biggest_dreamer
Well-Known Member
Surprised this place doesn't have a dedicated forum prefix. I guess it's maybe not terribly well known here, so I'll go through a bit of history first.
For those unfamiliar with it, Hollywild is a non-AZA zoo/drive-through safari in upstate South Carolina that has been around in varying capacities since 1970. Their big selling point is that they housed individuals that had appeared in films and commercials, and also proactively offered up their species for such purposes.
It's a facility that I've visited on and off throughout my life, and even as a kid in the 90s I could tell the zoo portion was a dusty, poorly-upkept mess despite the number of occupants. I, or someone in my family, would regularly have birthday parties here, and despite my lifelong love of animals, the zoo just wasn't fun. The safari was at least novel (one of my family's longest-enduring in-jokes is that my younger sister got bitten by an emu on the tram), and as I approached my teenage years my visits became relegated to an annual drive-through of their holiday lights. And boy, do they go all out for these lights. What feels like miles of nonstop holiday lights are broken up by a drive-through "enchanted deer forest" and a walkable Santa's village, both of which contain large numbers of animals.
In 2015, the zoo suffered a catastrophic fire, resulting in the deaths of 28 animals. Public response to this incident sent the zoo into a financial nosedive, causing it to close its doors in 2017. Since then, they've at least reopened for the holiday drive-through, and perhaps for general drive-through for some summers since then? Certainly no more walking through the zoo portion as best as I can tell.
It costs $10 per head to enter, another $10 per vehicle to enter the deer forest (plus however much you care to spend on bags of feed), and then $2 per head to enter Santa's village (plus various ways to nickel and dime you once you're inside).
Anyway, with all that out of the way, let's move on to the meat of this thing.
Holiday Lights, pt. 1
The initial stretch of the drive takes you through what was once the walkable portion of the zoo. Animals are still kept in the enclosures here, but it's so dark that it's impossible to truly gauge what you're seeing. To be honest, I'm probably slightly too much of a humbug to truly appreciate holiday lights, but these were as impressive as any I've ever seen. Displays included ones focused on the 12 Days of Christmas, Noah's ark (complete with two male lions and two female kangaroos), a massive whale, and various dinosaurs that were no doubt added during the early 90s.
Animals were not meant to be the focus here, but two instances stood out to me despite the darkness:
- cage containing multiple unidentified caprine (horns looked vaguely aoudad-ish, but probably just domestic goats or hybrids)
- various waterfowl, including a trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator)
Enchanted Deer Forest
My last visit to Hollywild prior to this year was in 2009. Then, and in every visit prior to that, the deer "forest" (it's open land) was completely open with all of its inhabitants truly free-roaming. The standard safari park setup, really. This was not the case anymore, and I couldn't even guess when it changed - post-fire? post-covid? Anyway, while there were a few free roaming species, most of the deer forest's occupants were corralled up in enclosures dotted about inside or along the perimeter of the greater enclosure.
I have mixed feelings about this setup. The enclosures themselves seemed like they were mostly fine as temporary holdings (at least, I hope the animals get larger enclosures when the deer forest is closed). This also all but ensured that you could drive up to whatever animal you fancied, since they couldn't just walk the other way as you approached. Still, I do think that part of the "magic" of a safari park is never knowing what you're going to get, making you cherish the animals that are visible or do approach that much more. Anyway.
Free-roaming inside the "Forest"
- Fallow deer
- Cattle (zebu-heavy if not full zebu)
- Emu
Enclosures within the "Forest"
- Alpaca
- Llama
- Sika deer
- White-tailed deer
- Fallow deer
- Ankole cattle (several enclosures)
- Cattle (zebu-heavy if not full zebu)
- Dromedary
Santa's Village
Following the deer forest is the walkable Santa's village. It boasts paid opportunities for photos with Santa and the Grinch as well as s'mores and hot chocolate, but I really only concerned myself with the animals. The enclosures here were terrible, and there's no sugar-coating that. They were all far too small, with many holding far too many animals on top of that. The more pettable domestics were kept in circular enclosures front and center, while the larger or less charismatic species got stuck down easily-missable paths between the Christmas attractions.
It's also worth noting that I am far from an ungulate expert, and basically every domestic species listed here is probably hybridized to hell.
Rabbit-petting building (an additional charge)
- Domestic rabbit
- Guinea pig
Relatively large paddock
- Domestic donkey
- Domestic goat
- Domestic goose
Segmented cattle enclosure, split between species
- Common eland
- Miniature donkey
Segmented cattle enclosure, split between species
- Zebra/horse hybrid
- Nilgai
Raised small pond surrounded by rock
- Domestic duck
- Mute swan
Small paddock
- Miniature cattle
Small enclosure
- Miniature pig
Medium-sized enclosure
- Domestic sheep
Small enclosure
- Sika deer
Small enclosure
- Presumed Capra hybrid, seemingly heavy on the tur side. See photo 1 and photo 2.
Medium-sized enclosure
- Dromedary
Presumed medium-sized enclosure behind cattle feeding fence
- Cattle (assortment of Ankole and zebu-mix)
Very small enclosure
- American bison
Medium-sized enclosure
- Common eland
- Domestic sheep
- European mouflon
- Domestic goat
Small circular central enclosures
- Domestic goat
- Domestic sheep
- Miniature pig
- Domestic yak
Mostly an assortment of indistinct sheepgoats in enclosures you really have to make yourself not think too hard about, but the lone nilgai and especially the probably-mostly-turs have really stuck with me. I wouldn't be in a rush to go back to this place, but if a family member asks me to ride along next Christmas... I don't doubt I'd say yes.
For those unfamiliar with it, Hollywild is a non-AZA zoo/drive-through safari in upstate South Carolina that has been around in varying capacities since 1970. Their big selling point is that they housed individuals that had appeared in films and commercials, and also proactively offered up their species for such purposes.
It's a facility that I've visited on and off throughout my life, and even as a kid in the 90s I could tell the zoo portion was a dusty, poorly-upkept mess despite the number of occupants. I, or someone in my family, would regularly have birthday parties here, and despite my lifelong love of animals, the zoo just wasn't fun. The safari was at least novel (one of my family's longest-enduring in-jokes is that my younger sister got bitten by an emu on the tram), and as I approached my teenage years my visits became relegated to an annual drive-through of their holiday lights. And boy, do they go all out for these lights. What feels like miles of nonstop holiday lights are broken up by a drive-through "enchanted deer forest" and a walkable Santa's village, both of which contain large numbers of animals.
In 2015, the zoo suffered a catastrophic fire, resulting in the deaths of 28 animals. Public response to this incident sent the zoo into a financial nosedive, causing it to close its doors in 2017. Since then, they've at least reopened for the holiday drive-through, and perhaps for general drive-through for some summers since then? Certainly no more walking through the zoo portion as best as I can tell.
It costs $10 per head to enter, another $10 per vehicle to enter the deer forest (plus however much you care to spend on bags of feed), and then $2 per head to enter Santa's village (plus various ways to nickel and dime you once you're inside).
Anyway, with all that out of the way, let's move on to the meat of this thing.
Holiday Lights, pt. 1
The initial stretch of the drive takes you through what was once the walkable portion of the zoo. Animals are still kept in the enclosures here, but it's so dark that it's impossible to truly gauge what you're seeing. To be honest, I'm probably slightly too much of a humbug to truly appreciate holiday lights, but these were as impressive as any I've ever seen. Displays included ones focused on the 12 Days of Christmas, Noah's ark (complete with two male lions and two female kangaroos), a massive whale, and various dinosaurs that were no doubt added during the early 90s.
Animals were not meant to be the focus here, but two instances stood out to me despite the darkness:
- cage containing multiple unidentified caprine (horns looked vaguely aoudad-ish, but probably just domestic goats or hybrids)
- various waterfowl, including a trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator)
Enchanted Deer Forest
My last visit to Hollywild prior to this year was in 2009. Then, and in every visit prior to that, the deer "forest" (it's open land) was completely open with all of its inhabitants truly free-roaming. The standard safari park setup, really. This was not the case anymore, and I couldn't even guess when it changed - post-fire? post-covid? Anyway, while there were a few free roaming species, most of the deer forest's occupants were corralled up in enclosures dotted about inside or along the perimeter of the greater enclosure.
I have mixed feelings about this setup. The enclosures themselves seemed like they were mostly fine as temporary holdings (at least, I hope the animals get larger enclosures when the deer forest is closed). This also all but ensured that you could drive up to whatever animal you fancied, since they couldn't just walk the other way as you approached. Still, I do think that part of the "magic" of a safari park is never knowing what you're going to get, making you cherish the animals that are visible or do approach that much more. Anyway.
Free-roaming inside the "Forest"
- Fallow deer
- Cattle (zebu-heavy if not full zebu)
- Emu
Enclosures within the "Forest"
- Alpaca
- Llama
- Sika deer
- White-tailed deer
- Fallow deer
- Ankole cattle (several enclosures)
- Cattle (zebu-heavy if not full zebu)
- Dromedary
Santa's Village
Following the deer forest is the walkable Santa's village. It boasts paid opportunities for photos with Santa and the Grinch as well as s'mores and hot chocolate, but I really only concerned myself with the animals. The enclosures here were terrible, and there's no sugar-coating that. They were all far too small, with many holding far too many animals on top of that. The more pettable domestics were kept in circular enclosures front and center, while the larger or less charismatic species got stuck down easily-missable paths between the Christmas attractions.
It's also worth noting that I am far from an ungulate expert, and basically every domestic species listed here is probably hybridized to hell.
Rabbit-petting building (an additional charge)
- Domestic rabbit
- Guinea pig
Relatively large paddock
- Domestic donkey
- Domestic goat
- Domestic goose
Segmented cattle enclosure, split between species
- Common eland
- Miniature donkey
Segmented cattle enclosure, split between species
- Zebra/horse hybrid
- Nilgai
Raised small pond surrounded by rock
- Domestic duck
- Mute swan
Small paddock
- Miniature cattle
Small enclosure
- Miniature pig
Medium-sized enclosure
- Domestic sheep
Small enclosure
- Sika deer
Small enclosure
- Presumed Capra hybrid, seemingly heavy on the tur side. See photo 1 and photo 2.
Medium-sized enclosure
- Dromedary
Presumed medium-sized enclosure behind cattle feeding fence
- Cattle (assortment of Ankole and zebu-mix)
Very small enclosure
- American bison
Medium-sized enclosure
- Common eland
- Domestic sheep
- European mouflon
- Domestic goat
Small circular central enclosures
- Domestic goat
- Domestic sheep
- Miniature pig
- Domestic yak
Mostly an assortment of indistinct sheepgoats in enclosures you really have to make yourself not think too hard about, but the lone nilgai and especially the probably-mostly-turs have really stuck with me. I wouldn't be in a rush to go back to this place, but if a family member asks me to ride along next Christmas... I don't doubt I'd say yes.
