Essex County Safari Mini Golf at South Mountain
It seems like overnight, the overflow unpaved lot at the Codey Arena by South Mountain turned into a new attraction for Essex County residents and beyond. The Turtle Back Zoo now has a Safari addition, complete with a huge elephant and 18 other animals. These animals aren’t moving anytime soon, since they were installed as part of a whopping $4.8 million project to create a safari mini-golf course.
Opening night was a washout with drizzling rain on a Thursday night, but people still came – enough that there were lines for the free mini golf rounds. A band, free hotdogs and soda were also available for the determined miniature golfers.
At $5/child and $7/adult, it will take awhile for Essex County to make their money back — they estimate $250,000 in revenue a year from this venue. The real test will be after this winter season when the Turtle Back Zoo season is back in full swing and the to-be-built restaurant will be up and running (a boat house is coming too apparently).
Essex County has another mini-golf course over by Eagle Rock in Roseland that was recently renovated with fresh carpets too (actually a fun little course to go play for $5/round too), but it is no match for this safari wonderland smack in the middle of New Jersey.
