Chehaw Zoo: Albany, GA’s small Wild Animal Park Escape

It was a lazy hot, humid Sunday morning in South Georgia…

What to do, what to do?

Hey, let’s go to the zoo!

The Chehaw Wild Animal Park is just down the road, and it’s only a few bucks per person to get in.

Backstory

Skip the blah-blah-blah and just look at the critters.

The Chehaw Wild Animal Park was established between 1975 and 1977, when animals from the old Albany municipal Tift Park Zoo were relocated to the new facility. The Tift Zoo, situated on a cramped seven-acre plot, was a traditional zoo characterized by small cages. In contrast, the new Wild Animal Park spanned over 100 acres and embraced a more modern approach, featuring spacious, naturalistic habitats for the animals.

Albany native Jim Fowler, renowned for his work on Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, was invited to help design and oversee the development of the wildlife area. Initially, the vision was to create a drive-through wildlife park where animals would roam in expansive enclosures. However, financial and logistical constraints resulted in a smaller, walk-through park instead of the original drive-through concept.

Trivia: When the animals were transferred to their new home, Laska—a female Asian elephant—proved too large for any available truck. On October 26, 1977, Laska was instead walked through the streets of Albany toward Chehaw. The procession was led by a city dump truck, followed by a zoo vehicle, with police managing traffic along the route. Residents lined the streets and gathered outside businesses to witness the unusual sight of an elephant strolling through their small South Georgia city.

The Wildlife Park, also known as “The Zoo at Chehaw,” occupies just a small portion of the expansive 800-acre Chehaw Park. The larger park offers a variety of amenities, including nature trails, camping facilities, a sizable playground and splash park, disc golf, fishing, and numerous other recreational opportunities.

Today, the zoo reports being home to over 70 species, including cheetahs, black rhinoceroses, black bears, alligators, zebras, red wolves, and lemurs.

More Trivia: The name “Chehaw” comes from the Chiaha (Chehaw) people, a group associated with the Creek (Muscogee) nation who lived in southwest Georgia. During the park’s development, Native American artifacts were uncovered on the property.

The Zoo at Chehaw, aka The Wildlife Park

As noted, it was a hot and humid Sunday morning, and very few people were visiting the park. Unsurprisingly, but unfortunate for us, many of the animals—perhaps wiser than the visitors—remained hidden in their cooler shelters.

Alligators…