Last month we went on a day trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. We had never been to this safari park but had heard good reviews about it. There was an Amazon-Local deal where the regular entry tickets of 44$ were on sale for 20$. Obviously Karen jumped on the deal right away and got 3 tickets for us and her sister Danny.
The park is near Escondido, which is around 30 miles from San Diego. The park opens at 9 AM and closes at 5 PM – 7 PM depending on the time of the year.
After entering the park, we started our tour at the Safari Base camp. This is where they keep the South African Meercats.
We wanted to the check out the Gorillas next. I had never seen Gorillas before (other than movies of course!!) and was psyched to get a glimpse of them. Trivia – This facility has one of the oldest known Gorillas in the world (Age: 56).
Next up, African Outpost.
After seeing the lions, we went to stand in line for the African Tram Safari. The African Tram Safari was included in our tickets but otherwise costs separate. Basically they take you around the park where they show you rhinos, giraffe, zebra and gazelles roaming around in the meadows. It is a 20 minute tour and as it happens, we were lucky to get a very funny, cheerful, knowledgeable guide. We learned a lot of trivia such as:
- There is a specific type of rhino in the park that is all set to go extinct because only 4 of these exist in the world and only 1 is a female
- Vultures live around a lot of germs but never get sick. Scientists are researching a cure for cancer by examining the genetic map of vultures
- Tigers are much easier to breed than Cheetahs and Rhinos. In case of a Cheetah or a Rhino, artificial insemination success is extremely rare.
After the tram ride, it was time for lunch. There are lot of restaurants in the park but the food is overpriced. Chicken sandwich/ Tuna Sandwich for 9$ !! But we were hungry and gotta do what we gotta do.
After lunch, we walked around the park and saw flamingos, warthog and okapi.
One of the biggest attractions of this park is the famous Cheetah Run. Basically they attach a toy to the mechanical device and recoil it while the cheetah chases it down. Its held at 3:30 PM every day so its best to get there at least 30 minutes early to get a good viewing spot.
One more thing. Don’t bother with the camera. They run really fast and the whole thing is over in 5 seconds. So its probably better to just shoot the whole thing in a camcorder rather than take a picture of the cheetah running !!
After the cheetah run, we walked around some more.
Karen and Danny wanted to take the Tram Safari one more time. After that, it was time to leave. We really enjoyed the park a lot. It has a very different vibe than a zoo. I would rate the experience as better than a zoo but not as good as what I would imagine a real African safari would be like.