A family-owned safari park and preserve in Como offers open space for humans and animals to meet.
Written by Leslie Criss | Photographed by Joe Worthem
Perhaps you’ve always dreamed of going on an African safari, but, at the moment, such a trip doesn’t realistically fit your budget or your schedule.
If a day trip seems more suitable, there’s a place within a 30-minute to an hour drive from just about anywhere in north Mississippi where you can pretend you’ve flown 7,138 miles and have just arrived, jet-lagged, on the continent of Africa.
Safari Wild Animal Park and Preserve is a 467-acre park in Como, a town that borders the flat Mississippi Delta while being a part of Mississippi Hill Country. It opened in 2018.
Como, with its population of 1,570 people in 2022, also is home to Como Steakhouse and Home Place Pastures, both known far and wide. It’s on the Southern Literary Trail, proudly claims native son Stark Young — playwright, novelist and painter — and is known for being the home of Hill Country blues.
Safari Wild is a dream realized for Ricky Garrett, co-owner of the animal park and preserve with Brooke Garrett, his wife of 28 years, and their half-dozen kids — Blake, Madison, Reagan, Eli, Sloane and Bailee.
“Honestly, I’ve been dreaming about this since I was 10 years old,” he said. “I was born with a natural love for animals, and it grew into a great passion of my life. We started looking for land when we were engaged. I knew in my mind all along it was going to happen, but getting here has had its challenges.”
The COVID-19 pandemic was not one of them. But a case of West Nile was.
“The pandemic was horrible for the country,” Garrett said. “But for us, as people got tired of having to stay inside, carloads of people would visit and spend time with the animals on the driving tour.”
Last year, Garrett was ill and ended up in a nine-day coma. Only after he woke from his long sleep did he learn that West Nile virus had gone to his brain. There was some paralysis, the use of a walker for three months and a fairly lengthy recovery period.
“My faith and my family are what got me through it. I’m grateful God gave me another chance at life.”
Brook Garrett, a native Californian, signed on early to support and encourage her husband’s dream. The couple found and purchased the acreage 13 years ago and began the long, arduous process of preparing the land for the preserve.
Memphis-born, Garrett still claims Mississippi as home, having lived in Hernando and Independence before ending up in Como.
There is a lot to do while spending a day at the park, including a 6.5-mile drive-through of the authentic African safari park and wild animal preserve, as well as a walk-through area. There’s a petting farm that includes goats, llamas, lemurs and more, including a large center exhibit and feeding station for a large flock of gorgeous, rainbow-colored lorikeets. The tree-dwelling birds have specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on berries and other soft fruits.
On the leisurely drive through the preserve, with multiple brown paper bags of feed close at hand, you’ll see and have the opportunity to meet and feed llamas, zebras, ostrich, donkeys, Ankole-Watusi (an African breed of cattle), addax (also known as white antelope and screwhorn antelope), and the second largest herd of Père David’s deer in North America. At some point, you will see Garrett’s favorite — the giraffes, that will bend their long necks and put their heads into your open window to eat gently from your hand. At present, five giraffes call the park and preserve home.
Garrett also designed an exhibit for a pair of cheetahs who live along the drive-through route.
Added attractions are the black and white colobuses, Old World monkeys native to Africa, that are in their exhibit near the gift shop. That’s also where you’ll see the park’s giant tortoises — there are 10 — that can grow to 800 pounds each.
“I love the tortoises, and the colobuses are great, too,” Garrett said. “They are a very rare primate that are very expensive to keep and feed. I spend about $100 every day or two just buying fresh greens for them.
“The funniest thing: There’s a picnic table where we pour the greens on the top of the table. The colobuses will sit at the table like humans and eat. It’s hilarious to watch.”
Do the several hundred animals residing at the park have names?
“I can guarantee you my kids know all the animals by name,” he said. “We used to have camel rides. But I decided to sell the camels. My kids told me if I sold Achilles, they would all quit.”
Achilles now lives a camel’s best life roaming freely, the only camel in Como, on the preserve.
Garrett has seen his dream become a reality, but he is not resting on his laurels. He continues to make plans to grow and improve his family’s vision for their little chunk of Africa.
“We’ve been planning for rhinos since before we started,” he said. “But there’s a lot of preparation involved. We don’t plan a 50x50 piece of property for them: They need 10, 15 or 20 acres for living in the wild. But they are coming.”
Also in the plans for the family entertainment venue are overnight lodging and guided tours. Garrett has already purchased buses and is converting them to safari tour trucks.
“After you spend the night in your cabin, you’ll be picked up by your guide for the tour,” he said. “Then you’ll be brought to what we plan to call The Flamingo Cafe for lunch, and you can eat with the flamingos.”
“I am so looking forward to growing this longtime dream of mine.”
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