2821 Stevensville Road, Stevensville, Ontario L0S 1S0, Canada
(905) 382-9669
https://safariniagara.com
info@safariniagara.com
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At Safari Niagara, our goal is to bring you and your family a one-on-one connection with nature. We invite you to see the animals up close and get to know them. In this way, children of all ages can explore how we are all part of nature…and where we fit in. It is hoped that Safari Niagara will inspire future conservationists and nature-lovers by bringing them into a new environment
The seed for Safari Niagara was planted by the late Stephen J. Tykolis, who moved his family of seven children to Stevensville from Welland in the 1950s.
Upon retirement in 1990 from his family businesses, Stevensville Lawn Service and Stevensville Garden Gallery, “Papa Steve” began a small hobby farm of domestic animals, which he enjoyed sharing with family and friends.
After his death in 1992, three of Papa Steve’s children, Terry, Marianne and Tim, were left in charge of business operations and, as a tribute to their dad, constructed a small-scale public zoo of the cherished feathered and furry friends inside the garden centre. Visitors loved seeing the animals and birds up close, which inspired the acquisition of more species, including more exotic species such as primates and reptiles. The little zoo also became somewhat of a sanctuary for exotic species whose owners could no longer care for them. In seeing the interest and excitement the little zoo was creating, it wasn’t long before a hobby farm of larger animals began inhabiting the parcel of land behind the garden centre.