Fossil Rim Wildlife Center-Animal Discoveries — Attraction in DeCordova

A group of 17 of us decided to book a guided tour while we were all on vaca together. Our tram driver started out great...we were briefed on rules and different animals. We got closer to the giraffes and she saw there was traffic so she slowly went around them on the left. She picked up all of our feed cups and handed out lettuce. We saw 1 giraffe and then she said, the line was too long and she didn't feel like sitting in the traffic, so she had us feed everything to the 1 giraffe and she took a left and went all the way around all the other giraffes. We could see them from the other side of the park but that's was it. When asked if we could go back by them she said no. On the way to the top of the hill for a restroom break she pointed out some deer, but when asked if we could stop to get a picture she was reluctant and said we needed to get to the top. She did allow a picture before speeding off again. Once to the top we had 10min of a break, no time for food she said and no time to explore the other animals...she said we could do that on our own. So we used the restroom and got back in the vehicle. The way back was very rushed, we saw everything from across the park...until we came to the rhinos and cheetahs, which she allowed us to take pictures of and explained about the breeding program. We arrived back at the front with 18min left on our tour and she bid us good day! She told us we could drive out of the park to get to the top or drive through it whichever we preferred.

We all paid about 45bucks per person for a guided tour and all 17 of us wished we would have just drove it ourselves!

Don't waste your money on a guided tour just to miss feeding the best animals in the...

We badly needed to get out of the house and this was the perfect day trip! We love being out side and having chosen the tour it was beautiful! The open air safari truck gave us wide views of all the landscape with the ability to see the different herds of animals in different locations throughout. The truck is covered. The temperature was cool and even though it rained for a few minutes, It was still picturesque. Our tour guide Katy did an amazing job and was very knowledgeable about all of the animals in the sanctuary. We had wonderful interactions with the giraffes! And being able to see the other animals come right up to the truck was such a new experience for our 3-year-old. You could tell that all of the caretakers at this location really cared about the conservation and the ability to rehabilitate some of these animals back to the wild. They enjoyed their center and it seemed as Katy talked about the animals, that they felt like they were family. Ask about the few oddball animals that decided they wanted to get free room, board, and healthcare. Also, after seeing a few odd animal characters and we're told their stories, I must reiterate to the uninformed, DO NOT TOUCH THE HORNS of the animals! Also, please ask which animals you can feed with your hand. Some of them are not supposed to eat from your hands because It may interfere with their reintroduction into the wild and some of them have stinky oils that will never come off your hands.

We will definitely be going back and if you go when all the kids are in school, it's a more intimate, less crowded ride with the tour guide. Or you can go in your own...

The self guided tour was great. The "wildlife" (these are clearly human acclimated creatures) is abundant and well trained to come up to your vehicle to beg for a handout (the overpriced pellets you get at the front). It was fun to see all the critters and the kids had a great time on the drive which took us about 2 hours to complete. So why the 2-star rating? They have a "bounce back" program that lets you return before 10 am on the day following your admission to do the drive again. We called ahead to make sure we could use the program on the Saturday following our Friday visit and were assured it would be fine. Arrived Saturday morning only to have a very grumpy woman at the desk bark at us that the program was not valid on holiday weekends (we were there the Friday and Saturday before Easter). When I complained that one of their staff had, in that case, misinformed us, the woman said that was not her fault and that we could either pay full price for another pass or to find our fun elsewhere for the day. We choose the latter. These folks could do with a serious rethink of their approach to customer service. It literally would have cost them nothing to be more accommodating - there was no one in the park when we arrived (we weren't adding to an excessive crowd) and you have zero interaction with park staff after you leave the entrance/admit area. Living up to their verbal commitment would have been the obvious choice, but, sadly, they instead chose to have me right this review rather than the glowing one I might have given. Don't think we...