What started as a simple way for Lori Martin to share her love of animals with children has developed into something she never imagined. As owner and founder of Cub Creek Science and Animal Camp in Rolla, Mo., Martin and her staff offer kids a hands-on learning experience that lets them take care of a sloth and tackle a ropes course all in the same week.
“About 23 years ago, I took three weeks off from work every summer to hold a hands-on science camp at Babler State Park,” Martin explains. “I brought just a few animals. The first year we had 10 kids come, the next year 60, then 100, and it’s just grown every year since.” In 1999, she purchased Bear River Ranch in the Missouri Ozarks just north of Rolla and moved the program to the expansive 250 acres. “Now we have 250 kids a week, 90 staff members, more than 300 animals and 100 science activities to choose from,” she says.
The majority of campers, who hail from all 50 states and 10 countries, come because they have an interest in animals, Martin notes. “There is no other residential camp that has a zoo on the grounds,” she notes. “All the enclosures for our animals were made for hands-on interactions with kids, like the lemur colony, where kids pick berries on the property to feed them.” There are 100 animal species at the ranch, and many, like the arctic fox, arrive because the owners can no longer handle them as pets, Martin says. The popular 100 Animal Club requires campers to interact with and learn about 100 different animals during their stay to qualify as members.
Sessions run May 31 through Aug. 8 and can last one to six weeks; ages range from students entering second grade to senior year of high school. A nice perk, Martin notes, are the camp’s renovated, air-conditioned facilities with private, indoor bathrooms. Upon arrival, campers decide which courses they want to participate in. “We have more than 30 courses in our core programs. A few examples are: the adopt-an-animal program, where campers choose an animal to take care of for the week; our vet program, which brings in veterinarians to teach the kids about the profession; and our survival skills program, which culminates with a solo camp-out,” she says. In addition to the core programs, campers pick from about 20 different one-hour activities twice each day. Choices go beyond science and animal themes to include pottery, zip lining and making s’mores.
The camp recently expanded to include Camp Jamaica, a new travel and adventure program for teens age 14 to 18. “We wanted to create an exciting option for older campers,” Martin explains. Groups of students travel with the program director and two staff members to Jamaica for a 13-day session. Campers stay in luxury villas just blocks from the ocean and spend their days climbing waterfalls, swimming with dolphins and exploring the island. “The luminous lagoon is a favorite activity,” Martin says. “Microorganisms in the water glow when you move them, so when the kids swim, the whole lagoon lights up. It’s surreal.”
These once-in-a-lifetime experiences make campers return year after year, she says. Sessions are already filling up, and Martin notes they are always completely booked by March. “A huge benefit to any summer camp is providing an unstructured environment where kids can create lasting friendships. It makes me smile when I hear our campers are in each other’s weddings and fly around the world to see each other. Cub Creek is every dream I ever imagined come true.”
[Cub Creek Science and Animal Camp on Bear River Ranch in Rolla, Mo., offers sessions from May 31 through Aug. 8 for campers age 7 to 17. For more information, visit mosciencecamp.com.]
Photo courtesy of Cub Creek Science & Animal Camp