The Ark Encounter, a creationist theme park in Kentucky, is expanding its Ararat Ridge Zoo to include a new children’s zoo.
Home to an enormous replica of Noah’s ark, the Ark Encounter is owned and operated by Christian apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis. It opened in 2016 and has a sister attraction called the Creation Museum.
“This children’s zoo is going to be highly unique and a wonderful opportunity for children to interact with some of our animals, while learning about God’s creation,” said Ken Ham, founder and CEO of Answers in Genesis.
“There will be great teaching signs and fun interactive things for children to do. It will be an interactive zoo experience like no other,” he added.
Ararat Ridge Zoo expansion project
Last year, the Ark Encounter announced plans for a new Tower of Babel attraction. The park is also creating a themed carousel and indoor scale model of Jerusalem “at the time of Christ”. These are due to open next year.
The attraction revealed it was enjoying record crowds in 2021, with attendance returning to pre-pandemic levels. “Compared to other national attractions right now, we are blessed,” Ham said.
“We don’t know of any that are seeing numbers equivalent to or better than their 2019 attendance,” he added.
“Ark attendance will only increase as more international visitors resume traveling and as bus tours return to levels we’ve experienced before, such as up to 50 tour buses in a day.”
The Ark Encounter previously launched a $3m virtual reality (VR) attraction called Truth Traveler. In the ‘A Flood of Reality’ experience, visitors travel back in time to see Noah building the ark, as well as the pairs of animals boarding the ship.
Images: Answers in Genesis
