Family Visit to Lake Tobias Wildlife Park

Our family enjoys visiting the Lake Tobias Wildlife Park in Halifax, Pennsylvania every year. We always see something new and get to experience something different. The park gets better and better every time we go.

Lake Tobias Wildlife Park is located about 35-40 minutes from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It’s a nice car ride from the city out to the countryside. Admission is $15.00 a person, no matter the age. That admission fee covers the petting zoo, safari bus ride, educational animal shows, and other attractions within the park. If you want to fish at the lake, that will cost extra.

In early August we went for our yearly visit. This year 12 of us from my family met up to enjoy the park. When visiting, you want to dress appropriately for the weather as everything is outdoors. Wear confortable walking shoes and bring along your sunscreen. You can bring strollers, diaper bags, cameras, phones, etc. with you in the park. Other than that, leave extra bags outside.

We started our visit with the Safari Bus Ride which takes about 40 minutes. We had a great tour guide who made a lot of stops along the way and gave us a lot of great information about the animals that we saw. You can ask your tour guide questions (we did) and he knew all of the answers! It’s an open tour bus, so you will be out in the elements.

Before you get onto the tour bus you’ll have the opportunity to buy a cup of animal food (we purchased pellets and carrots). If you have children along with you, I recommend it. While out on the safari tour the animals (a lot of them) will come right up to the side of the tour bus so that you can feed them. The kids really enjoy that.

Some of the tour you’re out in an open field while on the busy and at other times you’ll be in wooded & shaded areas. It’s a dirt road that the bus follows and it can be a little bit bumpy along the way. The bus is not spaceous and they really pack you in, so be prepared. It’s a little cramped, so be prepared if you have mobility issues.

After we got off the tour bus we walked around to check out some of the animals on exhibit. We saw lions, tigers, bears, porcepines, ostrich, black swans, ducks, a variety of tropical birds, kangaroo, monkeys, babboons, etc.

There’s a petting zoo there too. You can buy animal food by the cup and take into the petting zoo along with you. In the petting zoo the kids were able to feed goats and a miniature horse. There were a pair of floppy earred rabbits in there too. All of the animals in the petting zoo are people friendly and used to having children running around.

We then headed over to the reptile house to watch the educational show. This is held indoors, so it was nice to get out of the heat. They had two zoo keepers show us two different type’s of snakes, a snapping turtle, an alligator and the star of the show was the Sloth. My daughter and I love Sloths, so we were really excited to see the sloth! My daughter would of stayed all day to just watch the sloth if I would of left her. Perhaps she’ll grow up wanting to be a zoo keeper.

After your done at the wildlife park you can visit several of their on-site eateries to pick up a bite to eat. You’ll find the standard type of zoo fare: hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken tenders, french fries, pizza, etc. The gift shop is located in the eatery area. You can shop for gifts and souvenirs.

The family had a great time and we’re looking forward to our next visit in the year 2022.