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San Diego Zoo Safari Park
The park is located out in the East County, or maybe North County, sticks somewhere out past Orfila Winery. During the month of February they offer free admission to seniors and I will freely admit I'm a senior to get something for free!
We paid our $20 parking fee (no free parking!) and joined the crowds of oldsters as well the as crowds of youngsters who apparently didn't get the word that hoards of freely admitted oldsters would be milling about the park.
Three out of these seven signs are important": First Aid, Restrooms, and Exit!
We chose to start with the "Tiger Trail" which we found without the benefit of a directional sign.
Unless you count this as a sign.
We were surprised at how easily walkable everything was. Very suitable for semi-ambulatory seniors as well as us fully ambulatory ones.
Having successfully navigated past the tigers, we went directly to Australia
We saw kangaroos and I wondered if they could jump over the fence if they were so inclined.
They were not as large as I expected or perhaps these were juveniles.
An odd creature, the Platypus
And dangerous! Watch out for those Venom Spurs! They were on display inside a dimly lit grotto, swimming around in pools, looking for something venom spur, I suppose. Too dim for photos.
Oddly enough, there is a veritable bonsai forest in a remote corner of the park. Not sure what relevance bonsai has to wild animals, but there they were.
Wild animals of Australia including venom-less platypuses in two sizes!
Next up: Condors!
I must say that standing around looking at condors and waiting for something to happen is not a recipe for an action-packed afternoon.
If you're going to stand around and look at birds, I recommend the mighty toucan! They don't do much more that condors but they are funnier to look at.
It was sad to see a mighty bald eagle, symbol of American might and freedom, hanging out in an overgrown bird cage.
Next on the agenda, after all that walking and dodging rambunctious kids and the aforementioned semi-ambulatory old folks, we took a tram ride through Africa.
Well, it was sort of like Africa. In Africa I'm pretty sure they don't tie eucalyptus branches high up in old tree trunks so the giraffes can stretch their necks and grab a bite to eat at the same time.
Here we have the mighty wildebeest enjoying a midday snack on the lush plains a wavy grains here in "Africa"!
Storks! We found storks!
The mighty Marabou! Five feet tall and equipped with a mighty bill, which the sign forgot to mention, also comes in handy for delivering babies!
Red River Hogs! I've been waiting my whole life to see a live red river hog! And here they are, alas, with no river in sight.
Potamochoerus porcus! Native to Africa! And all this time I thought they hung out in Kentucky or wherever the Red River Valley is.
White Storks!
Black Storks! Stork heaven! Never seen so many (live) storks.
Here we have the king of the jungle, sitting on his burlap bag and contemplating his domain.
Well that pretty much wraps up our day at the SDZSP. I should mention that after we bought a beer, two hot dogs and paid for parking, our "free" day cost about a hundred dollars but it was worth every penny, especially the beer!