![]() ![]() We know the bats come out at dusk, but being on the property makes it seem like we're getting more of an experience. >Know your audience - get them out to the Bracken Cave property so the kids can move around a little. >Ditch the Power Point or make sure it can be seen from a distance of 30 feet away >Shorten presentation talk to 30 minutes - max! ![]() All told we got about 20 good viewing minutes of the bats. Where's Coco? She's standing in front of us holding up 20 x 30 sized poster pictures - still talking. Not a moment later, the bats can be seen swirling upwards about to exit the cave. It's about 8:40 when we sit down on the amphitheater seats facing the cave opening. Coco feels compelled to gather us around her and give us rules of behavior that she wasn't able to fit into the hour-plus presentation. But we have to drive slowly into the property for about 2 miles before parking. The drive to the bat cave is not even a quarter of a mile down the road. 8:00pm rolls around and she finally ends the interminable slideshow and requests that we all line up in our cars behind hers with our flashers on - she'll give us 15 minutes to do so. Being seated on concrete benches for a solid hour is really asking too much of adults and kids. The font size was too small on the TV for those of us in the back to read and she neglected to read each and every line - so she lost the back rows, too. She told some anecdotes about the BCI leader moving to Texas which was interesting to adults but she soon lost the kids in the audience. She had a TV set up and proceeded to show us a power point type presentation beginning with the skeletal structure of bats, types of bats, their habits, why we shouldn't be afraid of them (preaching to the choir since we all volunteered for this gig). ![]() Coco - the Bat Conservation docent started the talk by telling us she would be talking to us there for "about an hour". The bat experience was limited to 50 people. We all met on the outside patio at Natural Bridge caverns at 7:00pm. We had a great day of fun activities at Natural Bridge Caverns. They allowed Natural Bridge Caverns to offer the bat experience. The cave property is owned/managed by Bat Conservation International. It's billed as the largest concentration of mammals in the world they claim 20 million Mexican Free-Tail bats! It takes hours for all the bats to exit the cave each night. My family of 4 (50, 49, 13, 15 ages) were excited to be able to see the Bracken bats leave their cave. If you're a nature lover, put this on your to do list - it's simply amazing, and we look forward to going back next year. ![]() There's a porta potty style restroom on site. Bring a small flashlight with you because it's very dark when you head back to your car. They'll give you a date for the ticket release, and you can reserve your spot then. If you're interested in going, you have to join Bat Conservation International with a small donation. A lot of people are fearful of bats, but imagine how many mosquitoes they eat, and they're also pollinators. It was amazing - definitely an experience worth doing. We watched for a little over thirty minutes before it got too dark to see them anymore. It takes hours for them to leave the cave. They swirl around in what looks like a bat tornado getting higher and higher until they reach the point where they can trail off into the sky. At about 8:00 the bats started exiting the cave - close to 20 million of them. Hawks also circle overhead looking for easy prey. As it got dark, we saw several raccoons head down to the entrance of the cave we had no idea that they were predators for the bats. We opted to go the cave to take photos before it got dark. Once you reach the site, you can either attend the bat lecture in the covered area or head to the wooden benches that sit across from the entrance to the cave. As we were driving, we had several deer run across the road in front of us. Once inside we were greeted by a nice lady who checked our names off the list and told us to head on down the gravel road. If you reach Natural Bridge Caverns, you've gone too far. Look for the orange cones just past a subdivision called Seven Hills Ranch on the left hand side of the road if you're coming from San Antonio. The driveway where you turn is a bit hard to find. It was a rainy day, and we weren't sure if they would still allow visitors in or if the event would be cancelled. The Bracken bat flight is something you have to see to believe. ![]()
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