Less than 20 miles from downtown San Antonio, you’ll find Bracken Cave Preserve, home to 15 to 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats. 🦇 This is the largest bat colony in the world!

Their nightly emergence as they come out to feed is an absolutely otherworldly experience that belongs on your bucket list!

Actually, not only in this the largest bat colony in the world, it’s the largest mammal colony besides humans! 😮

Peak season for viewing is later summer and early fall, and by late August, you’ll start to spot the baby bats as they start to fly.

When the bats emerge sometime around sunset, they become a tornado of leathery wings, a batnado, if you will. Fun fact: the colony eats about 400,000 pounds of bugs a night!

But they’re not just predators, they’re also prey. During your viewing you might spot hawks, owls, and more preying on the bats for their own dinners. 👀

Since there are so many millions of bats, it takes hours for the cave to empty each night, making for a magical viewing experience you can enjoy until it’s too dark to see.

📍Bracken Bat Cave, San Antonio, Texas

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