Wildhaven Ranch Reviews

Great experience! Very interesting and informative visit. We learned a lot about local wildlife from the experienced and knowledgeable team.

Diane is the figurehead here and her heart and soul is in this facility. You're visitation and financial support helps realize her vision of rehabilitating injured animals to release back into the wild and/or provide long term care for animals that were either abandoned, injured and targeted for euthanasian.

If you go to/through the Lake Arrowhead area, set aside some time to visit Wildhaven Ranch. The staff here are very knowledgeable and respectful of the animals they care for, and that is imparted onto the visitors who come to learn from them.

My wife and I had a great time appreciating some of California's wildlife and look forward to taking our daughter in a few years when she is able to learn about these animals.

Thanks!

Staff was friendly, provided lots of great information and very knowledgeable about each animal. It's a walking tour with lots of inclines/declines on both paved and unpaved areas. Not wheelchair accessible...be careful if you have problems walking on uneven terrain. It's definitely a hidden gem...worth the drive. I would do it again next time I visit the area.

Visited Lake Arrowhead for the first time the past weekend and researched things to do. Came across the Wildhaven Ranch and called Diane for some info. Due to covid-19, they were limiting the amount of people on tours so I was worried that my fiancee and I were not able to be selected to see the tour- they gave larger parties first priority. To my surprise, Diane called me a few days later and said that we would be allowed to participate in the tour.

Ive never really be to a wildlife sanctuary vs a zoo and I was pleasantly surprised at how much of a closer experience we were able to have. Diane and her staff were very knowledgable and their dedication to their animals shows. We learned a lot about the animals and were very pleased with our experience- particularly seeing and feeding the bears!

Overall was a great experiEnce that I highly recommend if you are in lake arrowhead and love animals!

It was apparent Diane & her staff were very knowledgeable & passionate about the animals in their care. Even though it was an unusually hot day in July they were concerned about our comfort & tried their best to keep us in the shade as much as possible. They did a good job of making sure everyone could see and hear the explanations about the animals in their care. This is a great experience for adults & kids alike.

We had a great time at the Wildhaven Ranch this past weekend. Dianne and her staff of volunteers were knowledgeable, friendly, funny, and most important, great human beings. You can sensed the passion they have for all the animal. The kids learned a lot about different animal (I did too!). I high recommend this place.

Amazing experience. Highly recommend. Diane the owner is doing a tremendous job caring for the wild animals. Wildhaven relies solely on donations. Hopefully more people donate so the animals can contiue to be taken care of.

We are so glad we visited Wildhaven Ranch. We learned a lot about the animals that are taking refuge there. It was great to see the eagles and bears and other animals up close and to hear from the well-qualified people caring for them. We strongly recommend making an appointment and spending some time at Wildhaven Ranch.

One-of-a-kind experience visiting this unique wildlife sanctuary where animals are cared for as part of the family of their caretakers. We loved hearing the story behind each animal and how they came to live there, how they are cared for, and so much more educational information about each one. Diane is a wealth of information and her love and passion for each of her animals, and her work, is evident. It is so admirable how she has dedicated her life to rescuing animals. An effort is made to allow every person to hear the explanations and see the animals up close as they respond to the trainers and are fed. A very memorable experience!

This was the best way to spend an afternoon. An up close opportunity to learn about and see these beautiful rescued animals. They are lovingly cared for and maintained by a very informative and selfless (volunteer) staff. We saw three birds of prey, a bobcat, two coyotes, a mule deer, racoons, two black bears, a bald eagle. It was amazing and the best $10 I ever spent!

really informative but did not enjoy the religious talk
the tour guides are very knowledgeable and passionate about they mission
Time and money very well spent

The caretakers at the ranch are dedicated and knowledgeable. We saw a bobcat, coyotes, black bears, a bald eagle, a golden eagle, etc. Very in-depth explanation of the animals and how they came to the ranch.

Being a local up on the mountain for 19 years, I had recently decided it was time to go and visit Wildhaven Ranch. I gathered my younger family members, and we drove 10 minutes from my home to the facility. Mind you, you must call in advance to make reservations, and you must get direct directions from the front desk receptionist due to the fact that GPS will misguide you. We went to go see the bear enclosure. Well, first and foremost, it has been one hot of a summer up here in the mountains. The bears were out for about 15 minutes, and went back to their cages. Understandable, I would not wander in the heat either. Mind you, we were promised to see 4 bears and 1 baby bear----we saw 2. However we sat there, in green plastic lawn chairs (which we were short a couple seats) and stared at an empty enclosure for an hour and 15 minutes. The gentlemen who gave us the tour was impolite, and would answer our ever so "ignorant" questions with remarks as if we were suppose to know the answers to them. HELLO, we are coming to LEARN, if we knew everything then we probably would not be here! The poor children had to listen to this guy be a complete snob and give off the "Duh, how could you not know" type of attitude. Well, after staring at an empty cage and being treated as if WE were the animals, a few people asked if we could see the other animals. He said, "Well, I guess you guys have been good." As if he was doing us a favor. We paid $35 to get in (which appeared very inexpensive) to see an empty cage. We are funding your facility, sir. I did not know we were based off of "stars" on who's been naughty and who's been nice. So then, he gave us the option of seeing the Deer enclosure or the Eagle enclosure. Everyone picked the Eagle enclosure, so we proceeded. Okay, so then we went and saw the Golden Eagle (I believe was its species) and the Bald Eagle. A woman asked the difference between the two, and he gave a snobbish response along the lines of, "A bald eagle is not really bald---as everyone should know it is our Nations bird. And obviously they both look different." As if it didn't get anymore awkward after his comment, a woman pointed out, "Can the Golden Eagle turn its head 360 degrees?" And he said, "No, only owls do that. Of course." Everyone looks, and the Golden Eagle had its head turned at 180 degrees. I believe that is still pretty impressive---and I think a proper tour guide would point out the most impressive facts about the animals. Or maybe I am expecting too much? Anyways---we were dismissed after quite some time and I realized how much it was a rip off to pay $35 to be treated like an idiot. This place has been threatened to be closed down multiple times due to terrible customer service and lack of funding. The two go hand in hand really, and I did not understand why until now. To Wildhaven, please---get a new owner that does not have an ego the size of this planet. To people reading this, you're better off going to Big Bear an hour and a half away to see more animals and be treated with respect. Mostly to be treated with respect because the animals are awesome at Wildhaven---the people are not. Thus killing my experience.

We were in Arrowhead with no snow and trying to keep our kids busy and stumbled across this place. It was a fun outing where you get to learn about many of our wild native animals and see them up close. They have four California Black Bears, two that were very active and we could watch them from an extremely close, but safe distance. A beautiful bob cat with a big personality, bald Eagle, Golden eagle, a red tail hawk and so much more. It's very reasonable and fun.

Wildhaven is not a zoo. It is a rehab place for injured wild animals. They change depending on what is injured. Some are returned to the wild, while others are not able to survive in the wild and are kept there. Those are the ones you really see.

This is a place to see animals that are very well taken care of. Very informative. We loved hearing the stories of how the animals were acquired. I can't even pick my favorite animal! The eagles were so majestic. The bears looked so lovable and sweet. All in all, a very fun experience.

Excellent sanctuary! Their mission of caring for the animals is commendable and they obviously do a great job at it. Very happy we we went

A great way to spend two hours! Starts off with an introduction to birds of prey where the staff brings the birds up to you within inches. Next was the bobcat who when fed a dead bird plays with it like your own housecat plays with its favorite toy. Then two mule dear strut before you like ladies on parade. This is followed by the preserves wild coyotes performing a live howling seranade prompted by one of the tour guides. On our tour they were able to prompt a leashed coyote out of its cage to pose for pictures on a tree stump! Next you go into the bear habitat where your guide, from inside the bears cage, encourages these beautiful creatures to display there intelligents and claws to you again only inches from where you are sitting. Finally you visit with a bald and a golden eagle. Although their intent is educational it is also entertaining and inspirational. But be on your best behavior and follow the guides instructions. Loud and fast moving behavior scares the animals. Viewing is only by tour and you are not allowed to wander around by yourself. Wildhaven Ranch is truly a hidden gem which will be added to our families annual donation list.

This is an informative walk through the forest to see the rescued animals.
Loved learning about each of the critters: hawk, owl, bobcat, brown bear, coyote, eagle, golden eagle, etc. They are only open by reservations on Saturdays.

If you've never been to Lake Arrowhead, you might not realise that this is an affluent mountain town with 9000/sq. foot homes, private docks, and exclusive rights to use the lake.

I was astonished at these gorgeous homes and couldn't help but admire the wealth that these folks had. I wondered what they might do for a living, or how often they actually use these homes as most of them seemed like a 2nd or 3rd vacation property. I also hoped that whatever helped these people attain their wealth was contributing back to society.

And then a 15 minute drive away is Wildhaven Ranch, where you can see goodwill at work.

Wildhaven is a volunteer run animal rescue center that offers tours on a reservation only basis. You might ask yourself, "What kind of business requires reservations and doesn't hold regular business hours." Once you visit the ranch you'll understand why. These volunteers
offer their time to care for injured and rehabilitated animals that wouldn't survive in the wild. The tours allow you to get up close to wild animals and provide an experience that you can't find in a zoo. They operate on a donations and 100% of the proceeds go to caring for the animals.

It's a great learning experience for adults and children. If you're lucky you'll be able to catch some of the animals during feeding time or even sit 3 feet away from a California black bear as she sprays you with a water hose.

This wildlife sanctuary has a nice mix of animals and you can tell everyone who works there loves the animals. We did the "Paws and Claws" tour, which was just the right duration. They also do a great job of encouraging social distancing and other covid precautions.

Diane is passionate about her Ranch. She was very communicative leading up to the visit. Enjoyed our conversations. She wasn’t sure they could do a tour unless there were enough people interested. Our visit was the first since Feb (Covid). Diane was too talkative prior to the tour standing out in front of the entry. She was sharing too much info not needed in the tour, things that can be communicated along the tour. During the tour, she was also too talkative making the tour longer than needed. She preached (even overpreached) safety prior but wore a loose fitting mask while talking to the patrons, often not on at all as she walked close to the patrons describing animals. She needed to stay back from the fences so she was further away. It felt uncomfortable. During the tour you only see 3 bears, 2 eagles a vulture and a coyote. There are other animals we didn’t get to see (maybe Covid). Price too high for this tour although it goes to a good cause. Tour could’ve been better. Until Covid is over, not recommended. After, possibly. Thank you to the volunteers however.

Took our boys ages 11 and 8 to this and they LOVED it! It was truly interesting and so great to get up close and personal with these amazing animals. One word of advice…dress WARM!

This is an wild animal rescue sanctuary for animals that cannot be returned to the wild mostly due to injuries. Must call for a reservation $15, unique place, worth the time and effort.

This is a must-see if you're visiting Lake Arrowhead area. The tour was very educational, lots of insight on nature and wildlife. People here are passionate about what they're doing.

Bears, coyote, raccoons, fox, deer, eagles, falcons, and a blind vulture...Mr. Magoo...this is your place!
An afternoon well spent appreciating the diversity of our National Forest and the animal that call Wildhaven their home. This is not a zoo! It is a loving sanctuary for kind hearts and spirits. Please come and share this magical place with anyone you love.

Great place to visit, everyone should make the effort to get out there, great informative volunteers. These people should be recognized for the effort they put into rescue, and care given to the animals.

This was the highlight of our stay in Lake Arrowhead. Moving, touching and educative. Unforgettable experience for the whole family!

Good communicators. Passionate and educational.
We had a wonderful time. It's not a zoo, so was very personal and up close to the animals. We all learned so much. Just the right amount of time since it was pretty hot the day we went. They have a nice gift shop. Granddaughter bought a hoodie since she LOVED it so much!

They have been helping our injured wildlife animals for years. When you plan a visit to Lake Arrowhead, make your way to Wild Haven for a couple of hours. Fun for the kids too.

Awesome awesome experience!! Was a little nervous driving up the narrow driveway to the sanctuary but so happily surprised with the trip there!! Beautiful animals and wonderful people caring for them! We learned so much it was so interesting and we got to see the bobcat, a bald eagle and a golden eagle, a Turkey Vulture and 3 bears!! It was so up close and personal and we had a great time!! Go visit!! My teenager even loved it!!

Liked the short tour and our grandchildren were enamored with the bears and the racoons. A terrific way to spend 2-3 hours.

A wonderful afternoon. Bears, Bobcat, Coyotes, birds of prey. The couple running the ranch obviously love the animals very much.

Roger and Diane are so dedicated to these animals they wake at 8 am daily and go to bed at midnight to 2am every second of every day is spent with the animals people need to remember these people had a huge gorgeous home lavishly furnished and a nice savings before deciding to open Wildhaven Ranch now they live pay day to pay day just to be able to give themselves to helping and loving these animals 24/7 they treat the animals better than a lot of parents treat their kids the enclosures are always very clean as the whole property is they feed these animals very very well which is by no means cheap but more than the $ it is not easy !!! It is a very physically and mentally draining job up hills all day to the enclosures its been a experience I've been blessed to have had and I leave with a different Outlook on life in general everyone should get the experience of watching and being a part of the day to day at wildhaven because m so blessed to know these wonderful people are doing such remarkable deeds for our precious wild life .
Many Thanks To Roger and Diane
Brent (BA) and KYMMIE Kelley

The staff(all volunteers) are exceptionally warm and friendly. Their passion for the ranch and the animals that they provide haven for truly permeates through the tour. As a visitor, I was fortunate to see two of the most majestic birds of prey in North America. The bald eagle and the golden eagle. Grab some bug spray and hit the road for a fun tour!

You can also sit 3 feet away from a black bear or watch a raccoon open a glass jar.

We went to visit this extraordinary wildlife animal rescue shelter and not only was it entertaining, it was also extremely educational for both young and old alike. The up close views of the animals and the way they feed and behave was very intriguing and it makes you appreciate God's design for all living things.

The staff's dedication toward the care and feeding of these animals is so apparent. It was nice to know that good deeds are happening in this facility. This place is a must-see if you are in town to enjoy the beauty of nature.

This was my favorite activity while visiting lake arrowhead. It is so much better than a zoo because of the facts and information and backstory provided on each animal and the proximity to each animal. Please be aware of the following:

1) Diane is the woman in charge but can be a little rough around the edges. Throughout the tour you get to know her a little better and by the end you understand her personality and appreciate what she is doing. Remember, she is someone who has dedicated her life to animals...that means she finds working with animals more enjoyable than working with people. Cant say that I blame her.

2.) tour is closer to 2+ hours depending on questions

3.) tour fee is per person and goes towards feeding the animals. No discount for children because the facility needs the funds to operate and this is one of their sources of revenue. Think of it as a donation to a non-profit.

4.)follow directions on the website not your phone or gps

5.) not suitable for children under 5. The tour requires a lot of listening and standing which is difficult for children under 5. Be warned, if you decide to bring small
Children you will be asked to leave if they can’t keep quiet or still. We had a 4 and 3 year old and they had a hard time but I still enjoyed it very much.

This is a facility where animals that can't be returned to the wild are lovingly cared for. Visiting was the highlight of our vacation. Our grandkids, ages 13, 9 and 5, really loved the up-close-and-personal experience.

Tours are only given once or twice a week, and advance reservations are required as the tour sizes are kept small.

The guides provide great information about how the animals came to be housed there, their place in the eco-system, etc.

Please visit this ranch and help support their great work!