FUN & ADVENTURE - HATARI WILDLIFE PARK

FUN & ADVENTURE

A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE Hatari Wildlife Park

WEIMAR’S WILDLIFE DESTINATION OFFERS EXPERIENCE LIKE NO OTHER

by Michelle Banse Stokes, photos by Lydia Ford

Not to be confused with the famed 1962 John Wayne movie Hatari!, Weimar’s own Hatari Wildlife Park opened their doors in August of 2020. Built from the ground up with a strong desire to get families back outdoors, founders and brothers, Dean and Ron Robicheux, originally had other intentions for their newly acquired parcel of land.

“I moved to Columbus five years ago while getting ready to retire from the oil field business,” said Dean. “My brother and I wanted to open a business developing and selling land. We heard about this particular piece and bought it with the intent to develop it. It was so exceptional, so beautiful, we fell in love with it. We had this idea to build a wildlife park and travelled all around the country looking at different ones and getting ideas. We knew our land was prettier and more conducive to building a park than any other place we’d seen. We started working on it a couple of years back and here we are today.”

FUN & ADVENTURE

All families need to get back into the outdoors and we plan to develop Hatari in that direction. “

Touring multiple wildlife parks gave the Robicheux’s the ability to put practices into place that would allow Hatari to stand out from the pack.

“We don’t utilize small cages,” shared Dean. “Our animals are running free and interacting with each other in their own unique environments and habitats over four separate ranges. We have the Dunes that is rocky and arid, Lower Grasslands Range that is like the African savannah, Sahel which is a transition in Africa between the Sahara and the Sudanian savanna where our giraffes reside, and Lowland Forest where you’ll find a swampy, forested area. In the Lowland Forest area, you can walk among the animals along a three-quarter mile elevated wooden boardwalk for a unique experience unlike any other.” Connecting with families, especially children, is important to the Robicheux family and they plan to continue to expand with lodging, hiking and additional healthy, outdoor activities.

“We’ve recently had some children with disabilities out at the park and I’m proud that we were able to accommodate their needs,” added Dean. “Seeing the smiles on their faces was very rewarding. All families need to get back into the outdoors and we plan to develop Hatari in that direction.”

Hatari Wildlife Park is located at 1145 CR 218 in Weimar or online at HatariPark. org.