Last week I waxed enthusiastic about the many and varied animal species and habitats of the San Diego Wild Animal Park, but I saved one "exhibit" for last.
The park's "Journey Into Africa" is an impressive 2.5-mile ride that takes you through a microcosm of Africa's many ecosystems. The Zoological Society of San Diego (parent organization to the Wild Animal Park and the world-famous San Diego Zoo) transformed an entire valley into this series of habitats, which opened to the public in March 2007.
The Vast Dark Continent As the website (http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wap) says, Africa "isn't a place --it's a million places." Desert, veldt, forest, savannah, and mountain habitats are all represented in this valley. From the vantage point of your open-sided, eco-friendly, soft-wheeled tour vehicle, you get the distinct sensation that YOU are the visitor and this is the home of the wildlife you are viewing.
The valley includes contiguous areas representing East Africa, North Africa, Central Africa, and South Africa, plus special habitats devoted to the mountains of Africa and the African Veldt. Large watering holes have been created, and islands give some of the avian species refuge.
Who's Who The full panoply of classic African wildlife are on display here including giraffes, rhinos (both black and the rare white), zebras, wild boars, and antelope of many kinds. Seeing them in the open spaces truly similar to natural habitat gives a fresh appreciation of their size, the way they move, and the way they interact with other members of their own and sometimes other species.
It's easy to forget about our feathered friends in the midst of such mammalian majesty, but the bird collection is truly amazing as well. But can you see birds in such a vast environment? You bet you can, when they are as large as the ostriches, herons, storks, vultures, and pelicans who live here. Watch for them on the island in the middle of the watering hole in "Central Africa." This area combines plantings of native African flora that will eventually mimic a Central African forest. This part of the valley is home to the tufted-jowled, floppy-eared red river hog, a cartoon pig if ever I've seen one, as well as the striped and horned bongo, the largest and heaviest of the forest antelope species. Bongos are hard to photograph because their chestnut brown coats with light stripes mimic the sun-dappled shade of the trees where they like to hang out. Unlike most of the African antelope species, both male and female bongos have horns.
"South Africa" is where the zebras live, gentle herbivores until provoked by a predator. "North Africa" is home to ruminants such as deer, gazelle, oryx, and wild cattle.
Visit Often The tour takes about half an hour. It's amazing how many wonders are packed into that short an amount of time. The Journey Into Africa exhibit is still relatively new and is still in a state of improvement and evolution. It will take time for some of the native African flora (particularly the larger tree species) to fill out and fill in the additional pieces of ambience in the grand plan. It's an exhibition that bears repeat visits to watch it grow and see which species choose to reveal themselves from one visit to the next.
At this writing, eight new habitats are under development along the Journey into Africa tour route: a flamingo pond; a marshland for geese, cranes, and other birds and exotic plants; a wooded grassland for steenbok and other grazers; a scrubland for a rare species of vultures; a hillside habitat for sheep and wild donkeys; a kopje rockscape for klipspringers; a sage-and-scrub fringe along the edges of the existing savannah for a variety of birds; and additional zebra habitat to accommodate new species.
The Journey into Africa is part of the San Diego Wild Animal Park, which is located 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of downtown San Diego in the San Pasqual Valley near Escondido, Calif.
Sally O'Neal hikes, bikes, and enjoys wild and domestic animals from her home base in Washington State. She writes weekly for sportsmansguide.com.