![]() ![]() You can buy leaves to feed the giraffes, and ‘nectar’ for the lorikeets was $2 a pot. Birds all around you, you can buy food for the ducks and other water fowl. We were only half an hour (stunning mountain drive!) from Escondido, so we were there early, and it never got crowded. We loved the zoo, but the WAP was so much more and besides it had half the human traffic there, better facilities. When I say that my husband and I had one of our best days out EVER, I really mean it. You simply have to go and see the lions at the San Deigo Wild Animal Park. I would consider it a "must do" in southern CA. If you are going to take the photo caravan, call ahead, and get there early so you have time to do everything! As I said, not an inexpensive vacation, but at least it is a non-profit organization so all of the money you spend goes to helping support the park. We didn't have time to do the petting zoo, but that looked fun, as did the aviary. I would also recommend feeding the Lorakeets. We were able to feed the giraffes (at one point we had four big giraffe heads under the canopy of our vehicle, plus a baby nosing around) and the rhinos, which surprisingly you can pet! That was lots of fun, the guides (Alex and Pat?) were great, and it is really neat to see the different animals roaming around together in the different regions. ![]() Fast forward five years - this past week my girlfriend and I went to the Wild Animal Park, and what a difference! We did the 3 3/4 hour (with a 15 min break in the middle) photo caravan, which is not cheap (I think $130 on top of admission) but is really worth doing. I went to the San D zoo 5 or so yrs ago, and while it was better than the average zoo, I came away wondering what all the fuss was about. We also enjoyed feeding the giraffes - not something you do every day is it? Well worth a trip here, but I wouldn't discount the San Diego zoo as it simply offers an alternative kind of park. The gorilla exhibit is great and the lion enclosure was stunning (see pictures). When you leave the train and tour the park (good walking shoes and suncream a must) you really do get up close an personal with the animals. Other creatures which can be viewed from here include tigers, giraffes, gazelle, apes, ostriches and of course rhinos. There are currently 3 golden eagles in the park which can often be viewed from the train as when the train travels it scatters rabbits chipmunks and ground squirrels so the eagles soar high above using the train as a hunting tool. Most of it can be covered by the guided tour train which is most informative and educational. The wild animal park is huge - covering 1800 acres. That fact alone makes me think that money spent visiting the park is going to good causes. ![]() From those original rhino there are now 13,000, most of whom have been released back into the wild under armed guard. When the Wild animal Park here in Escondido opened in the 1970's they took 20 of these rhinos and managed to be the first park to successfully breed the rhino. These animals were taken into captivity but they would not breed. At one stage there was a breed of rhino in which there were only 50 left in the world. What's fantastic about a park like this is the breeding programmes they are conducting to raise numbers of endangered animals.
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