March

said founder Ken Matherne. GlobalWildlife Center is home to more than4,000 animals of 30 species from fourcontinents.Open-sided safari wagons ferry visitorsamong the animals, including: fallowdeer with palmated antlers; 2,000-pound Cape Eland antelopes; reticulatedgiraffes (the tallest, “Big John,” towersto 23 feet); Pere David’s deer fromChina (extinct in the wild); black buckswith odd spiral horns from India; Americanbison; llamas; Sika deer from Japan;rheas from South America; dromedaryand Bactrian camels; zebras and manyothers, though no predators. The animalstrot to the safari wagons, pokinggreedy faces inside to dine on the drycorn visitors offer them in plastic cups.Ninety-minute tours cost $17 for adults,$13 for seniors and $10 for ages 2-11.There’s also an extensive gift shop.Kliebert’s Turtle and Alligator Farmis another must-see. On this recentvisit our guide was T-Mike Kliebert,grandson of Harvey Kliebert, whobegan the farm in 1957. In 1970, whenthe animals were placed on the endangeredspecies list, he released thousandsinto the wild, helping preservethe American alligator.The farm still releases gators intoGiraffes welcome visitorsto Global Wildlife, a shortdrive from Ponchatoula.Inset: This giant atKliebert’s Alligator Farmis 17 feet long and weighsabout 1,400 pounds.Emily McNeely of Ponchatoula is greeted by a Cape Eland antelope during a safari atGlobal Wildlife Center, which is home to more than 4,000 animals.the wild, but also harvests their meatand hides. All are the progeny of the 50male and 200 female alligators HarveyKliebert hatched out 55 years ago.The gators live in a natural swampsetting in water crusted with duckweed, which is collected and fed to the48,000 water turtles – red-eared sliders,yellow-bellied sliders and paintedturtles – that are also raised here. Adjacentthe gator lake (and closeenough that the alligators can sometimesreach) is a bird sanctuary, thickwith live oaks, their jade-green boughspolka-dotted white with hundreds ofegrets and herons.Generally, however, the alligatorsare fed catfish parts, though on this occasionT-Mike tossed out (and evenhand fed!) some pork steaks and cut upchicken – stinky with age – just the waythe animals like them. Ninety-minutewalking tours cost $10 for adults and $5for ages 2-12. Kliebert’s also includes agift shop where gator meat and souvenirsare available.DON’T FORGET THESTRAWBERRIESAmato’s Winery, opened by Henry andJessie Amato in 1993, is another worthwhilestop. Jessie Amato explained eventhough the winery offers a variety ofwines – peach, cranberry, blueberry,blackberry and orange – most of the5,000 gallons they produce every year issemi-sweet or sweet wine made fromlocal strawberries. We tasted several,and though all were good, our favoritewas the delicately sweet orange wine.Amato’s wine is sold mainly withinLouisiana, bottles cost about $7, andare of course available at the annualStrawberry Festival.The afternoon before the festival wasto begin we visited one of the three LiuzzaProduce Farms in the area. This one isrun by Kevin, the fifth generation of Liuzzasto grow strawberries and other producehere, and his wife, Elizabeth. Sheexplained that 100 acres of the 400-acrefarm are devoted to growing five varietiesof strawberries, and in 2010 the50 March 2012 TRAILER LIFEGo To:.comUser GuideContents