We Are Aiken County: Eudora welcomes annual stream of visitors to wildlife park (2024)

Editor's note: We Are Aiken County is a series of articles that will run through March 16. It celebrates people, places and events that shaped Aiken County.

Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day are not options, but the rest of the year is fair game on Salem Lane, near Salley, for anybody looking for a face-to-face encounter with dozens of creatures with roots from halfway around the world.

Bison, emus and Texas longhorns are among the residents ofEudora Wildlife Safari Park, open seven days a week and covering about 240 acres of eastern Aiken County, near the Orangeburg County line. The hilly acreage received about 250,000 visitors in 2023, according to Mark Nisbet, Eudora's owner and founder.

The data, he said, come from having about 62,500 vehicles visit the facility during that year, with an average occupancy of four looking for a chance to see such neighbors as water buffalo, lemurs, camels and wallabies. Visitors have a variety of backgrounds.

"A high percentage are coming from the Charleston market, Bluffton, Savannah, Florence … all the way up from Rock Hill and Gaffney," Nisbet said. "A lot come from Augusta, so when they're coming, they're doing what you want as far as tourists."

It all means aboost for the local economy through visits to Aiken County restaurants, convenience stores and the like, he added.

"They just say it's a great day trip, so they come, and they spend the day … so I'm excited about that. Even though it's a … tiny little piece of tourism that brings people here, we do contribute to that, and for our little community, that's a lot."

The groups, whether arriving in small cars or as entire busloads, encounter some creatures that are relatively commonplace in American zoos. Zebras and parrots are part of the menagerie, while visitors may face a challenge in looking to identify some others, such as addaxes (African antelope) and Tibetan yaks.

Some can rise to particular prominence. Elliot, a giraffe, is said to enjoy removing visitors' hats, and Larry, an ostrich, is prone to reach into vehicles and grab an entire food bowl rather than waiting to be fed one carrot slice at a time.

Larry is "kind of the sheriff of the park," Nisbet said. "Just knowing his personality, if there's anything new out there, he's going to come and check it out and make sure it meets his approval, and he'll follow them around until they leave."

Plans on the near horizon include construction of a boardwalk and an observation deck next to the giraffe enclosure — a major asset when looking to interact with a long-legged animal with a potentially deadly kick and a height of about 15 feet (with potential to grow taller yet).

Nisbet's creation is known to some by its original name of Eudora Farms, due to its relatively small starting base of operations, largely as a petting zoo. The name comes from Nisbet's time, in the early 1980s, of living in northwestern Mississippi, in the town of Eudora, just south of Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked for Labcorp as a salesman.

Hours vary by season, in accordance with available light, and admission prices range from $18 to $45 (depending on the number of passengers in a vehicle). Those who prefer an entirely open-air experience have the option of a wagon ride with a tour guide.

Feed buckets, with either carrot slices or exotic hoofstock cubes, are $5 each, and admission covers the drive-through route as well as the petting zoo and a walk-through safari.

Visitors normally take about an hour to make their way along the three-mile driving route through the park, but can choose their pace. Some Eudora rules are relatively commonplace ("Do not litter!") while others are highly specific to the locale ("Do not pet or feed the zebras").

Some rules are emphatic ("Do NOT get out of your vehicle"), and the speed limit is five miles an hour, although that pace may be impossible to reach at times when forward progress depends on navigating around an Africa Watusi or several llamas focusing on potential snacks.

The park, at 219 Salem Lane, is at the end of a dirt road, off Union Hill Road. Current operating hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. except for Sundays (noon to 4 p.m.). For more information, call 803-564-5358.