Wild Animal Park
Sunit and I are big fans of the Wild Animal Park at San Diego - we've been there numerous times and everytime we come back filled with wonder at something new. Spread over 1800 acres, the park provides a lot of space for animals to move and they are not enclosed in small cages as in a Zoo. It also allows the animals to mingle and follow the same natural habits as they would in the wild. The train safari provides a quick tour of the place, but if you have the energy to walk around and view some of the interaction areas, the Park can be a lot of fun.
On my second trip to the Park, with Vijay ( a friend who is crazy about wild cats), we caught the Cheetahs during their feeding time. A huge moat separates the viewers from the feeding area, some meat is left on the logs and then far-from-sight the Cheetahs are let loose. One can actually see their long strides as they run to the meat and then feed on it. Vijay gets the credit for this picture.
We also went upto the tiger observatory during its lunch time. Saw him drag his lunch to a shady tree, finish it up and then drink at the nearby pool. It then went for a small stroll around the enclosure when Vijay took this picture from the viewing deck.
On a more recent trip with a couple of our friends (Martin and Sabine), we went into the Lorikeet landing. Beautiful birds, sharp colors and if you buy the food outside to feed them, they will actually very easily come and sit on your arms. While we were there, however, a couple of people had the fortune of being blessed (bird droppings) from the sky. I guess they are fed so much by the visitors, they need to let it out too. Notice the bright and sharp colors of the bird while it was on Martin's wrist.
And then there are the Giraffes you can feed. These animals really fancy the biscuits that are fed to them by visitors - they walk slowly from far away if they see some visitor offering one. We were told not to bend though while feeding it because the animal might accidentally hurt the onlooker while lifting back its neck. Here's one of Sabine feeding the animal.
On my second trip to the Park, with Vijay ( a friend who is crazy about wild cats), we caught the Cheetahs during their feeding time. A huge moat separates the viewers from the feeding area, some meat is left on the logs and then far-from-sight the Cheetahs are let loose. One can actually see their long strides as they run to the meat and then feed on it. Vijay gets the credit for this picture.
We also went upto the tiger observatory during its lunch time. Saw him drag his lunch to a shady tree, finish it up and then drink at the nearby pool. It then went for a small stroll around the enclosure when Vijay took this picture from the viewing deck.
On a more recent trip with a couple of our friends (Martin and Sabine), we went into the Lorikeet landing. Beautiful birds, sharp colors and if you buy the food outside to feed them, they will actually very easily come and sit on your arms. While we were there, however, a couple of people had the fortune of being blessed (bird droppings) from the sky. I guess they are fed so much by the visitors, they need to let it out too. Notice the bright and sharp colors of the bird while it was on Martin's wrist.
And then there are the Giraffes you can feed. These animals really fancy the biscuits that are fed to them by visitors - they walk slowly from far away if they see some visitor offering one. We were told not to bend though while feeding it because the animal might accidentally hurt the onlooker while lifting back its neck. Here's one of Sabine feeding the animal.
Comments
The other exihibit that I forgot to mention in the post itself and which is definitely worth checking out at the Park is the butterfly exihibit. They have this green house kind of thing which you can enter and you have all these colorful butterflies flying all around. I think that was really cool too.
Read my kissay@
http://kissay.rediffblogs.com
I am glad you like the pictures - Our Canon S45 has been doing a good job and Sunit and I are nature freaks.
And Avik, sure you can use these pictures as your wallpaper. No copyrights issue as long as I don't find you making commercial use of them :-)
Cheers,
Aadil.