Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Camp Verde has reopened its gates after back-to-back monsoon storms in July tore through more than 60 acres of the property, destroying fencing and washing out access roads. Park owner Prayeri Harrison said the closure lasted a couple of weeks and that damage and lost ticket revenue add up to an estimated $250,000, but the park is now welcoming guests every day from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., including on Labor Day.
The flooding hit on July 20, when heavy monsoon rains sent water rushing down Cherry Wash, a normally dry channel that runs through the park's Serengeti preserve, according to Verde Independent. As reported by FOX 10 Phoenix, Harrison said the park had to shut down because people, tractors, and buses simply could not cross the damaged roads. Harrison told the station she had never seen a flood like it in more than 20 years running the park.
Despite the scale of the destruction, park animals remained safe and accounted for throughout the flooding, per the FOX 10 Phoenix report. Roughly 50 animals in the open Serengeti preserve — including Asian water buffalo, giraffes, zebras, sable antelopes, and ostriches — moved to higher ground on their own, without injury or panic, according to Verde Independent's coverage of the storm.
A Rhino's Mud Bath Amid the Wreckage
While heavy carnivore habitats stayed intact, the park's southern white rhinoceros, Jericho, was filmed rolling and playing in the large mud pools the storm left behind, as noted by Sedona Red Rock News. Staff shared the footage to reassure the public that the animals were unharmed even as cleanup crews faced a mountain of work elsewhere on the property.
Among the flooding's costliest casualties was a newly installed 660-foot stretch of fencing around the giraffe enclosure, built with nine-foot welded steel set in concrete and topped with rails strong enough to contain the park's tallest residents. The fencing had been financed with a $20,000 grant, according to FOX 10 Phoenix, and standard chain-link simply is not built to withstand animals of that size and weight, the same account notes.
Cleanup by Hand to Protect Nearly 200 Animals
The closure marked the longest weather-related shutdown in the park's more than two decades in the Verde Valley, according to footage aired by ABC15 Phoenix. Rebuilding required a deliberate, slower approach: to avoid stressing the park's nearly 200 exotic animals, staff steered clear of heavy machinery like tractors and excavators inside habitats, instead clearing mud and debris by hand, the Sedona Red Rock News reported.
The flood damage also forced a temporary closure of the independently operated Predator Zip Line, which shares access roads with the wildlife park, per the same outlet's reporting. Washed-out dirt roads kept both staff and visitors from reaching the zip line's launch points for the duration of the closure.
Refunds, Valid Tickets, and Moving Forward
During the extended shutdown, the park offered full refunds for date-sensitive reservations while keeping general admission tickets valid for a full year from the date of purchase, according to Sedona Red Rock News. Park leaders say rebuilding is ongoing, but they want visitors to know the park is open for business, with ticket and donation information available on the park's website. Harrison said the park will keep moving forward as crews continue extensive fence repairs and cleanup work across the property.
Out of Africa Wildlife Park was founded in Fountain Hills in 1988 before relocating to its current 104-acre Camp Verde property in May 2005, giving its growing animal collection room for larger, more naturalistic enclosures, according to Prescott Woman Magazine's historical account. Co-founder Dean Harrison died of liver cancer at age 75 in January 2023, and Prayeri Harrison has continued leading the park alongside its general management team since his death, per Journalaz.com.
