Trails of Africa

The 14-acre project site is comprised of several developed zones including the Central Waterhole Habitat, Safari Café, Boma Village, and the behind-the scenes Elephant Management Facility. Through the themed gateway structure visitors can choose to view elephants in a wooded habitat setting, have lunch at the Safari Café waterhole panorama, or to see an elephant up-close at the Boma Village. Red river hogs, giraffes, rhinoceroses, antelopes, zebras and ostriches share the large grassland habitat with its watering and swimming areas, rotating in and out from individualized holding areas.

The habitat is designed with distinctively different substrate and landscape characteristics, including shaded wooded areas, sunny grasslands, shallow splash pools and swimming holes, sandy dust bowls, and mud wallows, to provide optimal variability for the elephants and other pachyderms. Plant “simulators,” many native to the United States and Alabama in particular, were used to mimic specific plant types and growth habits typically found within this eco-region.

Trails of Africa includes a balanced integration of high-quality animal facilities and visitor services, built within an immersive landscape that will continue to mature and change over time as the elephants use and manipulate the land to create their own trail systems and micro-habitats.