Just a short drive away from Fort Worth is a sliver of Africa in the middle of Glass,Texas. Fossil Rim is a wildlife center committed to preserving animals in danger, performing scientific research, and responsibly managing resources and education. Fossil Rim is just an hour and a half southwest of Fort Worth, with many species of animals roaming and greeting visitors. 

The animals range from goats all the way to zebras and giraffes. The facility is 1800 acres in total. As you enter the center, each person is charged a $30 fee and the employees give you one bag of food per five people. The animals are on a feeding schedule and they don’t want them getting overfed or underfed. They have 1,100 animals and 50 different species.

“The animals seemed to be super hungry because the giraffe ate the food bag with all the food in it,” Campbell Beebe ‘23 said.

With most of the animals, you drop the food on the ground beside your car, but for some, like the giraffes, you feed them out of your hands. There are a few animals that prefer to grab the whole bag, so you have to hold on tight to the food so that it doesn’t get taken out of your hands. Nevertheless, the animals are calm, friendly, and very social. 

It takes anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours to get all the way through Fossil Rim. The time also depends on how busy the center is. Because of the time, visitors should plan to use the entire day to savor the experience Fossil Rim has to offer. It is well worth the drive and fee to enter the park. It is definitely a great experience for people of any age.

“The animals are so friendly and the whole experience put me in such a good mood,” Reesie Packer ‘25 said.

Campbell Beebie ‘23, Kennedy Packer ‘23, Reesie Packer ‘23 and Elizabeth Dike ‘25 went to the center because seeing all the animals really makes you happy. While at the wildlife center you are not allowed to get out of your car. You can roll down your windows and sunroof however to feed the animals.

At the center there is a gift shop with snacks as well as stuffed animals of all of the animals they have at Fossil Rim. It takes anywhere from 1.5 hours to 3 hours so I recommend eating beforehand.

Fossil Rim opens at 9:00 am and closes at 3:30 pm daily.

Fossil Rim is up for the USAToday top 10 safari parks in the United States currently. This is a very big deal. We are lucky enough to have this center only a short distance away.