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Visitors at the North Carolina Zoo will be able to get even closer to some of the African animals this summer.

Teens can take an African safari without ever leaving the state through the North Carolina Zoo's camp.

The "zoo-fari" experience will allow students to set up tents right next to the African plains exhibit, close enough to hear the elephants and rhinos.

Students who attend the camp can also use equipment like night vision goggles to study the behavior of both the animals on exhibit and those native to North Carolina, according to Corinne Kendall, the associate curator of conservation and research.

"We'll listen for bats," Kendall said. "We have a lot of bats that fly over in the middle of the night."

Kendall said it's a chance to teach students about the job of a wildlife biologist.

"Often, people when they think I'm really passionate about animals they immediately go to being a vet," Kendall said. "But there's so many other ways you can work with animals."

Kendall said she will show the students how to set up camera traps to monitor animal movements and how to operate drones to observe them from above.

"It's just a nice sort of plethora of different experiences," Kendall said.