San Diego Zoo Safari Park

San Diego Zoo Safari Park was offering Free February for seniors!  The FREE got our attention, but with other things to do and a bit of procrastination it was not until the end of the month that we finally set aside a day to check it out.

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Last time we were here it was still known as the San Diego Wild Animal Park, the name was a changed in 2010.

The African Tram, which replaced the Wagasa Bush Monorail in 2007, offers a tour through the African enclosure.  The tram is included with the $58 ea. admission.  

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The first tram departs at 10 am with a line already formed by the time we arrived at 9:40.  We were the last couple to board the second tram at 10:20.

The tram is included with the entry and a very popular attraction.  The ride is less than 30 minutes, but covers the highlites of the African Plains.

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For a more in-depth experience, a 2-hour ride in the back of a pickup truck is available for $120 (and up) ea.  Or one of the other specific safaris can be purchased.

The park is massive! the only means of visiting the various themed areas is on foot.  Be prepared to walk, and then walk some more.

The park opened in 1972, my first visit was a few years later.  It was HOT the plants had not yet grown to provide any shade, ugh!  a lot is different this visit with more mature landscaping to provide shade along the pathways.  It now has ample shade and with a breeze very comfortable.

Many of the old favorite sites and exhibits are as they have been.  Such as the Nairobi Village.

New to us is the Australian exhibit featuring a most awesome platypus. I expect a platypus to be the size of a house cat, nope!  More like the size of a small squirrel … and FAST!, really fast.

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I took a dozen pictures and this blurry one is the best, I did say he was fast!

Also new to me was the native plant exhibit. 

The park allows picnic lunches and sealed water bottles to be brought in.  That’s a good idea as a water bottle in the park is over $4.  

As with a trip to the San Diego Zoo I took dozens of pictures of the animals.  However, unlike the zoo, the animals are not 'caged', but rather 'fenced' into an area similar to their native habitat and the visitor may be allowed to enter their territory.

Unlike the zoo, the park's goal is to prevent extinction of the animals it protects and return them to the wild.  Most of the condors released back into the wild were raised and trained to hunt here.

If the park chooses to do another FREE senior admission, I expect we’ll return.  It was a fun day for a bit of education and more than a bit of exercise.  Altho we were not required to pay the $58 ea. admission, the $15 parking was not included.