Sharkarosa

The weather has been all over the place lately, but spring is coming and with that comes the anticipation of approximately 8.2 days of beautiful weather before it becomes unbearably hot. I’m not sure why I live in Texas. 😆 Anyway, when it is actually nice outside, you should plan a trip to Sharkarosa in Pilot Point! It’s a zoo, only better. It has a more intimate, eclectic feel that I love. We usually end up going about once a year, and we have such a good time every time we go.

They are a non-profit that gets their animals from various sources, and it’s interesting to hear the histories of some of the animals – one was a performer, some are from people who underestimated the difficulty of caring for an exotic animal (who thinks a crocodile would be a good pet??), etc. The subject of an exotic animal broker came up in one of these discussions, and I’m pretty sure that was not a job that was ever presented to me as an option in elementary school.

The workers give interactive presentations at various exhibits every 30 minutes, so we usually go to several of those. It always seems like we are able to be closer to the animals and the animals are more interactive than at other zoos. And all the staff are wonderful. They appear to really enjoy working there and care about the animals. There is a petting zoo area that the kids always love, as well as a small playground area. You can buy food to feed to several of the animals, and the kids always really enjoy that too.

They have picnic tables at the front, so you can bring your lunch and eat it there while you watch the nearby animals. There is also a place you can buy food if you’d prefer, but we always brown-bag it so I can’t speak for certain as to how good it is.

They are open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and if you can make it happen, you should definitely go on a Friday. It is less busy, and chances are very good there will be a staff member walking around with an animal. This happened the last time we went, and it was the highlight of the day! The kids had participated in a lemur-drawing contest hosted on Sharakarosa’s facebook page, and they said the winner would win a “lemur encounter.” Unfortunately, the kids got blown out of the water by another participant and did not win the contest. They still enjoyed participating though and won tickets to the zoo. To the kids’ surprise and delight, when we went they had a lemur out and about and the kids got to hold and interact with the lemur anyway! And it’s possible that I enjoyed it even more than the kids. I keep trying to convince Korey we need a lemur or a monkey, and he keeps shooting me down. He says we already have too many little monkeys. (My mom actually had a monkey growing up, and she has been zero help in my pursuit. 😆) They will share specials and events on their facebook page, so be sure you follow along there if you are interested in going!

Have you ever been to Sharkarosa? What was your experience like?