Buena Vista Wildlife Safari & RV Park

We stumbled on this brand new RV park, located right on Hwy 281 about halfway between DFW and Austin. We were only going to spend one night here, on our way to the San Antonio area, but the kids were having so much fun that we stayed for two! There is a Wildlife Safari adjacent to the RV Park; we went through the safari twice - beautiful Hill Country views and lots of (healthy! not caged! natural!) wildlife. We took an evening walk and could see tons of animals across the fence hanging out by the large lake. There were a lot of old-fashioned things for the kids to do - an "outdoor stage," a "Fort," a petting zoo (though we couldn't go inside while we were there, but we could pet the animals through the fence.) It brought back memories of my childhood - before video games and plastic playgrounds and artificial everything. We bought a "S'more kit" from the gift shop, and the kids went fishing in the pond at the end of the RV Park. For all we got, it was a BARGAIN! We will definitely be back, and will tell our friends (well, maybe just a few friends. Don't want to give away our secret yet. LOL!)

We made it to our RV Park in Evant, Texas. Here for two nights then down a little further for Winter!! Loving Texas!
It’s called Buena Vista Wildlife Safari & RV Park. They are a very new Park opened in 2/2019! Attached to their park they have a Wildlife Safari Park & it was so fun to drive through it! We saw Emu, several species of deer, zebra, bison, several species of goats & sheep. Watusi cows which are like longhorn & they were there too!! So fun! The sites for your RV are very long & wide. Cement area with a picnic table at each site. Big outdoor covered Pavilion, bathhouse & inside area for games! They also have four darling cabins!! Plus they take Passport America which is half the price of the original cost! $20 a night the Safari drive through was $15 Love this place! It’s right on HWY 281 just south of Evant, Texas

Loved our stay here. We were one out of maybe 4 other campers in the park other than the camp hosts. Since this park has only been open a year it seemed logical to us. The entrance to the safari is located in the park and if you visit the office before entering the safari they will give you food for the animals. We bought our tickets to the safari when we pulled into the campground and went to the safari the next two days. If your staying in the campground you can visit the safari as often as you like. We could even see some of the animals from inside our motorhome.

The sites are long enough for our 38' class A towing a 20' car hauler and had no trouble fitting in our site. We even had room to park our car in front of our bus once we got it out of the trailer. Our particular site could have been a bit more level but it wasn't so bad that the motorhome couldn't autolevel itself. Each site is gravel and has a cement patio pad with picnic table. There is also a planter in front of each patio pad with a small tree planted in it. If your one of those people that have the sign with your name and where you are from its a perfect place to set that up. While there are no fire rings at the individual campsites there is a propane firepit at the clubhouse. Besides the safari they have a petting zoo and a large fenced dog run. Also, for those with horses they have a few open (meaning no shelter) horse stalls.

This campground is pretty rural so stock up on groceries before you arrive. The nearest grocery is a small H.E.B. in Gatesville about 16 miles away. There is a Dollar General just up the road that seems pretty well stocked for basics. Just on the other side of route 84 is "The Elk Stop" which is a gas station with diesel pumps for those that have diesel pushers or a diesel truck pulling a fifth wheel or whatever you may be towing. My point is the diesel pumps are big enough for a tractor trailer so if your a large rig you'll fit.

We use Verizon for our cell coverage and the signal here was 4 bars. The campground also provides free wifi that actually works pretty good. Our site was at the opposite end of the campground from the office and the wifi signal was strong enough so we could do our work on our computers without having to wait half the day for a webpage to come up.

This place is great! For new park you can see that they are trying to make this place shine! Spots are wide, cement table pad at every site as well as a tree (just planted), 30/50 at every site, sewer connection has its own cement apron and the views are hard to beat. We chose a back in spot. Pavement was wide enough to allow easy blindside back in as well as enough room for us to locate Ladybug right next to cement pad.
Plenty of room to park our truck. Located right on 281 you would think the traffic noise would be high but we spent the entire week with all windows open and never really noticed it.

Lets talk staff...uber friendly and accommodating. The place was spotless. 3 shower stalls in each bathroom. The place is kept mowed and trim without a hint of trash in any site. Good staff. Good customers.

Now on to the animals....25 different kinds to look for. There is the petting zoo with lots of gentle animals including a baby alpaca. The safari has animals roaming on 300 acres. They are not the kind that hang at the road but also not real skidish. They are well fed and look extremely happy. The zebras and wildebeest were the hardest to find.

It is a 1.5 mile bike ride into the little town of Evant and we did enjoy our trip.

Would I come here again....absolutely!

We were planning our trip and had intended to stay further north for a few days, but when I saw the description and reviews of Buena Vista I knew it would be a hit with my wife. Turns out I enjoyed it just as much!
Plus all the RV park infrastructure is new and in great condition. Just off hwy 281, but the road noise was not a distraction at all and dies off to nothing at night. Friendly management, the safari drive with many exotic animals, a petting zoo with goats, pigs and alpacas.......pretty awesome.
Our pull thru site was long enough for the 40' motorhome plusthe F150 towed, and still had room to spare. All this and a Passport America rate of $22.50 for the 3 nights midweek.
We are already talking about coming back and haven't left yet!

My family and I went for Easter weekend and my two boys ages 7 and 4 loved it!! They enjoyed feeding the animals and going on cool drives through the safari. The place itself was well maintained had full hook ups, clean, the staff was super friendly and plenty of space to enjoy the outdoors. Definitely will be back and recommend it!
Thanks,
Louie.

Fairly new park on a family ranch that also has a lot of wildlife to photograph on a driving safari. 35 long, wide, level FHU sites on coarse gravel, each with a concrete patio pad and picnic table. 10 of the sites are pull through and the rest are back ins. The park also has cabins, a bunkhouse, volleyball area, dog park, playground, event center and pavilion. The bathhouse and laundry were both very clean. No cable but it was easy to set up our portable Dish. There is wifi at the park - it worked off and on. Both ATT and Verizon cells worked well. Since it’s fairly new, the park has no shade. Trees have been planted between the sites but it will be awhile before there’s any shade. Evant is very tiny, but we drove to Hamilton, bout 15 miles north, for a delightful Italian dinner (there is another one in Evant, but it was closed the night we wanted to go out for our anniversary). We thoroughly enjoyed the wildlife drive - this costs extra but it was reasonable at $12.47 per person (senior rate), and we were permitted to go as many times as we wanted during the 2 days we were there. We went once in the morning and again in the late afternoon.

Not to miss.