The Wild Animal Park

The San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park

Katherine and David are long time members of the Zoological society of San Diego. We spend many weekends at the Zoo downtown and the WAP just outside of Escondido.

The Lion Cubs – all seven of them – were out in April of 2008 when David stopped by to take a few photos. They were having lots of fun with their moms. A fun time was had by all, including the people watching.

Cheetahs at Heart of Africa

Lion Camp October 2005

Lion Camp December 2004

Lion Camp October 2004

Photo Caravan 2005

Nativescapes Garden and Walk about the WAP

Lion Cubs at Play

Butterflys

Baby Elephant attempting to stand up

Lions Yawing

More exciting that you might think

Random Photos from April 2009

Wild Animal Park

Photo shoot with the San Diego Photo Forum photo-graphers

Walk, October 2008

Ferruginous Hawk

Largest Hawk in North America

A walk around the Wild Animal Park in early April 2010 reveals signs of spring, including Birds making nests, lions making noise and Coots feeding their babies.

Riding on the back of a truck at the Wild Animal Park is always fun. You meet some interesting people and get to take some fun photos. This collection was taken in Late July 2010 including several babies one of them a 4 day old Rhino.

April 2011
Butterflys and Macro photos from the Safari Park (WAP)

Being allowed into the WAP before sunrise is pretty special. Getting a cart with a driver is extra special. This trip to the Safari Park occurred before sunrise in mid November. Starting at the Nativescapes and waiting for sunrise (a disappointment due to heavy overcast skies), and then traveling down to an overlook where the Sable Antelope and Giraffes wandered by. Then off to see the Kudu, and then watch Egyptian Vultures eating Rabbits. Next stop was the Cheetahs to watch them take their early morning rounds of the enclosure before they laid down for the day. Back up to see the Lions, then off to the Elephants to see the keepers feeding them.

Getting to go ‘off the beaten path’ to anywhere the little cart could take me was something I’ll remember for a long time. It was fun to go ‘behind the scenes’ and see some of the parts of the park that are not open to visitors. Just knowing that, just because the sign says: No Entry, it doesn’t apply for a little while, is entertaining.

Click HERE to see all the photos from the day.

The second to the last day of 2011 Katherine and David went for another Photo Caravan at the Safari Park. This time it was because David won the trip for having the best Mammal photo in the Presidents Associates photo contest. Though short, it did include some nice shots of Barishinga Deer mating, a beautiful Sable Antelope, and a Rhino and a Sambar sharing a watering hole.

The day was not spent just on the truck. There is a new gorilla baby out and about and the Meerkats are always interesting to stand and watch.

Early in May Katherine and David got another early morning trip into the Safari Park. This time we went around the larger enclosures to see more of the animals out and about. There were several animals in rut, attempting to prove who was better able to be a good father to the children, and then there was this lonely Kenya Impala. He was hanging out with the Java Rusa Deer females, attempting to gain their favor. They were ignoring him. Eventually the male of the pack came up, braying in a very loud voice to let everyone know who was in charge. This did not deter the Impala. We all had a good laugh at this poor fellows expense. Another lovely morning at the Safari Park.