Exotic Resort Zoo

About Exotic Resort Zoo

Exotic Resort Zoo is a family-owned and operated safari park at 235 Zoo Trail in Johnson City, Texas, in the Texas Hill Country. The zoo's website says it is home to 700 animals representing over 50 species from around the world, spread across seven pastures on a property of 137 acres. Most of the animals roam freely together, and visitors see them from a guided tractor tour or from their own vehicle. The zoo is not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

History

According to the zoo's story page, Exotic Resort Zoo was established in 1995 by Dennis and Marilyn Bacque, who bought the Johnson City land as a private retirement retreat. Their plans changed after Marilyn brought home a baby Canadian elk named Dottie, and the couple began traveling the country to acquire more animals as companions for her. As feeding costs grew, Dennis opened the property as a public safari park, at first touring seven people at a time in an old Bronco painted with zebra stripes. The tour vehicles grew over time, and the site says the park now runs six tractor-trams that hold 40 visitors each. During the COVID pandemic the park began letting visitors drive through in their own vehicles, and it has kept both options since. The Bacques still run the park with their son, Donavan.

Exhibits and habitats

The zoo's map and animal list walks visitors through seven pastures: the Camel Pen, the Zebra Pen, the Elk Pen, the Ostrich Pen, the Buffalo Pen, the Addax Pen and the Oryx Pen. Fallow deer, axis deer, sika deer, greater rheas and emus appear across the pastures. Named residents include Cooper and Cayden, dromedary camels known as the "Kissing Camels," and Ferdinand, a Watusi. Other species listed on the page include Grant's zebras, elk, ostriches, eland, Asian water buffalo, North American bison, gemsbok, red kangaroos, addax, nilgai, llamas, Scottish Highland cattle, scimitar-horned oryx, Père David's deer and blackbuck, along with Black Hawaiian, Jacob's and Texas Dall sheep.

A few animals live in private paddocks because of special diets or because the park wants to watch them more closely, including Tyler, a lowland tapir, Bennett's wallabies, dama gazelles and greater kudu, the antelope that inspired the zoo's logo. Nigerian pygmy goats and deer live in a petting zoo area near the gift shop.

Conservation and programs

Two add-on encounters are listed on the website. Matrix, a reticulated giraffe who has lived at the park since 2021, can be fed from a giraffe platform, and Chloe and Clyde, a pair of capybaras who arrived in 2024, can be visited in their yard. Children ages 2 to 12 must be accompanied by an adult who also buys the encounter, and the zoo says encounters may be canceled if the animals are not cooperating.

Private guided tours have a guaranteed 9 a.m. slot every day. School field trips include a 45-minute tractor-trailer tour and time in several petting zoo areas, and the zoo also books company outings and rents Poppie's Pavilion, an open-air pavilion in front of the gift shop. Eight safari cabins on the property can be rented overnight: The Bear's Den, The Safari Hut, The Catfish Hole, Lucy's Hideout, The Native Lodge, Dottie's Place, Omar's Oasis and The Outback Shack. Several honor early residents, including Teddy the black bear, Lucy the ring-tailed lemur and Omar, the park's original kissing camel.

Planning your visit

As listed on the zoo's website, the park is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last entry at 5 p.m. and a recommendation to arrive by 4:30 p.m. Holiday hours are New Year's Day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Christmas Eve from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the park is closed on Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. The typical wait for a guided tour is about 30 to 45 minutes, spent in the petting zoo. Guided tours may stop in freezing or rainy weather, while the drive-through stays available. Drive-through tickets must be bought online, and once they sell out entry is not guaranteed. The website states that no dogs are allowed on site, including service animals. The phone number is (830) 868-4357. Ticket details are on the zoo's website.