San Diego Zoo Safari Park
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park, originally named the San Diego Wild Animal Park until 2010, is an 1800-acre zoo in the San Pasqual Valley area of San Diego, California, near Escondido. It is one of the largest tourist attractions in San Diego County. The park houses a large array of wild and endangered animals from every continent, except Antarctica; this includes the largest, most comprehensive collection of hoofed mammals (ungulates) in the world. The park is in a semi-arid environment, about 30 miles (48 km) inland from the Pacific Ocean, giving it a year-round ‘feeling’ of being in Africa, with one of its most notable attractions being the Africa Tram, a half-hour guided tram ride which showcases the expansive ‘grassland’ exhibits. These free-range enclosures house the majority of the park's larger species, such as numerous antelopes, giraffes, buffalo, cranes, and rhinoceros, among others. The park is also noted for its California condor breeding program. When booked in-advance, the park also offers several longer, more in-depth safari options, some of which involve riding in an open-top truck to feed the animals in the field enclosures.
Park entrance sign
Entrance to the park
The main Africa Enclosure, where many of the herbivores live free-range
Rhinos in the African Plains
A zoo is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes.
Sea lion and keeper at the Welsh Mountain Zoo
London Zoo, 1835
The Tower of London housed England's royal menagerie for several centuries (Picture from the 15th century, British Library).
The Versailles menagerie during the reign of Louis XIV in the 17th century