Lazy L Safari Park is a hands-on zoo in Cape Girardeau
Have you seen the movie “We Bought a Zoo?” Well, Cape Girardeau has its own version of that with the Lazy L Safari Park.
Lazy L is a walk-through zoo of “exotic” animals that opened in 2010. The zoo consists of animals from Lazy L Exotic animals farm. The zoo is home to about 50 types of animals.
Zoo visitors can see plenty of goats and peacocks – including white ones (our second time in three months seeing them), as well as camels, zebras, llamas and lemurs.
We started our visit with a trip to the animal barn. It housed a baby bison, calf and deer. It was also home to a 16-year-old Python snake. As I have previously mentioned, I do not like snakes. I immediately stepped back until I felt comfortable enough to proceed.
We checked out a tarantula and a giant lizard.
Camels at the far end of the barn seemed to check out passers-by for some snacking opportunities. Not the people, but the feed they had. A family ahead of us tried feeding them, but mom kept freaking out when the camels came near her hand. Lisa was much braver. She stood near the fence so they didn’t have to strain trying to get to the feed.
Zebras were taking in a late lunch meeting. One seemed to take a mouthful of hay and turn in our direction to check out what was going on while eating.
We had a blast feeding goats in a few spots. The first section of goats seemed to enjoy a game of King of the Mountain. Two kept battling each other on top of a pile of rocks. We even saw an old Billy goat gruff.
The second goat area was along a fenced in area near the main road. Some emus also shared the area with them. Once little goat did his best to get his body out of the fenced area for some treats.
The third area was even more fun. It was part of the petting zoo. They banged against each other to take the feed out of our hands. One little goat roamed the area freely. He took a liking to Lisa, or to the bag of feed she had. We were warned that they would bite through the bottom of the bag to get to the feed.
A wildebeest even tried to get into the action when she was feeding the little goat. That was interesting to watch.
My favorite spot was Parakeet Jungle. The zoo has dozens of small parakeets inside the aviary. They were initially shy and flew to the back of the aviary. However, we pulled out the birdfeed on a stick the zoo gave us and the birds were more than eager to be our friends.
We first reached the treats out toward them. One or two birds would start eating until another flew in and forced them away. Then, the next rotation would go.
They’ll even land on your hand and the stick to eat. Their reservations fade as they sense the food. It was a fun experience.
Along our walk, we checked out a couple of groups of lemurs. It was difficult to get good photos of them behind the fencing they use at Lazy L.
We enjoyed the view of a porcupine fairly up close. The same went for the badger that lived next door.
As we were leaving the zoo, a llama walked up to the fence, so we had a nice view of it. It was like the llama was telling us to have a good day and to come back.
Lazy L is a fun way to spend 1-2 hours. I could see people staying a little longer with smaller children.
Lazy L has a gift shop, concession stand and a picnic shelter.
We recommend checking out Lazy L Safari Park when in Cape Girardeau.
For more information on Lazy L Safari, please visit its website at http://www.lazylsafari.com/home.html.
Disclaimer: Thanks to the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau for the complimentary tickets to the park. However, all opinions and views are ours.
February 10, 2025 @ 11:48 am
Hi, My name is Johnny Miller. I am the Superintendent of the Tamms, Illinois Fire Department. We have a fund raiser on the 4th of July and wanted to check and see if you all ever take animals to another location for a petting zoo. Thanks, Johnny