I always thought it was Windsor Safari Park? Great bit of info about the baby though, makes sense thinking about it now!
Blackduiker That would be motivation enough to enrage them like that. Very well done however they staged it for the shot.
Well, that's no fun then. Maybe some of the zoos offer rental cars on the spot - like wheelchairs, prams, umbrellas, elderly scooters etc. I would love to drive one of their old cars through, sans windscreen wipers, just for the experience.
A friend has a rule of thumb about the relative danger from zoo animals. This is that he'd rather go in with a Tiger than a zebra, rather go in with a zebra than a Chimpanzee, and that he'd rather go in with a Chimpanzee than a baboon...
I wouldn't worry too much about paying Hertz money for Baboon damage as you can avoid driving through, but you may need to be prepared to pay them a cleaning bill if you get 3 tons of white rhino bull with attitude running at your car
So with all of this talk about baboons wrecking cars and pictures I've seen with elephants being able to approach cars, it makes me wonder if these kinds of parks have gone by the wayside because of insurance claims or lawsuits from drivers. Do the parks have problems staying open for that reason?
With all the U.K. safari parks I've been to in the last few years, you have the choice of whether or not to take your car into the monkey reserve or take the road that bypasses it. After losing my trim and windscreen-washer-nozzle to the Rhesus Macaques at Longleat some years ago I generally opt now to avoid monkey reserves (Rhesus Macaques may not be quite as bad as the baboons that they've largely replaced, but they are still pretty destructive). The only monkey reserve I do still take my car through is the one at Woburn Safari Park. This is a lovely reserve, populated by Barbary Macaques, Patas Monkeys and Drills (and Bongo), and they rarely seem to cause much trouble. Whilst on the subject of Woburn, in the early years visitors were allowed to mingle with the antelopes, zebras and giraffes, as photos in the early guidebooks testify - something which would never be allowed today (not in the U.K. anyway). It always annoys me when you see characters in films remarking: "Oh it's a herbivore, a plant-eater, it's harmless, there's nothing to fear." The script-writers of such films have obviously never encountered an enraged zebra, buffalo, elephant, rhino, deer stag, hippo, etc.
Dubbo is probably the closest we come in Australia to drive-through zoos - as mentioned, you can drive your car around the main loop and park near each of the exhibits, but you can't actually drive through the exhibits themselves. Werribee Open Range Zoo has a bus tour which gets in with the Giraffe, Rhinos and Zebras. Monarto also has a bus tour which goes through many enclosures, including the Lions, Wild Dogs, Cheetahs, etc ... although I'm always annoyed that they tend to use buses with tinted windows (required in summer because it gets so hot), which makes for poor photography opportunities through the windows (which they won't allow you to open - especially in the Lion enclosure). But then I guess that's why these zoos offer special "photography tours" (which they can charge $$$ for)
Blackduiker Exactly! Like the line from Jurassic Park about "vegeasaurs" as if a wild buffalo, elephant, bison, hippo, or rhino would be safe to approach under any circumstance.
Also Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen keeps baboons. Hamadryas baboons are kept together with bactrian camels, barbary sheep, kulans, ostriches and black bears (strange brew quoteting Cream). And there is no by pass for this enclosure. Speed drive is only safe method. We drove slowly... Fortunately it was my cousin's car
I do seem to recall that at West Mids' that they don't have a 'drive through' Cape buffalo enclosure. They are kept away from the Safari but you can still see them. Knowsley also has Cape buffalo but they have them in a 'drive through' area; can I ask why Knowsley do and West Mid's don't? The only reason I can think of is of calving. West Midlands' group (1.2+ 0.2 offspring) had two calves in 2009/10 didn't they? Knowsley recently got a new male. It puzzles me?
Just to add to my West Mid's point. West Midlands safari park have an electric fence to keep the White (Are the tawnies kept in?) lions in. The tigers are in a fenced enclosure like in an actual zoo. The cheetahs are also in an enclosed enclosure. The only Carnivore not kept in an enclosed area is the African hunting dogs. They did use to keep leopards in an enclosure (really small one!!). The Amur leopards left for Tayto last year.
The 'tawny' lions at West Mids are not kept off the road and are free roaming around the cars, as are the Timber Wolves - so at least three species of carnivore are free-roaming (with the wild dogs as the third). I think the 'white' lions and tigers are both kept back by low electric fences; the other tigers and cheetahs are behind full-height fences.
Yep, that's correct, I forgot about the Timber Wolves. I don't think they've ever caused a problem in a Safari Park have they? (Unless the odd bit to the car wheel). However the African wild dogs, are a different matter. When I visited in 2007 as soon as I entered the reserve they were biting the wheels, One even got a England flag from the car, they did however make a brilliant display. One cheeky dog even got out. (Not into the next reserve but the second fence).
Worst Amimals for destroying car tyres used to be the Polar Bears at the now closed Loch Lomand Bear Park!!
It seems cruel to keep polar bears in a safari park without some way to keep them extra cool. In Bear Country USA you can drive amongst the black bears and wolves but the mountain lions are fenced off.
