Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

Homosassa, Florida: In the midst of dense tropical foliage lies home to many of Florida’s residents. Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park provides a walk into the habitats of the animals that call Florida their home. The park is home to bobcats, panthers, bears, birds of prey, manatees and many more Florida natives.

The vision of the park began in the early 1900’s when the train that traveled through Homosassa would stop at the springs. Guests would disembark the train and marvel that the clear waters and abundance of fish that called the springs home. In 1940, the site was purchased and operated as a petting zoo style attraction.

In 1964, the land was bought by the Norris Development Company. Although the master plan of the company was to build a city here, the beginning of the project led to what is now present day Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. The project began with the dredging of the creek, which exhausted much of the money that was set aside for the project.

Then on a trip to the World’s Fair, Bruce Norris was impressed by the pontoon boats he saw there and brought one back to Florida. Exotic animals were added to the island and the animal theme park took off. The guests could ride on the boats and view monkey, lions, bears, hippos and more.

Then they added a floating underwater observatory to the springs. The Fish Bowl, was an underwater observatory that took guests below the surface to come face to face with the marine life that lived in the springs. The park was a hit and attendance grew.

But unlike the park attendance, the plans of the city diminished as the financial market entered into a period of recession. The Norris Development Company went bankrupt and the park was purchased by Canadian Pacific. Eventually Canadian Pacific could no longer maintain the park and it was purchased by Citrus County.

In 1989, the Florida Park service took ownership of the park. A move was made to return the park to its natural state. All non-native animals and plants were removed from the park. Plans called for the exotic animals to be replaced by native animals and the park be operated as a Florida native wildlife park.

The only non-native animal to remain in the present day park was Luc the Hippo. After a protest by citizens, Florida Governor Lawton Chiles declared the hippo a honorary citizen and he was allowed to remain a part of the wildlife park.

Today guests can visit the park and see what Real Florida looks like. Guests board pontoon boats at the visitors center and take a mile ride down Pepper Creek. Now instead of exotic animals, guests can watch turtles, alligators and even ospreys as they enjoy the ride down the creek through the dense Florida vegetation.

Once the boat arrives at the west boat dock, guests cross over Fish Bowl Road, site of the old railroad tracks. From here, the journey begins on foot. An elevated boardwalk takes visitors past Luc the hippo, deer, alligators, bobcats, Florida panthers, snakes, black bears, Birds of Prey, waterfowl and shorebirds, red foxes, red wolves and many more.

The southern end of the loop runs along the Homosassa River and goes through the Garden of the Springs and the Children’s Education Center. The highlight of the southern loop is the Underwater Observatory. The floating fish bowl is still in service, allowing guests to go below the surface and watch the manatees and schools of fish that call the river home.

Once the tour of the park is complete, you can either hop back on the boat for a leisurely ride or hike the 3/4 mile Pepper Creek Trail back to the visitor’s center.

For more photos, click on the photo above or visit my Homosassa Springs photo page.