🚗🦒 Shamba Safari Wisconsin: A Family Adventure Full of Laughs, Llamas & a Little Karma 🦓😂
That Time an Emu Bit My Kid at Shamba Safari 😂🦒
We decided to take the kids on an adventure to Shamba Safari in Neshkoro, Wisconsin. Picture this: buckets of animal feed, (plan to vaccum out your car after), a car full of excited kids, and more drool than I ever expected to encounter in one day. 😅
Buckets, Buckets, Buckets
Pro tip: buy the buckets of feed. We grabbed three for four kids, and it was perfect — though we still had some left at the end. I had this big plan to save the last bites for the giraffes, but by the time we got there they’d wandered off. Rookie mistake. Next time, we’re heading straight to the giraffes if they’re hanging out near the rocks!
Animal Encounters: Cute, Funny, and a Little Chaotic
Prairie dogs: tiny, squeaky, and ridiculously adorable.
Emus: the stars of our family legend now. My 12-year-old decided to perch on the car window despite me saying “get your butt back in the car.” Two minutes later, CHOMP — an emu nipped him under the armpit. He wasn’t hurt, but it was pure karma.
The 7-year-old: living his best life feeding deer like he’d just discovered his dream job.
The 5-year-old: squealing “Eww, stop, get away!” at a massive, 600-pound water buck drooling all over her. I have the video. It’s comedy gold.
The teenager: shockingly entertained. He even swapped seats with his little sister so she wouldn’t get slimed anymore — (not by his siblings, but by the animals.)
The Gift Shop Bonus
After the drive, we stopped into the gift shop and got the sweetest surprise: two baby wallabies! Normally you pay to pet them or take pictures, but the coolest employee ever let the kids pet one for free. Even better — the wallaby had the same name as my 7-year-old. His face lit up like it was destiny.
Our Takeaway (Besides Animal Drool)
If we do it again — and we definitely will — I’d pack a lunch, eat at the pavilion, and then drive through a second time. The animals were so much fun, we didn’t want it to end.
Shamba Safari gave us more laughs, squeals, and stories than I could have asked for. The kids loved it, the “too-cool” teenager admitted it was fun, and I got my new favorite parenting memory: “Remember when the emu bit you because you didn’t listen to Mom?” 😂
What Is Shamba Safari?
A Drive-Through Wildlife Park — you stay in your own vehicle and slowly drive a 3-mile route, enjoying the scenery and stops along the way.
Admission runs around $10 per person (ages 2 and up), and you can do the loop multiple times if you want to.
Open seasonally, typically from spring into early fall, with gates opening around 10 a.m. and last vehicle in by around 4:30–5:00 p.m.
The park is family-owned, run by the Schoebel family, on what used to be a sustainable family farm. The name “Shamba” nods to sustainable agriculture (and even the fencing is made from recycled materials!).
You can buy food buckets (~$10) at the entrance to feed the animals at designated stops.