Florida
Safari Wilderness Ranch is piece of old Florida that offers unique adventures
Safari Wilderness Ranch in Lakeland
Safari Wilderness Ranch has about 800 animals. All the experiences offered put visitors in the heart of where the herds of animals live and thrive.
LAKELAND, Fla. – Nestled next to the Green Swamp is a ranch that is more like stepping into the wilds of Africa.
Safari Wilderness Ranch is not a zoo, but it does have animals most people associate with one. It’s not a ranch like a farmer’s ranch, but is more like a range where wild animals live.
READ: Robinson Preserve in Bradenton offers one of Florida’s premier birding destinations
“We have about 800 animals here,” Shared CEO and resident owner Lex Salisbury. “They’re all animals that do well in this climate and they thrive here, and you’ll see them in big herds.”
The here is a piece of old Florida, still wild and untamed like it used to be.
“We’re at Safari Wilderness now which is 260 acres in the Green Swamp in Florida,” shared Salisbury. “And the Green Swamp is the second-largest wilderness area after the Florida Everglades and this is the heart of the Florida Aquifer.”
“There are five different ways you can see the place,” shared Salisbury. “You can see ’em on ATVs, you can see ’em on camel back safaris, you can go on vehicle tours, you can do drive-thru tours, and you can can go on kayak tours.”
READ: Jet cars can be driven on the water in Clearwater
All of the experiences put the visitor in the heart of the open land where the herds of animals live and thrive.
“It’s a different experience than going to a zoo,” admitted Salisbury. “I think it’s a more real, richer thing.”
And he knows a bit about zoos, having worked in the business professionally before opening this adventure.
“Experiential learning is far more superior than lecturing people in school,” said Salisbury of this ranch. “If you can let people ride a camel, smell a camel, and feel a camel [then] the sense of smell and the sense of touch are emotional triggers that allow you to commit the experience to memory.”
Those memories are what keep people coming back. They are what inspire the next generation of animal lovers to support the conservation efforts of ventures like this.
Safari Wilderness is located at 10850 Moore Road in Lakeland. To learn more about them and book your own visit, click here.
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Brevard County couple gets married in NICU after birth of premature twins
A Florida couple, told they may not be able to have children, welcomed premature twins and had an impromptu NICU wedding.
Provided by AdventHealth for Children
Ben and Danielle Cassidy were told they likely wouldn’t be able to have children.
But this year they will celebrate Mother’s Day just months after having an impromptu wedding in the AdventHealth for Children hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit shortly after Danielle gave birth to twins prematurely — a week before the Palm Bay couple was scheduled to get married.
Both babies, Joshua and Rhett, are doing well despite arriving nine weeks ahead of schedule on Jan. 19, 2026, just one day after their scheduled baby shower. With a proper wedding out of the question with two premature babies in the NICU, a nurse took action.
Issabel Kenkel, the nurse behind the ceremony, said she was already in wedding planning mode for her own upcoming nuptials when she found out the Cassidy family’s ceremony would be interrupted.
“I couldn’t just let them do something small. They needed decorations and something fun, so I spoke to the music therapist and the chaplain,” Kenkel said. In short order, a wedding was being planned for their hospital room and the couple was saying their vows in the company of their safely delivered newborns.
“When we found out we could request staff members to be on our team, that’s when we requested Issabel and having that kind of consistency from someone who has such a big heart and is so kind,” Danielle said.
The hospital ceremony was all the more special because of the Cassidy family’s own health struggles.
“I have five autoimmune diseases and didn’t really think I would have kids. It’s been a rough journey. When Ben and I met, we were floored at how much a miracle it was to have kids,” Danielle said.
Ben, who battled and beat cancer, said he was worried that his prior treatment would result in negative health outcomes for his future children. Having twins for him was an unexpected blessing.
“When we found out we were pregnant, we found it so shocking. We said, wouldn’t it be great if it was twins? It filled out our hopes and dreams list,” Ben said. “They’ve been miracles for sure.”
The Cassidy couple said there was so much fear and uncertainty when their twins were born nine weeks early. Being able to get married right away just made them feel all the better about the future.
“It was nice getting married because we didn’t have to wait any longer to make it official. It made it that much harder for her to get rid of me,” Ben said.
“The unknown made it scary,” Danielle added. “We had no idea how long we would be in the hospital. Our wedding was going to be at the beach with immediate family and parents. Having NICU babies, we realized we’d never be able to get to the beach. It was really special having the people who care for our babies be part of the ceremony.”
The couple hadn’t even planned to have a band at their wedding ceremony and now the hospital’s music therapist was performing live for them and the chaplain was conducting the ceremony, something nurse Kenkel said was just part of her job.
“The babies are going to have the best outcomes if the families are taken care of and going home happy,” she said. “Being in the NICU is already so stressful. This is just one more thing I could do to take care of my patients.”
Tyler Vazquez is the Growth and Development Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. X: @tyler_vazquez.
The Vero Beach Police Department took a man into custody May 8 in connection with a threatening phone call directed toward a business.
The agency received information at 5:21 p.m. May 7 about a threatening call to Thrive IRC Inc. at 2300 5th Ave. in Vero Beach, according to a news release. The call included someone threatening to come to the business with an AK rifle and “light the building up.”
Detectives began investigating the threat and identified Michael Sean O’Brien, 27, of Vero Beach, as the person associated with the phone number used during the call.
O’Brien was taken into custody at about 3:30 p.m. May 8 without incident. He was charged with the false report concerning the use of firearms in a violent manner, which is a second degree felony, according to the news release.
O’Brien was booked in the Indian River County Jail at 6:13 p.m. May 8 but was released at 1:36 p.m. May 9 after posting the $5,000 bond, according to the jail website.
No additional information was available the afternoon of May 9.
Olivia Franklin is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at olivia.franklin@tcpalm.com, 317-627-8048 or follow her on X @Livvvvv_5.
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