Menu
header photo

Donations & our story

OUR STORY

 Safari Edventure is a non-profit organization which runs mostly on volunteers that are committed to our goal. We have been providing quality hands-on encounters with wildlife, plants & the environment for 38 years. The majority of our animals have come to us as rescues, rehomed, or rehabilitated. Many others have now been born at our facility from those animals that were rescued. A couple of examples of animals we have helped are Dakota, a Timber Wolf, and Roofus, a Red Kangaroo. Roofus came to us about 5 years ago as a baby. He was not fed the proper formula when he was developing, and because of improper nutrition he developed cataracts as a baby. Other facilities were not interested in giving Roofus a home, but he now lives a happy life with us here at Safari Edventure. Dakota came to us about two years ago when he was 6 years old. His previous owner got him as a puppy, but never obtained the proper permits to possess a wolf. When the authorities found out, they gave him 24 hours to find Dakota a home. If he didn’t, they would arrest the owner and “put down Dakota”. With just a few hours left, the owner found out about us and brought him to our facility. He now lives a very happy life with the rest of our wolf pack in his forever home.

After nearly 40 years of providing services to our community, we were able to move to our current location five years ago.

Our goal at Safari Edventure is to diminish "Nature Deficit Disorder" through hands-on, interactive, and fun wildlife and nature encounters. We strive toward this goal while providing homes to hundreds of animals in need, as well as educating people about those animals, all while giving you what we hope will be the best day of your life when you visit us.

We now have two locations. South Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Marshall, N.C.  Safari Edventure is the result of a lifetime process. As a teenager, our director saw a need to educate people about animals and the environment. This came from experiences he had while volunteering at a wildlife rehab center. At the center he noticed that many of the injured animals brought in were a result of people not realizing the consequences of their actions on the wildlife and environment. He pioneered the education department for this center to increase our understanding of the world around us. He started outreach programs, taking animals into schools, scout meetings, and other venues. These hands-on programs allowed him to reach a wider variety and larger number of people. As these presentations became more popular, and the demand for them grew, as well as the number of animals taken in as rescues or re-homed grew, the need for a permanent home became apparent. Eventually, we found the perfect location. This is what we have named “Farmony”. (Farming in Harmony with the earth.)

Here at Farmony we serve tens of thousands of people of all ages every year. We visit schools, retirement homes, private homes, scouting events, parks, hotels, churches, government agencies, and more. We can now also have all of these guests visit us. We are able to offer much more at Farmony to the visitor than we could ever carry with us on an outreach presentation. We can offer extended presentations, additional animal encounters. We also offer walks to explore plants, explaining how we depend on and use them in almost every part of our lives. Children have the opportunity to attend our day camp, giving them a new light to look at the world around them. This not only includes the plants and wildlife, but also the other people in their world. While at Farmony, they are learning a respect for everything.

Safari Edventure’s goal is to battle Nature Deficit Disorder in a personal, interactive and close up way. The plants and animals we share the world with need us to understand and help them, which in turn helps us. We tend to stay apart from nature, quite often forgetting that we are a part of nature.

All of our animals are very happy and content. The visitors comment everyday how peaceful and relaxing it is here. They often tell us that it allowed them to view nature in a new or renewed light. We also hear on a daily basis the statement from one or more visitors that, “This the best day of my life.” That would be impressive coming from a 5 year old that has had a limited number of days in their lives to that point. However, this statement usually comes from an adult. Most recently we heard this from a woman in her 80s.

While most visitors have an experience like those mentioned above, there are many that are touched by their experience here on a deeper level. Their visits to Farmony are often life changing.

We hear from visitors on a regular basis about how Farmony changes their lives. One family recently visited Farmony on one of their family member’s birthday. They later called to let us know that a few years ago a tragedy occurred on their birthday. They had not wanted to celebrate since then, and had not smiled on their birthday since that day. On their visit to Farmony, they were able to smile for the first time in years. They told us it lit up their world for the family to see the smiles. Another example is an autistic person that was participating in one of our hands-on presentations. This individual never took their fingers out of their ears. A couple of animals into the presentation they had both hands out of their ears and touching the animals. The care givers were running to get their cameras. We had the pleasure to see this individual a few years later, and they no longer had the problem of keeping their fingers in their ears. We have lots more stories similar to these, and we want to continue having new life changing events in the future.

As a part of our efforts to operate in harmony with the earth, and to operate efficiently, here at Farmony we grow as much of the food needed by our animals as possible. We have free range chickens that help control insect pests and provide us with fresh eggs. We also grow many varieties of greens and fruits such as Mango, Avocado, Canistel, Lychee, Sapodilla, 2 types of Cherry, Mamey, Mountain Apple, Papaya, Cotton Candy fruit, White and Black Sapote, Guanabana, Mulberry, Blackberry, Tomato, and more. We also grow many plants with additional uses such as Rootbeer plant which is useful for respiratory problems, and Citronella, Lemon Grass, and Lemon Eucalyptus, which are all used as insect repellants, and Moringa which has countless benefits. When we weed our garden, we do what we call “Weed and Feed”. We pull the weeds and feed them to our animals. The waste from the animals goes into one of our compost piles, and later can be used as soil or fertilizer for our plants. Very little goes to waste at Farmony.

Working in collaboration with Safari Edventure is Solace Health. Solace is a group of health professionals that have realized the value of animal assisted therapy. They also recognize the benefits of providing this therapy in a natural, peaceful setting. These are the reasons they have chosen Farmony as their venue.

Solace is able to reach and help many people that are not comfortable in a regular office or clinical environment. People that would be difficult to reach in those settings are eager to participate in the environment found at Farmony. Excellent results have been had with a variety of needs such as phobias, addictions, autism, family counseling, and more.