Nothing thrills a kid, young or old, more than a completely unexpected experience, and Kentucky has plenty of them: kangaroos in the middle of cave country, an accurate replica of Noah’s Ark in the middle of farm fields and a herd of sea horses in an aquarium next to the Ohio River, for starters.
Kentucky Down Under
Finding animals from the Australian Outback in central Kentucky seems odd until you hear how Kentucky Down Under got its start.
Bill Austin and his wife, Judy, had returned to his home state to run their longtime family business, Mammoth Onyx Cave. “There are so many caves around here, they wanted something to differentiate theirs,” said Brian Dale, who manages marketing for the attraction.
So the Austins added kangaroos, emus, dingos and other critters from Judy’s native Australia. “Down Under” became “a double entendre,” Dale said, a nod to Australia and to Kentucky’s cave region.
Within sight of Interstate 65 near the towns of Horse Cave and Cave City, Kentucky Down Under makes it easy for groups to venture underground and also get acquainted with exotic animals. Cave tours last 30 minutes versus those of an hour or more at nearby Mammoth Cave, so “it is a great cave to take the kids or adults to find out if they might be claustrophobic,” said Dale. “We have a wide variety of formations in a short distance, which is what the guests really like.”
New owners bought the attraction in 2013 and have added a wolf exhibit and made Kentucky Down Under a year-round business.
Animal shows can be arranged and could include the park’s reticulated python, blind owl or kangaroos. “We are one of the few places where you can pet the kangaroos,” said Dale. Contact with the kangas comes with some warnings, such as “never surround a kangaroo.”
“Always leave them an opening,” said Dale, “because they are going to leave, either around you or through you.”
Typically, a dozen or so kangaroos are in residence, and many have babies in their pouches. “Visitors love it in the spring when a baby might jump out of its mother’s pouch, run around and jump back in,” said Dale.
Ark Encounter
Eddie Lutz knows exactly what will happen as motorcoaches drive through a valley, up a hill and around a sharp bend on their approach to the Ark Encounter.
“You hear the gasps; jaws drop and eyes pop out,” said Lutz, sales and promotions representative. “The ark is so massive that no matter what you’ve seen in pictures or video, you can’t imagine it until you see it for yourself. It is that monumental.”
Groups are beating a path to the Ark, less than a mile off Interstate 75 and 45 miles from its sister attraction, the Creation Museum. Constructed with the aid of Amish carpenters, it is built to the approximate measurements of Noah’s Ark, which makes it one and a half football fields in length and taller than a four-story house. It is the world’s largest timber-frame structure.
As visitors travel the ark’s three levels along ramps, they see stacks of cages filled with animals, explore the story of the ark and see Noah’s family’s living quarters. They even meet a lifelike animatronic Noah, who will answer in “great detail” from a list of 14 questions, said Lutz.
The tour of the ark ends in a gift shop, and groups can then head to a two-level restaurant with ample seating for large groups and a deck with an amazing view. “When you sit on the deck, the ark is literally coming right at you,” said Lutz.
A zoo with exotic animals offers rides aboard camels and donkeys. A theater will be the site’s next addition, and it will be used as a venue for animal shows.
www.arkencounter.com
