Sandy Oak Ranch in Lake Village is a unique experience that you can only really find in one place in Northwest Indiana. By experiencing either the drive-through or the walk-through adventures, you can see a wide variety of animals native to Indiana but also more exotic ones. From deer to bison, foxes or even alligators, Sandy Oak Ranch is like a big outdoor zoo where you can get up close with the animals inside.
All of the animals inside of the ranch have very large enclosures that allow the animals to have more than enough room to roam, while also letting the attendee view from either their cars or on foot outside of the fence. We saw a few fawns who were hiding behind a couple of branches, so make sure to look hard through all of the enclosures!
Some of the peacocks, ducks and other birds are free to roam the grounds, letting you get up close and personal and take photos, but make sure not to touch or scare them!
On the other side of the ranch are the much larger animals. There are bison, yaks, emus and many other animals that are easy to spot from the safety of your car in the drive-through adventure. My group saw a few yaks roaming around their enclosure.
After the drive-through adventure make sure to visit the walk-through section to see some of the younger animals. There are also the extra options to feed goats, bottle feed cows as pictured above, or even feed hot dogs to alligators like pictured below! It is a great experience especially fun for kids who may have never been this close to some of these animals.
There are food and drinks available near the alligator exhibit where they serve freshly cooked food including hot dogs, chicken nuggets and ice cream bars plus souvenirs. Sandy Oak Ranch is big enough to not get too crowded while allowing everyone to get plenty of time to view and interact with each animal in the exhibit. It's one of the newer and more underrated spots to see animals in the region!
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