Frio Cave, Texas, United States

5panamaboutique 5:00 PM Jul 29, 2014

Rio Frio Bat Cave - awesome experience
We travel all over the place to find the unique, but sometimes it's right there, at home. Barbara has relocated to the Hill Country of Texas and on a recent weekend we went to the bat cave outside Concan, a small town on the Rio Frio. The bat cave is open for guided viewing most evenings in the summer. Some 10-12 million Mexico free-tailed bats migrate from Mexico for the spring and summer, and they have been coming to this same cave for decades. It's a maternity colony, they come to give birth, one pup each, so in August, the group is even larger. They are here until the first cold weather, and they take off back to Mexico. It is the second largest bat population in the world, but the largest one open for the public to view. Really, this is an awesome experience. Just before sunset, the bats emerge from the cave as they head out for dinner. Weather, good and bad, will affect the departure time. Our guide, Bain Walker of Frio Bat Flights, gives a good general background on bats, the cave, local history. Depending on the emergence time, Bain tells more stories, takes questions, and you wait. On the night we were there, the bats were pretty much on time. As you peer into the cave, you see a whirring, then one bat flies out. This is a scout. Suddenly thousands then millions rush out of the cave in what looks like streams of smoke. They fly over our heads but just barely. The sound is almost silent with a light flapping of wings. Hawks are waiting to catch their own dinner and sometimes you see the hawk strike, then race off. The emergence takes up to an hour, but most folks leave after about 30 minutes, as the sun drops. Walking down the hill to our car, the bats were still streaming out, and some were lower to the ground, flying through bushes, just past us and almost bumping our elbows. You feel a quick whoosh of wind as they speed by.

4itsallgood4me 5:00 PM Jul 13, 2012

Frio Bat Flight - Incredible to See
If you are in the area, I recommend that you take in the Frio Bat Flight tour. The bat cave is located on a private ranch near Concan, Texas. You will see millions of bats, take off and fly off into the sky. It's quiate an amazing site to see. You meet the tour guide at the gate to the property and than drive on a gravel road for about 15 minutes until you reach a parking lot area and then walk a path to where the cave is located. There are stone ledges that you can sit on to watch the bats if you get tired of sitting. Some of the other visitors brought folding chairs to sit on. You'll also see a lovely sunset while you are there as it ends at dusk.