The Aloha Safari Park has been a well-known staple destination in Harnett County for 15 years. Located at 159 Mini Lane in Cameron, the Aloha Safari Park is a 77 acre privately owned park. The facility and its staff are dedicated to giving injured, abused, and abandoned animals a happy and safe haven to rehabilitate and live out the rest of their days in peace.

It is not only a rescue operation, but an educational resource for the public, informing the community about all these wonderful creatures and how to help.

“We’re going to keep adding to it, we’re doing something different,” said Scott Brown, owner of Aloha Safari Park and Zootastic in Iredell County. 

Visitors of the Aloha Safari Park get a truly unique experience, getting to see over 300 rescued animals by either walking through the exhibits, or staying in the comfort of their cars in the brand new 2.2 miles of drive-through safari—or both! There is a giraffe feeding experience, where park visitors can get great photos while feeding the resident giraffes some safe snacks!

“With the drive-through, I like people to be up close,” shared Brown. “[With] our animals, you will get slobbered on before you leave.”

Aloha Safari Park keeps in mind the needs of its visitors as well as the needs of their animals, with a plethora of activities to do, and a new expanded gift shop for souvenirs.

There’s a large indoor exhibit area for the reptile friends, and larger outdoor exhibits for all the rest of their animal friends. Aloha Safari Park offers park visitors the opportunity to observe a variety of animals that they wouldn’t normally get to see. From the well-known tigers, giraffes and Syrian brown bear to the more obscure white-nosed coatimundi, scimitar horned oryx, and African spotted genet. No one will leave the park without learning and meeting something new!

According to Brown, animal neglect is a problem everywhere, and Aloha Safari Park does their share in mitigating the issue in North Carolina with their facilities. The animals at Aloha Safari Park have been rescued from unfortunate circumstances, including neglect and abuse, to the point where they cannot be returned to their natural environments.

“If we could turn them all [the animals] loose, we would, but you can’t turn a tiger loose in North Carolina, you can’t kill them all, and we want our kids to see them,” said Brown. Aloha Safari Park is a great service to the animal and general community, and a great solution for the increasingly unique and nuanced problems exotic animal abuse presents. Aloha Safari Park works hard to provide only the highest standards of care.

“These guys love me, and I love them,” said Brown. “They’re our babies, I treat them like our kids, we do whatever needs to be done for them. We shoot for 100 percent.” 

In addition to basic care, all animals need enrichment and routine to be happy, and Aloha Safari Park gives all their animals a fun and safe life.

“The best advice I’ve heard: ‘don’t buy the animal until you have the right habitat,’” said Brown. Brown embraces any questions or concerns any visitors to the park may have. “Support us, visit us, bring your friends and family,” said Brown. “We enjoy talking to people and educating them.”

Aloha Safari Park has undergone a few changes in the past year. The drive-thru safari, parking, and walking tour are all included in the $15 price of admission, with groups of 30 or more people getting a group discount. Aloha Safari Park recognizes the efforts of the community and says “thank you” to their emergency service workers, teachers, and military with free admission to them and their families on certain holidays with ID. The park has three designated covered areas for group events like birthday parties available for free on a first-come, first-serve basis. More seasonal events have also been added including an Easter Egg Hunt, timed out by age group for kids with prizes and the first ever Christmas light show with over a million lights decorating the park, which would go on to attract over 22,000 people over Christmas of 2022.

With the prices, shortages, and straight-up unavailability of land, Aloha Safari Park has really gone above and beyond in making the absolute best out of their circumstances for their animals, and the patrons. Brown has added on more land for habitat expansion for the park since he became the owner in June of 2022, but has goals of adding more. “We’d love to make Aloha bigger, but there’s not any land around it for sale,” shared Brown.

Aloha Safari Park is a great destination for a day trip, offering another fun and educational spot for everyone near and far from Harnett County. Brown is passionate about the small business community and hopes his expansions to Aloha Safari Park will bring in more people to utilize the area’s other small businesses.

“We all need to work together, and everything I do, I do to help the other person,” shared Brown. Aloha Safari Park is a great solution to the problem of previously wild animals that have no home and are unsuitable for release into their natural habitats. That combined with the educational and recreational resources to the public, Aloha Safari Park is a great way to get outside and experience nature.