The Wilds to open Zipline Safari

[PREMiERdrum]

CUMBERLAND, Ohio – The Wilds and Hocking Hills Canopy Tours today announced their partnership, creating a totally new and thrilling zipline adventure: “Wild Zipline Safari.” Wild Zipline Safari opens June 27. Reservations and complete visitor information avaialble at www.thewilds.org or www.zipthewilds.com, or by calling 740.638.5030 ext. 2947.

This tour takes visitors on a unique 2.5-hour aerial tour of The Wilds, led by two professionally trained guides and features 10 breathtaking ziplines and a rappel built on a series of observation platforms. This professionally guided eco-tour combines the thrill of ziplining with the adventure of an animal safari. The Wild Zipline Safari sends visitors soaring over herds of wild and endangered animals grazing in the plains, flying over rare animals basking in the sun and offers the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see eye-to-eye with resident giraffes. Guests zip through the trees over animal watering holes, lakes, and pastures, finally landing among the amazing giraffes.

This one-of-a-kind zipline tour is designed to thrill anyone with a love for wildlife and a passion for adventure. Visitors won’t want to miss this incredible, first of its kind, outdoor experience during their visit to The Wilds.

LINK - Press Release

Enjoy the Wilds from an aerial perspective! Led by two professionally trained guides, this 2 ½ hour zipline safari tour consists of 10 ziplines and a rappel built on a series of observation platforms overlooking various exotic animal species that are home to the Wilds. You'll zip along a network of cables, through the trees, over the animal watering holes, lakes, and pastures, finally landing among the amazing giraffes. This tour is designed to excite anyone with a love for wildlife and a bit of adventure. Don’t miss this incredible, first of its kind, outdoor experience during your visit to the Wilds! Make your reservation today.

Enjoy the Wilds from an aerial perspective! Led by two professionally trained guides, this 2 ½ hour zipline safari tour consists of 10 ziplines built on a series of observation platforms overlooking various rare and endangered animal species that are home to the Wilds.

LINK - The Wilds

[shark6495]

this could/should be awesome

[PREMiERdrum]

For those of you who haven't ventured out to The Wilds, DO IT. It's an absolutely incredible experience... 10,000 acres of property, all the animal enclosures are over an acre in size. Its absolutely breathtaking.

[Cory Butcher]

For those of you who haven't ventured out to The Wilds, DO IT. It's an absolutely incredible experience... 10,000 acres or property, all the animal enclosures are over an acre in size. Its absolutely breathtaking.

This gentleman speaks the absolute truth! I love The Wilds, and hope to get back this summer!

[PREMiERdrum]

For those of you unfamiliar with The Wilds, a video from last year from our friends at ONN's Discover Ohio...

LINK - ONN TV

[PREMiERdrum]

The "zzzzzz" echoed across the valley and past the bison herd, two rhinos and a sprinkling of camels and zebras grazing in the pastures.

The animals didn't seem to notice the new, humming sound in their environment from people shooting across steel cables stretched high above them.

The Wilds, the Muskingum County open-range habitat for endangered species, has a new adventure - a nearly mile-long zip-line course that opens to the public today.

"We've been trying to figure out things we can do to attract more excitement and return visits, and when you look at the topography of the rolling hills, what a great place to have a zip line," said Tom Stalf, chief operating officer and senior vice president of the Wilds near Cumberland and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Powell.

The 2 1/2-hour course is made up of cables strung between 10 platforms built on towers or, in one case, in a chestnut oak. Participants zip one at a time from one platform to the next while dangling from a metal trolley hooked to the cable and to a harness system they wear. The trolley running over the cable creates a soft zipping sound.

Each platform is 20 to 50 feet high, and the longest line - at 750 feet - is more than twice the length of a football field. Three of the lines go over lakes, and two go through trees.

Zippers travel 40 to 50mph, with each line designed so its pitch slows them down toward the end, Eckel said.

Dan Beetem, director of animal management at the Wilds, tried out the course he helped design last week and was happy to see that the trumpeter swans, Pere David's deer and Sichuan takin far below the zip lines didn't seem to notice.

He expects the giraffes to be more cautious; they're being kept in another pasture until the zip-line construction is complete. They'll be moved back to the main pasture, where the zip line is, later this week.

Stalf said the Wilds' biologists, scientists and veterinarians investigated whether a zip-line course would hurt the animals and concluded it would not.

"The animals are content in their very large areas," he said. "The zip line will be like when a plane flies overhead. They notice, but then they just keep eating."

Full article at LINK (Columbus Dispatch)

[jdawg1998]

Ahhh, I remember The Wilds. 'Twas a school field trip - in a large, hot, bus and one peanut butter jelly sandwich for a meal.

Because of this experience I have wanted to go to The Wilds with my family, so we could do what we wanted instead of teachers and parent volunteers watching over us.....