to sneak in one last visit to the safari last week, crossing yet another item off our Summer Bucket List – booyah.

Billed as the largest drive-thru safari outside of Africa, it’s 350 acres of open property that has all sorts of animals, hailing from six continents, freely roaming around. Some of the animals are kept behind fences (for example, elephants, the brown and black bears, the tigers, and the baboons), while others come right up to your car. Which is, quite frankly, the best part ever.

Last year when we went, we held up traffic for quite awhile as a giraffe hovered over my truck, licking every square inch of the sun roof.

It was awesome.

Seriously.

This year? We were not disappointed.

This giraffe (get a load of those eyelashes!) cleaned my radio antennae like nobody’s business. To the point that I was just super glad the radio actually still worked when he was done.

And it produced some of our favorite pictures ever.

We even captured a quick ten second video of the radio antennae cleaning action:

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Summer 2011: Six Flags Safari

July 13, 2011 · Narrative

Warning: Picture overload. If you know me and the kids and how much we love animals, then you’ll know that the 30+ pictures below show great restraint on my part.

When my sister and I were kids, summers meant one thing: a trip to Six Flags/Great Adventure with my Dad and friends. We’d leave the house super-early to make sure we were at the park gate when they opened, and spend the entire day riding the rides, doing the loop-de-loops and sustaining ourselves with hot dogs and sodas. ‘Tis just the type of adventure that cherished memories are made from. Of course now that I’m a full-fledged grown-up and pretty chicken-sh!t about rides, I no longer do anything that goes upside down, super fast, defies the laws of gravity or vows to make me sick.

Although the safari has been there seemingly forever, I have never been. The kids actually went last year with The Ex, but after our visit this weekend, I think it’s safe to say they’d go again and again. So would I. It was on my Summer Bucket List last year, but we never made it. This summer, I was determined.

Billed as the largest drive-thru safari in the US, it’s four-and-a-half miles of jungle goodness. You pay per person ($21), and can drive at your own pace. It tickled me to see the giraffes and bears just ambling up to the cars like it was a completely normal occurrence. Why of course the giraffe is eating off the top of my car, why wouldn’t he be?

We entered the safari with six pictures on my camera card. Nick checked when we left, and the total was up to 511. Yeah, we took a few pictures. On the way home, we talked about our favorite parts and we all agreed: the giraffes, the bear cubs and the baboons. I totally just typed baboobs there first. Oops.

Love this photo because it reminds me of one of Madeline’s favorite books, Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree, and of course, her nickname, Monkey. Even if these are baboons.

We could have watched these bear cubs for hours. They alternated between playing with huge sticks and logs and cleaning in between their toes. Too cute.

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