Tanganyika Wildlife opens a $1.3 million splash park

Tanganyika Wildlife Park’s new “splash park” is an understatement, assistant director Matt Fouts says.

“I think people are pretty surprised,” Fouts said of the new 5,000 square foot addition to the Goddard zoo. “When you hear ‘splash park,’ you think of those little splash pads around town that are free. They came out here and said, ‘This is not a splash park, this is more like a water park.’”

The addition, which opened last weekend, includes aquatic features such as slides, multiple tipping water buckets, climbing structures, waterfalls, large animal characters and a giant water-spewing giraffe.

It is located adjacent to Tanganyika’s Troublemaker’s Cove exhibit.

“It’s taken a lot of people by surprise,” Fouts said.

The $1.3 million project has been in the works for about two years, said Fouts, whose father Jim founded the park and opened it to the public in 2008.

“We’ve been talking for a while, obviously Kansas being hot we wanted something to help them cool off when they’re at the zoo,” he said of the splash park, which is free with zoo admission.

Inspirations for the water area came from similar attractions at the Henry Dorley Zoo in Omaha and the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas, Fouts said.

Construction on the project began in February but was slowed with the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Once work could start again, he said, the demand for supplies increased and cost went up.

“We ended up doing a lot more of it in house to save money, because the prices skyrocketed on some stuff as we moved into the project,” Fouts said.

The surface is covered with a slip-resistant and heat-reducing material and the water is treated. Monitors keep an eye on the children playing at the splash park.

“You can have a nice, safe area,” Fouts said. “We thought it would be something to set us apart from other attractions in town, aside from the actual water park.”

Additional personnel have been added at the park to make sure surfaces remain clean in the zoo, splash park and restrooms, he added.

For adults who want to stay dry, the new Thirsty Sloth Bar will have four kinds of craft beers, a variety of frozen drinks and soon a line of specialty cocktails that includes Lemur Island Iced Tea and the Madagascar Mule.

“We’re trying to get our feet wet” with the new cocktails, he said, “no pun intended.”

Tanganyika Wildlife Park

Where: 1000 S. Hawkins Lane, Goddard

Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily; fall hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. begin Sept. 8

Tickets: General admission is $24.99 for persons 12 and older, $19.99 for ages 3-11