After moving to Georgia’s Lake Country 11 years ago, I read reports about a new safari park “coming soon” to Madison. Target opening seasons were announced but kept getting pushed back. Originally called the Georgia Zoo and Safari Park, the name was changed in 2016 to better align with a “mission-based programming to save wildlife and their natural habitats through conservation, education, connection and inspiration,” according to local press reports at the time. Now, after a decade of red tape, construction delays, a pandemic that caused a pause and a shift in plans with even more red tape and construction delays, the Georgia Safari Conservation Park is finally open.
The 530-acre property 60 miles east of Atlanta sits among gentle rolling hills in the woods and pastureland just south of I-20, its main entrance only a quarter-mile from exit 113. Currently, 286 acres are in use, 230 of them as pasture habitat where grassland animals reside behind a dual fence line inside a perimeter fence encircling the property.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
The park had a soft opening June 1 and is permitted a limited number of visitors this month to ensure the animals have time to acclimate to their new surroundings before a wider opening later in July. Finishing touches were still being applied, mostly landscaping and road work around the parking areas and on a trail leading to the safari-style tents where overnight guests stay.
The Georgia Safari Conservation Park has the distinction of being the first overnight safari park in the state and the only one in the Southeast. One and two-bedroom tents represent glamping at its finest with air-conditioning, luxurious furnishings and linens, walk-in tiled showers, stand-alone soaker tubs, kitchenettes, dens, floor-to-ceiling windows and wraparound decks overlooking a private savanna not included on the daily safari tours. A one-bedroom suite inside the giraffe barn has large picture-frame windows with views of the giraffe habitat and a balcony overlooking the outside enclosures.
Standing on the deck of the safari tent after checking in, I was greeted by three curious ostriches who wandered up to the fence line. With the provided binoculars I spotted water bucks and watusis nearby, and two Southern white rhinoceros in the distance. The rhinos were in their own enclosed field relaxing under a sailcloth shade next to a giant mud hole they seemed to relish rolling around in. It was hard to tell their actual color since both were fully caked in Georgia red clay mud.
The rhinos were also visible from a closer standpoint on the daily guided safari tour, which is included with all overnight stays. This is the main wildlife experience offered by the park where guests are led through the grassland habitat in a covered open-air vehicle by an expert guide on a 90-minute tour.
Credit: Blake Guthrie
Credit: Blake Guthrie
During my tour I saw two newborns — a 2-day-old impala, and a 1-day-old American bison. Both babies were up and walking around, sticking close to their mothers. Other species seen on the tour were groupings of Asian water buffalo, common eland, roan, Grant’s zebra, bongo (a threatened species) and a single desert addax (a critically endangered species).
The tour group was led by animal care specialist and pasture lead Tiffany Portillo. She called every animal we saw by name and referred to them collectively as her “kiddos.”
The animals come from similar facilities around the U.S. Rhinos Mo-Joe and Akagera came from a park in Ohio and the 1.5-year-old reticulated giraffe named Phoenix arrived from a safari park in Texas. Portillo stressed that soil and water testing is done before any animal comes into their new home to make sure it’s a suitable habitat for them. There are no big cats yet, but they’re part of a longer-range plan requiring a new habitat with specialized high fencing.
Along with the guided safari tour, the park offers a private VIP tour for up to eight people that includes a hands-on encounter with exotic small creatures such as a fennec fox and a bearded dragon. A giraffe and rhino encounter providing an up-close experience with these large land mammals is also available.
No dining options currently exist inside the Georgia Safari Conservation Park — that’s coming later in a future phase along with the big cats. The closest place to eat that isn’t interstate exit chain fare is at the Farmview Market Café three miles away, south of exit 114. Farmview Market sells food sourced from local farms at a specialty grocery store and at its farmers’ market every Saturday between May and September. The café serves breakfast and lunch every day except Sunday. For other non-chain dining options head 3.5 miles in the other direction to the historic district of downtown Madison.
Madison has come a long way on the dining front in the last few years. A lot of that progress can be attributed to one man, Preston Snyder, and the company he founded, MAD Hospitality, which operates five food and beverage establishments within a block of each other around the town square.
Snyder relocated to Madison from Atlanta in 2018 to be closer to aging parents on Lake Oconee. A former managing partner at Braden Fellman, an Atlanta real estate development company, he fell in love with Madison’s historic vibe and started acquiring vacant properties. Sensing a need, he turned the properties into a French bakery (Patisserie on Main), an English-style pub (Hart & Crown Tavern), a coffeeshop/cocktail bar (The Sinclair), a diner (Betty Gene’s) and a chef-driven fine-dining restaurant (The Dining Room).
Credit: Blake Guthrie
Credit: Blake Guthrie
“I went back into the restaurant business,” said Snyder, whose first job as a young man was working as a server at the Dining Room in the old Ritz-Carlton Buckhead location during its Günter Seeger glory days. Atlanta patrons of a certain age may feel like they’ve walked through a time portal upon entering the Dining Room in Madison, its interior design an homage to the former Ritz-Carlton Dining Room of the late 1980s. Across the square, Betty Gene’s, named after Snyder’s mother, is an affordable breakfast and lunch spot that serves the best biscuit this side of Athens.
The latest of Snyder’s Madison ventures isn’t a restaurant but the 15-room New South Motor Inn, formerly called the Old South Motor Inn. Snyder purchased the dilapidated property and was amazed to find that the old sign out front still had its original neon from the mid-20th century. The restored neon now lights up the main highway between the interstate exit and the downtown historic district, serving as the gateway to Madison.
IF YOU GO
Georgia Safari Conservation Park. $39 and up for guided safari tours; $2,500 for private VIP tours. $590 and up for overnight accommodations, tour included. 1761 Monticello Hwy. 706-342-4296, georgiasafari.com.
Stay
New South Motor Inn. $115 and up. 1240 Eatonton Hwy. 770-728-1655, www.newsouthmotorinn.com.
Eat
The Dining Room. $85 and up for prix-fixe dinners, $21 and up à la carte menu. Reservations recommended. 146 E. Washington St. 706-478-7893, mad-hospitality.com/the-dining-room.
Farmview Market Café. $8 and up. 2610 Eatonton Road. 844-210-7030, www.farmviewmarket.com.
Visitor info
Madison Welcome Center. 115 E. Jefferson St. 706-342-4454, visitmadisonga.com.
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