Georgia Safari News & Updates | Conservation Park Stories & Announcements

There is a particular kind of stillness that comes over you when a rhinoceros draws near. It is not fear, exactly, though the animal before you weighs as much as a small car and has walked the earth in some form for over fifty million years. It is something closer to reverence. The sudden, humbling awareness that you are in the presence of a creature far older and more patient than anything the modern world has to offer.

At Georgia Safari Conservation Park in Madison, Georgia, that feeling is available to anyone willing to seek it out. And May, with its warm mornings and long golden evenings, is one of the finest times to do it.

The Southern White Rhinos that call Georgia Safari home belong to the most social of all five rhino species. This detail often surprises and delights visitors, who arrive anticipating creatures far more elusive and foreboding. The name “white” is itself a small piece of history and a linguistic mixup. Almost certainly deriving from the Afrikaans word “wyd,” meaning wide, it’s a nod to the animal’s broad, flat lips, beautifully designed for a life spent grazing close to the ground, rather than its color. Even as the name would suggest, in effect, there is nothing white about these majestic creatures.

Their horns, so often the reason they are hunted, are made of nothing more exotic than keratin–the same protein that forms human fingernails and hair. It is a strange and sobering thought that an animal has been pushed to the edge of extinction for something so ordinary. Parks like Georgia Safari exist, in part, to change that story, and every visit contributes to that effort in a meaningful way.

Planning a visit to the park is a straightforward process, though the experience itself is anything but. The Giraffe and Rhino Barn Tour offers the most intimate encounter available–a full hour spent behind the scenes with the park’s rhinos and reticulated giraffes, guided by the staff dedicated to their care. Tours are limited and fill quickly, so booking in advance through our online platform is the best chance to ensure your spot.

When coming for your tour, arrive early and allow yourself to slow down from the business of life. The park opens onto 530 acres of carefully tended landscape, and taking in a few unhurried minutes before the tour begins will help you settle into the natural world before you. Feel free to bring your camera, though you may find simply standing still and taking it all in to be its own reward.

For those who want to extend their experience, the park’s luxury safari tents and the Giraffe Suite offer an overnight stay unlike anything else in the region. To fall asleep with the sounds of the savanna nearby, and to wake knowing the animals are just beyond the window, is the kind of encounter that sticks with you for a very long time.

Georgia Safari is open daily from 8:30 am until 5 pm, and reservations are required for all tours. The park sits just off Monticello Road in Madison, a short drive from Atlanta but a world away from the ordinary.

Go Wild With Us and plan your Safari adventure this May. The rhinos are waiting for you.