A Day at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park
February 26, 2020
After coming back from Taiwan on February 6, we spent the next two weeks at home on voluntary self-quarantine. California was still in good shape at that time with only a few cases of COVID-19 identified. During that time, most cases reported on the news were in Asia and Europe. Most people were not really that worried about the pandemic that would hit us hard in later days so life was going on quite normal in the southland.
We learned that we still had about a week's time to get down to San Diego Safari Park for their free entrance of Seniors during the month of February. Taking advantage of this on a spring day sounded wonderful and off we went taking the long drive south. It was about a two-hour drive from our home to Escondido on this beautiful day as we left early in the morning. Just pleasant to be out and about after staying home for two weeks.
San Diego Zoo Safari Park is part of the San Diego Zoo establishment even though they are miles apart from each other. Instead of being a zoo setting, the safari park serves as a wildlife sanctuary with more than 300 species of animals on this vast 1,800 acres of land. We have been here a couple of times when son was still in school, so it has been a long while since we were here last.
Entering the park with not that many visitors late morning.
We saved $58 per person on this visit.
There are many programs and several different safaris in the park to choose from but we planned to just take the Africa tram which is included in the entrance fee. We figured that we should head over there first before the park gets crowded. It was quite a long walk from the entrance to the tram stop. With a map of the park in hand, we were able to orient ourselves through the park and finally found the tram station.
Good signs for directions.
Balloon Safari, not far from the African tram station.
Cool, the lions are out!
I believe there's a tram going every half an hour. We got in the line and waited about 10 minutes before we were boarded. As we waited, I could see the line getting longer and longer.
Finally boarded the tram for a relaxing ride to see the animals.
I will just let the pictures do the talking below.
What a gorgeous day! Not a cloud in the sky.
Back to the tram station after half an hour.
Then we had to just walk around the park for the rest of our visit.
Beautiful flamingoes.
Food is very expensive inside the park, something like $8.00 for just a regular hot dog. We were prepared and packed our own lunch and enjoyed a nice picnic near this pond.
Some wild boars.
Yikes!
Then we took the long walk through the Tiger Trail.
And got a very close look at one of the tigers who just happened to walk up to the shade and plopped down right in front of us.
Wow!
Our last stop was the Australia Walkabout where we saw some sleepy kangaroos. By now, it got hotter and we were a little tired of all the walking. Instead of going back to see the cheetah run scheduled for 3:00, we opted to leave the park. It was certainly a fun visit at the Safari Park and we ended our day with a delicious lobster buffet dinner at the Pauma Casino, one of the many Indian casinos in the nearby Pauma Valley.
After this outing to San Diego, life took a drastic turn in March with the governor issued the Safer-at-Home order. Everything was closed and people were asked to just stay at home with only minimal essential activities outside. Racial tension, riots, and demonstrations across the country made things even worse during this time. May our loving God hear our cries and heal this broken land and most of all may our people and nations repent and return to God. Amen!
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." -- Hebrews 11:1