Wild Anmal Park

Most of the locals remember the “San Diego Zoo Safari Park” by its original name “The Wild Animal Park”. A Google search will take you to the same home page.

aka Wild Animal Park

February is for seniors in San Diego, and entrance to the Wild Animal Park is FREE to seniors all February! Not the $76 required the rest of the year! Our first choice is to ride the tram around the African Savanna exhibit – the tram is included in the admission and will develop long lines later in the day.

Tram is down there

Fran and I are seated on the right side of the tram. Not good as the tram runs in a counter-clockwise direction. The exhibit is enclosed by trench (if San Diego still had water this would be a moat). Inside the moat is a fencing, although it does keep the the display animals in, barbed wire was added to keep the local predators out. Shortly after it opened the local mountain lions enjoyed the buffet.

The pond provides water for the permanent residents and their guests. The White Pelicans are migratory, but why leave?

There are lots of long legged, fast running folks on the Savanna tour.

And some with shorter legs

Some are close, but most are further away.

The balloon ride is not included with admission. It is tethered and only goes up and down.

The little white blobs in the previous photo are these fellas. Their horns are so symmetrical in profile they look like a unicorn!

On TV shows the Savanna appears to be flat grasslands, however here there are some small rolling hills.

After our tram ride, we took one of the switchback trails back up. This allowed us a bit closer view of some of incarcerated animals. Check out the camouflage

The male ostrich picks out the spot where all his harem will lay their eggs.

The flowers/shrubs/trees are all well maintained, I often enjoy them more than the animals.

Ah but what's this?

Gorongo Cycad ???

I'm not sure if he's ugly or cute. But I'm sure he's unique.

Hornbill

I missed the picture of him standing on his hind legs to enjoy a few leaves.

Impala

One of Fran's favorites, an Okapi. A zebra, gazelle or a critter still in his pajamas having breakfast?

Okapi 

Beautiful slim fast critters

Gazelle 

Here's the only gorilla on display. It looks like he's thinking about something.

And my favorite! Two fruitless trips to the Salton Sea searching for the Borrowing Owl, I coulda just visited the Wild Animal Park!

Borrowing Owl

Not only are seniors FREE at the Wild Animal Park, resident seniors also receive discounts in Balboa Park.  I have a signed copy of Coast to Cactus, the San Diego trail guide that updates the Jerry Shad (RIP) 'bible' of local hiking “Afoot and Afield". And The NAT is having a Coast to Cactus exhibit!  So we're off ...

Alongside the museum is the massive Morton Bay Fig. I think the one in Santa Barbara is larger, but this one is huge! It is now protected by a fence. I'm sure kids Kami and Michael were the last generation allowed access to play/climb here.

Nephew Bobby works for the City doing pool/fountain repairs. Nice job Bobby!

The NAT never disappoints.

Four floors of exhibits

However the Coast to Cactus exhibit was a bit under whelming .

We saw a Golden Eagle while hiking in the Ramona Grasslands.  Fran and I both think the Golden Eagle should be our state bird

Golden Eagle

But alas the California Quail, and I do like the quails, has that distinction.

California Quail

Now how cool is this Halloween mask?

Horned Toad

We stopped for tostadas at El Indio on the way home. And that closes out February. Stay tuned for March ...

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.