Sharkarosa Ranch

This past weekend we had an amazing animal encounter. We went to a place called Sharkarosa Ranch introduced to us by a family in our ward. It is a much smaller than any zoo, but provides a close up, face to face encounter with various animals. We were able to hold a couple of lemurs, a monkey, baby kangaroo, and kinkajou. They have a bunch of picnic tables that they bring the animals out to and let you touch them as they tell you all about them. They also have a safari tour that takes you to various other animals such as deer, horses, camels, and some South American camels that look just like llamas. They put feed for the animals in buckets that hang from the sides of the truck. The animals are so large that when they come up to feed, you can pet them and get some great pictures if your kids aren't too afraid to stand close. We all loved Sharkarosa Ranch. Below are some of the highlights from our trip.

This lemur is the first animal we were able to encounter. We arrived right at opening so we were the only ones there for a while and were able to sit and hang out with this lemur for a while. We couldn't believe how friendly he was and how soft his fur was.


This little monkey, Michelle, loved Lincoln and jumped into his lap as soon as he sat down. Lincoln actually came out to the ranch the weekend before to help with an Eagle project and the monkey jumped in his lap then too. They said Michelle has a tendency to remember people and especially likes men.

Alyssa sat on Lincoln's lap as Michelle was eating peanuts. At first, all was well and Michelle happily ate peanuts as Alyssa watched, but soon Michelle realized Alyssa was taking up Lincoln's attention and she nipped at her. Below you can see Alyssa's reaction from getting bit. Michelle then nipped at Samantha as well. Good thing it didn't hurt!


Samantha got up and personal with the camels on our safari ride. Alyssa and Courtney were much more timid, so Samantha got the best photos.


Here's Samantha with the zedonk - half zebra, half donkey. They also have a zorse there - half zebra, half horse.


Alyssa and Courtney were thrilled to pet this baby albino kangaroo. This joey just started to be pouch trained a few days earlier and this is one of the first times it was comfortable enough to let people touch him. We felt lucky to be able to pet a joey. Who can say they have ever petted a kangaroo?



These two younger camels were quite a riot. They made all sorts of noises at the kids and decided to taste out their hair. Alyssa about died when the camel started to eat her hair in this picture.


We had so many fun pictures so we put a bunch more in a slide show.

If you end up making a visit yourself we would recommend you getting there right when it opens to have the most time to yourselves. Their website is www.sharkarosa.com.