‘Tiger King’: Here’s How Much It Costs to Visit Doc Antle’s Myrtle Beach Safari
With the massive success of Tiger King, fans would likely flock to the places mentioned if it weren’t for the coronavirus (COVIS-19) pandemic. Doc Antle’s Myrtle Beach Safari is shown in the docuseries. Some of the fees to visit tossed around between the scenes but not in-depth. Though the facility is closed until restrictions lift, here’s how much it’ll cost to visit in the future.
Doc Antle’s ‘Tiger King’ appearance may generate more visits
Bhagavan “Doc” Antle may have participated in Tiger King, but his Myrtle Beach Safari has been around since 1983. According to the website, “The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.),” is “a world-renowned 50-acre wildlife preserve located in South Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA.”
It continues: “He is also the founder of the Rare Species Fund (RSF), a grassroots organization that supports wildlife conservation projects in situ around the globe.”
Antle’s bio also says he’s worked on “over 500 films, documentaries, TV shows and advertisements of all kinds.” Celebrities such as Bobby Flay and Floyd Mayweather have visited.
It all sounds affordable if you make celebrity money, but what about the average person? Here’s what a visit will set all of you Tiger King fans back.
The park offers different tour packages, but it’ll cost you
The first package option is the Wild Encounters Tour, which is a 3-hour guided walking tour. This seems to be the “budget-friendly” choice at $339 per person. For a family of four, that’s a whopping $1,356, plus tax, for just 3 hours of fun.
Next up is the Night Safari which is similar to the Wild Encounters Tour, but at night. The price is also $339 person and lasts 2-3 hours. This package says it’s “interactive,” and that you can “hand-feed” their Bengal tigers.
If you have a tax refund to drop, Doc Antle’s 10-day African Safari “in the north-eastern region of South Africa,” might be your visit of choice. But, you might want to sit down for the price.
For 2019, fees for a 10-day excursion — with airfare, activities, accommodations, food, and drink — were priced at $10,908 Double Occupancy (per person), or $13,988 (for those not sharing a room). The site also noted a $2,000 non-refundable deposit is required.
Those aside, the facility offers proposal packages that start at $1000 and wedding packages with no minimum fee listed. And, if you’ve made the leap to take a day or night tour, they offer “photo encounters” which are “$100 for 1 person, plus $50 for each additional person (2nd, 3rd, and 4th persons). The fifth person is $100 more than the fourth, plus $50 for each additional person (6th, 7th, and 8th persons).” That’s a lot of math.
The final option is a VIP package add-on. It allows you to swim with tiger cubs or ride their elephant, Bubbles. That fee is not listed but we’ll assume it’s not cheap — even if you’ve memorized all of Tiger King in record time.
Antle is not happy with how he’s portrayed on ‘Tiger King’
Much like other castmates, Antle hasn’t been shy about stating his thoughts on Tiger King. Whether he refuted claims of having multiple wives or denying Barbara ‘Bala’ Fisher’s claims of inappropriate relationships with Antle’s apprentice’s.
In an interview with Oxygen.com, Antle called Fisher a “crazy child.” Following that, Fisher responded via Distractify.
“Calling people who criticize or (even disagree with him) ‘crazy’ is a boilerplate response from Bhagavan. When any of my friends asked what I thought his response might be before the release of the documentary, I said ‘he will call me crazy and try to minimize my involvement,'” she said.
Regardless of whether fans flock to the safari post-Tiger King mania or not, Antle’s seemingly doing OK for himself. With those park entrance fees, it’s clear why.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness is available now.
