On Safari

We recently decided to pay a visit to the San Diego Safari Park.
 

Some time ago we had been to San Diego Zoo primarily because I wanted to see the giant pandas.  I’m not a great supporter of zoo’s – like most people I think I’d rather see these animals in the wild than behind bars but being realistic, the chance of spotting a panda in its natural environment is extremely unlikely.  San Diego Zoo is world famous; most of the animals (although not all) are in large enclosures and the zoo runs an extremely successful conservation and breeding programme.

The Safari Park was originally conceived as the zoo’s “over spill” but is now an established wildlife park specializing in endangered African animals.

It promotes itself as being the closest thing to a real African safari as you can get outside Africa.  To be fair that is probably the case because there are not many places outside of Africa that have such vast empty hot dry uninhabited spaces where these safari type animals can be homed. On the other hand I’m not sure any Safari you go on in Africa would have you standing in the back of a truck hand feeding a giraffe.  Nor would the lions be sat on a very fresh looking piece of recently watered bright green grass, or wild cheetahs be participating in a 70 mile an hour “cheetah race” just for your personal entertainment, but I’m pretty sure the park’s founders had their heart in the right place.

Unfortunately you can’t conserve without money and you can’t make money unless you can generate an income and the easiest way to generate an income is to attract an audience.  The Safari Park is up against Disney and Sea World so presumably they have to do something to make people want to go. Sadly it would appear that just “viewing” these endangered animals in as near to their natural environment as possible is not enough. The public wants to be entertained and to interact - that whole 4-D experience.

We did enjoy the Safari Park and the hot African-like temperatures only added to the ambiance of the place.  Like most modern day tourist attractions there was an abundance of fast food outlets and retail opportunities to keep most of the visitors happy - just in case anyone lost interest in the animals. Overcome with exhaustion we decided not to stay until 5.00 pm for that cheetah race, or spend the night in one of the Safari Park’s purpose built tents for the total authentic “African” experience, but headed off instead to a nearby hotel.

We ended up in La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya - just in case you ever need to ask directions) the positively upmarket end of San Diego, and very lovely it was too.   La Jolla is a Mediterrean style resort – it’s compact and walkable and unlike most of beachside America it doesn’t have a main highway running through the middle of it (it also has the best Crab wontons I've ever tasted - I'll warn you now that week in New England has turned me into a total foodie!)

Dolphins and seals swam and frolicked just a few feet off shore in their totally natural environment - so close you could almost touch them, but thankfully that's not encouraged here.  In fact it's totally forbidden - there are signs posted all along the beach front warning against any interaction or interference with the marine mammals.  Just a few miles down the road you can take your kids to Sea World for the day where they can hang over the edge of a man-made pond and pat a captive dolphin on the head. Or, you could bring them to La Jolla, sit them on the beach and watch a wonderfully natural and spontaneous display of wildlife.

Personally, I know which show I'd rather see.