Longneck Manor

About Longneck Manor

Longneck Manor is a private wildlife park at 1749 Beyer Rd in Fredericksburg, Texas, about 75 miles from the Austin or San Antonio airports. It was created by Rick Barongi, who serves as director and owner, after retiring from a career that included running the Houston Zoo. The park is built around a small number of large animals rather than a broad collection: a "Crash" of rhinos and a "Tower" of giraffes, presented as animal ambassadors that guests meet up close on guided tours or overnight stays.

The park describes its purpose as combining the guest experience of a zoo with the mission of a conservation organization. It operates as two linked entities: a for-profit LLC that runs tours, overnight stays, and merchandise sales, and a nonprofit, tax-exempt conservation foundation that receives donations and funds field conservation projects. Longneck Manor describes itself as a conservation organization that will become an AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) accredited zoological park.

Guests can meet the resident rhinos and giraffes, tour the property, or book an overnight stay in a suite built above the giraffe barn. The park also sells enrichment items for its animals through an online wishlist and publishes an animal fact sheet with details on its ambassador animals.

History

Rick Barongi purchased the Fredericksburg property in 2007 as an investment, with no plan at the time to build an animal park there. The idea took shape later, after he heard of a plan to build something similar to Giraffe Manor, near Nairobi, Kenya, on a Caribbean island — an idea he concluded would not work, since giraffes do not do well on tropical islands with saltwater, palm trees, and beach sand. The Texas Hill Country's climate, with short mild winters and hot summers, reminded him of parts of East and Southern Africa where giraffes, rhinos, and cheetahs live, and Fredericksburg itself was becoming a growing destination with a museum, wineries, and a private airport drawing more visitors each year.

Barongi trademarked the name and a giraffe logo designed by a friend, Paul Swen, in 2015, shortly after retiring from the Houston Zoo. Over the following years he built a ranch house, added two ponds, improved the road, repaired fencing, and planted around 150 trees on the property. He also set up both a for-profit LLC and a nonprofit, tax-exempt conservation foundation, with a board of members drawn from conservation, business, and hospitality backgrounds. Construction reached the point that Longneck Manor opened for small group tours and overnight stays at the end of July 2021.

Exhibits and habitats

The park's central structure is its giraffe barn, nicknamed the "Giraffe Mansion," on which construction began on August 12, 2020. The 10,000-square-foot, 30-foot-high building cost more than a million dollars and was designed specifically around the needs of captive-born giraffes, which the park's founder describes as requiring more shelter and attention than wild-born animals. Doors are 18 feet high, stall floors combine fine gravel with rubberized concrete for quarantine and medical use, and the barn includes elevated water drinkers and feeders, natural lighting, a restraint chute for hoof trims and blood draws, and climate control for both winter and summer.

An eight-foot-wide elevated catwalk runs along the back of the giraffe stalls, reached by an outside stairway, so that guests and keepers can interact with the giraffes at eye level rather than near their legs. The ground floor of the barn holds keeper offices, bathrooms, and food storage; above that workspace is a 1,200-square-foot overnight suite known as the Giraffe Suite, a three-room, air-conditioned space with Wi-Fi, an African theme, a kitchen, a living room, and a master bedroom, with floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking the giraffe family's stall.

Animal highlights

Longneck Manor's collection centers on two species. Its rhinos are described as a "Crash" of three: Fred, Barney, and Justin. Its giraffes are described as a "Tower," with the park's own materials giving different counts in different places — a tower of eight in one description and, in the most recent update on its site, a tower of four named giraffes: the bull Kafele, along with Betty, Tana, and Kili. The park has also announced plans to add rhinos and okapi to its collection, though no specific numbers or arrival dates are given in the source material. No published species-count total or general animal count beyond these two groups is available.

Conservation and programs

Longneck Manor frames itself as a conservation organization first and an animal-encounter destination second. It partners with ten conservation organizations that its founder describes as having personal, long-standing relationships with the Longneck Manor team, and it channels donor funds directly to what it calls proven "conservation heroes" rather than through a more formal grant process. The park's stated philosophy, developed by its founder and presented at a zoo conference in San Diego, is called the "One Team Approach," built around what the park calls the "Three H's": Heart, Head, and Hand — get people to care, then to learn, then to help.

Financially, the park separates its conservation and business functions into two entities. Donations go to the nonprofit Longneck Manor Conservation Foundation, a 501(c)(3), and are restricted to conservation projects in the field or, when designated, the care of animals at Longneck Manor itself. Revenue from tours, overnight stays, and merchandise goes to the for-profit Longneck Manor, LLC, and any surplus from that account can be transferred to the nonprofit to further support its conservation mission.

Planning your visit

Longneck Manor is located at 1749 Beyer Rd in Fredericksburg, Texas, roughly 75 miles from the Austin or San Antonio airports. Visits are structured around guided tours and, for guests who want to stay longer, an overnight stay in the Giraffe Suite above the giraffe barn. The source material does not list operating hours, ticket prices, or booking procedures beyond describing these experiences, so specific costs and availability should be confirmed directly with the park.

Guests interested in supporting the animals directly can purchase items from the park's online enrichment wishlist, and an animal fact sheet is available for those who want details on the individual rhinos and giraffes before visiting.

Check Longneck Manor's official website for current tour times, overnight availability, and pricing before planning a visit.