Depending on how you feel about Valentine’s Day you might want to bring your Valentine to Tanganyika for a special date, or you might prefer to name a cockroach after your ex. Either way, we’ve got you covered at Tanganyika. This blog will discuss two unique ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Wichita KS.
Take Your Valentine on a Unique Animal Experience
Tanganyika Wildlife Park is known for its unique animal experiences. It’s the only place in the country where you can start your day giggling about giraffe slobber on your hand but end the day swimming with penguins. Valentine’s Day in Wichita KS gives you the excuse for some animal experience time.
The keepers at Tanganyika cooked up a fun and intimate Valentine’s Day Date for you. During this animal experience, you and your Valentine will meet one of the park’s resident penguins. You might not believe it, but the penguins at Tanganyika are excellent artists. They will create a unique Valentine’s Day-themed art piece for you and your date. The collaborative keepsake will also include your thumbprints.
Valentines Date Idea
What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Wichita KS, than to support efforts to preserve this endangered species? African Penguins are one of fourteen species of penguins that don’t live in cold climates like Antarctica. Their native habitats are found off the coast of South Africa, and African penguins are threatened by the degradation of their nesting sites. Tanganyika works with Dyer Island Conservation Trust to protect nest sites and rehabilitate injured penguins so they can return to their mates. When you support Tanganyika during your Valentine’s Day Date, you help us continue breeding African Penguins so our grandkids can experience them.
Penguins are the perfect animal experience to celebrate Valentine’s Day because of their dedication to their mates. Penguins choose a mate after they’ve completed their first molt and gain their adult coloring and plumage. They build a nest together out of guano (okay, maybe not the most romantic part) and lay their eggs. One penguin will incubate the eggs while the other goes out to fish for the day, and then they will swap places. They stay together for life.
Schedule your Valentine’s Day Date with a penguin animal experience.
Things to do in Wichita KS on Valentine’s Day
While Tanganyika Wildlife Park might be closed for the season, they don’t completely hibernate. Animal experiences are still available every weekend through the winter. You don’t have to search “animal experiences near me.” We’ve compiled some of the best options here. If you are looking for things to do in Wichita KS on Valentine’s Day weekend, here are some of the best animal experiences that you can choose for your Valentine’s Day Date.
- Pet a sloth – Tanganyika is home to four resident sloths and they are available for meet and greet experiences. People choose this most popular experience when looking for “animal experiences near me.” Celebrate Valentine’s Day in Wichita KS by petting a sloth, taking a “slothie,” and feeding Chewie the sloth and his friends.
- Paint with a Pygmy Hippo – Link the Pygmy hippo is just over one year old and loves meeting and interacting with his fans. During this experience, you will touch Link (he feels like a slimy avocado), get a painting of his nose, and pose for pictures with the hippo star. This animal experience is the only one like it in the United States.
- Otters on your lap – We know firsthand that otters make terrible pets. Still, our trainers have worked hard to set up an experience where you can meet and interact with them without the fishy smell in your house. Bring your Valentine’s Day Date to meet Shrimp, Wonton, and Wasabi.
An animal experience is a perfect thing to do in Wichita KS on Valentine’s Day.
Don’t feel like celebrating Valentine’s Day in Wichita KS?
If you’re not feeling Valentine’s Day this year (or any year), we invite you to celebrate by naming a cockroach in honor of your ex-Valentine’s Day Date. This symbolic adoption is a fun way to work through your anti-Valentine’s Day feelings without the therapy bill.
Adopt a Cockroach
Just eight dollars allows you to name a cockroach in honor of your ex. We’ll provide you with a certificate you can share on social or text to your ex on Valentine’s Day. We can’t promise that your adopted cockroach will live forever (even though they can survive without their heads for days). These cockroaches are food for many rare and endangered species that call Tanganyika home, like our honey badgers, bat-eared foxes, and reptiles.
So it’s up to you. Will you celebrate Valentine’s Day in Wichita KS, with African penguins who mate for life and are devoted partners? Or would you get your revenge by naming a cockroach after your ex-Valentine? However you choose to spend your Valentine’s Day Date, Tanganyika will make it fun and memorable.
For more on what Tanganyika does to protect African Penguins, read our blog and enjoy Valentine’s Day this year.
