Pennsylvania Animal Park Adds Safari Truck Rides

GROVE CITY, Pa. – Keystone Safari has obtained several custom safari trucks that were previously used at another animal park in the region.

The repurposed military-style trucks hold 30 visitors and allows them to see the animals up close as they are driven through the park, according to park owner Adam Guiher. The trucks were in use for years at Wagon Trails animal park in Vienna, Ohio, which closed last year.

Keystone Safari is a 144-acre safari park and licensed zoo developed by Guiher and his family. Located 1 mile from the Grove City exit on Interstate 79, it has 70 staff members, including skilled zookeepers, managers, maintenance and customer service crew. 

Guiher, who also owns the Living Treasures Wild Animal Park in New Castle, opened the park in 2014, giving it spacious natural spaces for the animals.

Visitors could always watch the animals on foot, but truck tours were always part of the plan, Guiher said. Complications over a sewer-line extension delayed the truck route for several years.

In 2020, what was originally designed and built to be the truck tour area was converted to accommodate families driving their own cars, to comply with pandemic-related social distancing restrictions.

The safari truck route traverses an 85-acre section of the park that is home to about 200 animals of 25 species who roam freely through fields and wooded areas. Zebras, wildebeests, elk and llamas are some of the most popular animals seen along the tour.

The self-driving tours, which were in place for the previous three seasons, will give way this season to the guided safari truck tours.

“These old trucks have an authentic safari feel about them,” Guiher said.

An ADA accessible ramp is being built to accommodate all guests. Its completion is expected in early June. Until then, Keystone Safari will offer limited tours, based on availability. Loading and unloading will be done on portable stairs.

The park is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through the end of September, with weekend and some holiday hours through the end of the year. More information is available HERE.

Pictured at top: Some of the safari tour trucks now in use at Keystone Safari animal park near Grove City, Pa.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.