There’s an alligator on my two-year-old.
More often than not, I feel like the parents in Away We Go. I want my daughter’s life to be filled with tree forts, muddy creek banks and tall grass but reconcile that with living in the city. While there is no home solution, Jade and I have made traveling our way of giving Augustine the Huck Finn childhood of our dreams. We view every trip as an opportunity to get Augustine out in nature — dirty from play, exploring the wild world.
At nearly three, this let’s-go-outside attitude is gaining traction, so we jumped at the chance to take a dive into the deep end and get up close and personal with some of Louisiana’s menagerie at the Global Wildlife Center and Kliebert’s Turtle and Alligator Farm.
Global Wildlife Center
Even the driveway told me we were in for an especially close encounter.
As we pulled into the Global Wildlife Center, a pack of zebras walked up and began grazing along the fence. As we headed down the drive, I had to stop several times to let full antlered deer wander past our car. I knew we were going to spot animals in the center’s open pastures, but I didn’t expect to see them before actually entering the park — or have them pass by my window so close that their fur left imprints in the dust.
With the heads of giraffes peeking through the trees, we pulled past the kangaroo enclosure and headed out on our journey.
There are two ways to visit to the park: group tours or private tours. Our three group tour tickets nearly met the cost of a private tour, so we decided to splurge on the upgrade. Instead of being in one the wide trollies that keep to the park’s dirt roads, our valet-style safari wagon would travel through the open fields, getting us much closer to the animals.
We climbed onto the bench seats, rumbled into the park, and were immediately ambushed by giraffes. Heads, necks and tongues came at us from every direction as if we had dipped ourselves in bacon and laid down in a basket of puppies. We spent at least 30 minutes scooping up corn and passing it across the head of one giraffe to feed another one, while routinely pushing one giraffe’s head out of the corn-bucket in order to feed them by hand.
There are few animal encounters I’ve found that have been as open and as engaging as feeding this giraffe family through the open sides of our wagon was. Eventually, we had to journey deeper into the park (though the giraffes followed us for the rest of our trip).
Beyond the view of the visitor’s center, we found cows, bison, camels and deer. All of them eager to sidle up to our wagon, mouths open for feeding. Though the giraffes were the star attraction, having a bison nuzzle my side like a kitten was a pretty cool experience as well.
The private tour is a choose-your-own-adventure, and our guide helped us curate our experience, giving us tips on her favorite animals as well as steering us to what she thought would suit us best. We could be as involved as we wanted to be, but ultimately just ended up shouting back and forth to each other which direction needed corn next.
It took almost as long as the tour just to calm back down. As we drove back toward our hotel, Jade and I kept recounting the experience in a whisper because Augustine conked out from all the excitement.
Kliebert’s Turtle and Alligator Farm
Two words perfectly sum up this Alligator Farm – hands on.
Home to a wide selection of alligators and turtles as well as snakes and crocodiles, Kliebert’s has been a local staple since 1984. The staff’s lifetime of experience connecting visitors with the farm’s amphibians has created an inviting, easy atmosphere, making a tour feel like you’re part of the family.
Our guide greeted us barefoot and muddy, and as soon as we stepped out the back door, our daughter was being handed turtles to hold.
From having only ever seen turtles behind glass, it was a big step to take one in her hands. When Augustine hesitated, it seemed like the whole staff dropped what they were doing and came over to help make her comfortable. With their encouragement, Augustine was soon picking up turtles out of their enclosure and eventually holding one in each hand.
From the double-fisting-turtle moment onward, the experience took on an air of exploration and excitement for all three of us. The coached willingness to try new things really paid off as we moved from the turtles to the farm’s more thrilling attractions.
The tour guide’s confidence can make it seem like a normal, natural occurrence for your two-year-old daughter to hold an alligator. It wasn’t until grandparents started lighting up my phone with shocked text messages that I realized how crazy it was that we let Augustine rest a gator across her shoulder like she was burping a baby doll.
The same cannot be said about watching your toddler hold a boa constrictor; I realized immediately how insane it was that Augustine was letting this snake curl all around her and even give her a kiss. (When it was my turn, and the snake turned it head toward me, I was not as cool about it as my daughter was.)
I really have to credit the comfortable, family atmosphere of Kliebert’s Farm for getting Augustine excited about being covered in such a huge snake. For a girl who typically gets nervous around the goats at a petting zoo to the one who confidently wore a boa constrictor like a belt and rode tortoises, this really was a life expanding experience.
Both the Global Wildlife Center and Kliebert’s Turtle and Alligator Farm are attractions I wish I was able to visit more often. I’ll be talking about them both for years to come because they were two of the best animal encounters I’ve ever had. Not only do I hope everyone I know gets a chance to visit, I’ll be eagerly awaiting my own return.
This content was produced in partnership with Louisiana Travel and Travel Mindset.
