Chehaw official says zip line is in park’s future

ALBANY — For nearly 80 years Chehaw park has remained one of Southwest Georgia’s most popular attractions and, thanks to an ever-expanding list of programs and activities the recreational park and zoo facility offers, that trend is likely to continue.

While the park has long been known as the area’s only zoo, featuring a diverse array of native and non-native species of animals, few realize that the park also offers a wide-variety of other activities and a wealth of different educational opportunities to its visitors.

Chehaw Education Coordinator Jackie Entz shared a little bit of those different activities Friday when she visited the Exchange Club of Albany at the organization’s weekly meeting.

Entz began her presentation by sharing that Chehaw is accredited by the Associations of Zoos and Aquariums based on a variety of standards set forth by the national organization.

“This is a really high standard that we are held to which means that must follow a bunch of rules,” said Entz. “We do animal care, conservation and education as our top priority. We take this very seriously.”

Entz said that two of the park’s top priorities were conservation and education, which Chehaw achieves in a variety of ways, many of which go hand in hand.

One example is the park’s free monthly conservation series where experts in different areas host presentations about different subjects and share some of the important conservation issues surrounding that topic.

“Every month we invite the public to come out for free and listen to a different topic,” said Entz. “It’s great because it’s for anyone and we have topics all across the map. This is one of the many ways we can give back. We can give people an eye-opener by letting them come in and hear about some important issues in conservation.”

In addition to the conservation series, Entz said Chehaw is engaged in many other educational programs in an effort to give visitors and area residents a better understanding of the natural world and science in general.

“We are so tied to educating not only children but adults and anyone who visits our park,” Entz said. “And we do this in a number of ways.”

One of those ways, and the way most near and dear to Entz, is the park’s annual summer camp offerings.

Entz said that on average the park conducts 14-16 camp sessions each summer and hosts roughly 30 kids on a daily basis. Although many of the camps have different focuses each week, a few things are always the same.

“They get to do lots of really fun stuff,” Entz said. “They get to be kids, they get to run around, they get to play, they get muddy, they get dirty and they come home exhausted. But all the while, just like you sneak in vegetables (to their diets), we’re sneaking in all of that science education so they come out with a greater appreciation of nature and science as a whole.”

Entz said she is particularly excited about a new overnight, or “sleep away,” camp Chehaw is offering this summer. Entz said that the park is now hosting a week-long camp where children come and spend a week living at the park, engaging in a wide range of different activities.

“Most everybody probably remembers going off, leaving your parents for a week, and going to camps in (other states),” Entz said. “Now kids can do that here at Chehaw. But what makes this different from other camps is that along with the traditional, resident camp activities like canoeing, archery, sleeping outdoors, and stargazing, they also get to do it at the zoo, so that makes it pretty special.”

Entz said the park also tries to offer a lot of other things designed to benefit the community as well.

“We realize that the community greatly supports Chehaw and we’re so appreciative of that,” Entz said. “We do a lot of things to try and engage the community and do things to give back to the community.”

A few of the examples that Entz gave are the annual Festival of Lights at Christmastime, the annual Frontier Festival and the park’s most widely known event, the annual Indian Festival, which has been a Chehaw attraction for 21 years.

While many of the annual events and zoo-based activities are well known, Entz said one area that people tend to overlook about Chehaw is the park’s different non-zoo recreational activities.

“One of the pillars that we stand on is outdoor recreation,” said Entz. “What’s neat about it is it’s not your typical outdoor recreation. If you’ve been to Chehaw you know that we have a lot of great sports and great activities you can do that other places don’t have.”

Entz said the 800-acre park has more than 100 acres devoted to recreation where guests can engage in a plethora of activities. The park boasts numerous tent and RV camping sites, cabins and Indian teepees that can be rented, a canoe dock, fishing, more than 10 miles of mountain bike trails, an 18-hole disc golf course, a large children’s playground, and a BMX track.

Additionally the park also houses a new outdoor music pavilion called The Stage that is set up to host family-friendly concerts, such as the recent Albany Battle of the Bands, and the Creekside Center event space which recently hosted the 40 Under Forty luncheon sponsored by The Albany Herald and the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Creekside is a great event space,” said Entz. “It’s perfect for weddings, receptions, reunions, and corporate meetings and we offer catering as well.”

Entz said the park is hoping to further improve its outdoor recreation offerings in the near future by adding a zip line and building a “tree-top adventure” series of platforms and bridges suspended above the park’s grounds.

“A zip line is definitely in our future,” said Entz. “It’s another one of those ‘out of the norm’ recreational activities, so naturally it fits right in. A lot people would like to see a zip line at Chehaw. Another thing that we’re striving toward is a tree-top adventure in both our park area and our zoo area. It would really give kind of a neat perspective on everything that’s out there.”

In addition to the aerial activities, thanks to SPLOST funds Chehaw is now adding sewer lines which Entz said would allow for greater development of the park’s waterfront areas.

“We’re putting all new RV sites out there, and a whole new campground” said Entz. “It’s a whole new way to bring in more recreation. We’re going to improve the boat dock so you’ll have another place to put your boat into Lake Chehaw. You can go canoeing, put in your kayaks out there. This will really really help bring some more business into Albany. What better place to stay than on the waterfront.”

With all the emphasis on expansion of recreational activities Entz said the park is also hoping to expand in the zoo itself, by possible adding a female camel to join Bogart, a camel that moved to Chehaw last year and has become one of the park’s most popular exhibits.

Bogart is sponsored by Geico Insurance so Chehaw officials are hoping to find additional sponsorship to bring in a female camel to begin breeding camels at the zoo.

“Everybody loves a baby and what would be better than a baby Bogart,” Entz asked.

To help the park plan for the future and “build its business” and streamline its brand, Chehaw recently revamped its website to make it more user friendly and inviting, Entz said.

For more information, visit www.chehaw.org or call (229) 430-5275.

Chehaw is located at 105 Chehaw Park Road in Albany and is open Monday through from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The zoo is open Sunday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.