Our safari bus brought us up close and personal with ghosts of the desert (Persian Onagers) and Southern White Rhinos, Grevy’s Zebras and Bactrian Camels. The seed of this idea sprouted in the late 1970s when politicians, the Ohio Department of Natural Resource and Development, the Ohio zoos (there are nearly a half a dozen) and the private sector explored concepts for supporting cultural tourism through the preservation of wildlife.
The herd of two hundred that the emperor gave Pere David is the direct ancestor to those at The Wilds today.Īs we listened and learned Kimberly and I couldn’t help but wonder how it was that we had never heard of this ‘state-side Safari’ before. The only reason the deer survive today is that, prior to the rebellion, a Frenchman named Armande David had asked the emperor if he could bring some of his deer back to Europe with him. During the Boxer Rebellion, the emperor’s deer were wiped out as soldiers pilfered from his royal forest to feed themselves. This herd is a direct descendant of the Chinese Emperor. Nomad Ridge Dining Space.Ī fine and appealing scent for some it seems. The males cover their antlers with as much algae, debris, mud, grass, and dirt as they can, and together with the belching, an ‘irresistible’ cologne is created for their mating ritual. We quickly encountered a herd of burping, grunting Pere Armande David’s deer.
Once loaded up, we started with a drive through the Sally-port gate system – think Jurassic Park in our open-sided bus. We put our things away quickly and walked to the more public side of the park for our tour. Included in our stay were a safari tour as well as dinner and breakfast for two. As soon as our host left, we looked at each other and said, “Ok, this is too cool… we have to stay a second night.” The Wilds Safari Bus Tour Nestled on a hillside in a grove of deciduous trees it felt like a treehouse. We were greeted kindly, checked in, and were escorted down a serpentine of steps to our own yurt complete with a deck overlooking expansive rolling hills and a pair of ponds. Tucked beneath a wreath of wisteria was the first of a dozen or so yurts on the property. Several days later we were driving up the dirt road in The Wilds following signs for Nomad Ridge. We called immediately and booked a yurt for a night on our return trip. I realize that to some people this is not an exciting revelation, but for us, it was cause for hysteria. It’s a ten-thousand-acre wildlife preserve in Cumberland,” I read, “And you can stay overnight in a yurt!” Driving through Ohio on Highway 71 we saw a brown sign– the type that indicates a state or national park, or other visit-worthy sites- in Ohio that read “The Wilds.”Īlways on the lookout for our next adventure, we decided ‘The Wilds’ was worth a Google. My sister, Kimberly, and I were driving from New England to Louisville, Kentucky to help her son move.