In the sprawling hills of Central Texas, you never know what you might happen upon. Especially if you find your way into the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch just west of New Braunfels. Chances are you’ll have a giraffe get in your way. “Giraffes are my favorite, well, one of my favorites,” said Tiffany Soechting.
Tiffany has been a part of this wildlife ranch since its early days, when she first started working here in 1985. “Growing up, I always wanted to be a veterinarian,” Tiffany said.
Today she’s part of the family that’s owned this piece of land since 1884. “The ranch is established on Texas land heritage property. At the time of its designation, was used by the same family for over a hundred years for agriculture and now we’re at a right at 138 years,” Tiffany explained.
But the days of grazing by typical Texas animals are long gone. “They wanted to use the land for something more than just a cattle and goat operation,” Tiffany said.
Situated on 450 acres, you’ll find one heck of herd roaming these hills and none of it is domestic. “The perfect combination to take that ranch and develop something that you could do conservation minded things and have animals from all over the world,” Tiffany explained. “When you come to the wildlife ranch, you’re basically the one in the cage as you drive through in your vehicle.”
With 500 animals on hand, you’ll never know what kind of curious creature you’ll find lounging in these lush landscapes. “Some of the species, like scimitar horned oryx, totally extinct in the wild. And most people would never interact with them, but by coming and driving through and seeing them, and then they hear a story about how endangered they are, they can make a connection,” Tiffany said. “Half of our species have some level of endangerment, so it’s kind of a win-win.”
Even the Rhinos seem right at home. Originally from South Africa but they did not come from the wild setting in South Africa due to illegal hunting. There are a lot of facilities in Africa that are trying to help save those that are left because they’re highly endangered and being poached. “[The] largest expense from those facilities in Africa is security, spend thousands and thousands of dollars just on security keeping poachers away,” Tiffany said. “We’re proud that we have the space and we’re able to build the facilities that we could help in that program. There’s five different kinds of rhinos, two of them are African, blacks and whites. They got their name because somebody misunderstood somebody else,” Tiffany explained. “So, because obviously they’re not white, [they are] little grayish. So, when the Dutch came to Africa, they called them Went Rhinos, which means square. Their lips are square. And then the English came, thought the Dutch were saying white, and they were like, well, I guess they call him white.” The rhinos were unbelievably soft!
If you prefer longer and leaner animals, getting to know the giraffes is a great way to spend your day. While feeding the giraffes, I learned that they have the longest tongue I’ve ever seen. “The pigment of their tongue being that dark, in the wild, they spend a lot of times—and they’ll eat acacia trees that have these huge lung thorns. Because their tongue is prehensile and they can use it to grab the leaves off of the trees and the coloration, the pigment of it that darker is because their tongue is out of their mouth so much in the wild that it helps with sunburn,” Tiffany explained.
Sticking your neck out to feed this big fella can be quite entertaining. If this hands-on approach isn’t on your level, you can always see a tower of them in the park. “Right now we have 17,” Tiffany said. “It’s a lot of giraffes. I think one of the largest herds in the nation.”
You will also come across some ostriches, and they don’t like to be ostracized. They’re not shy animals when it comes to food. “We like to say they’re Texas friendly,” Tiffany said.
These awkward yet awe inspiring moments is what the Natural Bridge Wildlife Refuge wants people to experience. A chance to get close to a few crazy looking critters and get to know them a little better. “It creates more of a bond. All those species have a high level of endangerment and you can read it in a book, you can read it in a magazine, and know that there’s a problem, but when you come and you have a personal experience with one of them, it creates a higher level of concern. All those species are better off when more people have that personal bond with them.”