When the monorail was closed both the old lion and tiger exhibits were cut off from most park visitors, basically everyone who didn't want to make the long trek up the hill to see them. Those exhibits were great for the animals, but lousy for viewing the cats. Lion Camp brought the lions closer to visitors in terms of exhibit placement and provided far better viewing opportunities than the previous exhibit. It became the anchor of the park area where the replacement tram ride now is. The new tiger exhibit does a similar thing in bringing visitors closer to the animals and making them much more accessible. My guess is that there will likely be an Asia tram ride at some point to replace that segment of the monorail and the tigers will similarly anchor it as the lions do for the Africa tram.
I liked that monorail too. That makes sense. Too much sense in fact. I don't remember much of the lions hillside enclosure, but the tigers always seemed to be undervisited the last couple of times I was there. Those people who did make the trek quickly left, because they didn't want to peer through the brush to try and find a tiger. Does a second tram route seem like a good idea? That's a fair amount of infrastructure that would need to be built when (I imagine) they could run additional trams out of the Africa section.
I think a second Asia tram is needed. Half of the park is no longer accessible to visitors (unless you want to pay a lot more money for a behind the scenes tour), basically the whole Asia area. The pathway of the old monorail presumably still exists around the Asia field enclosures. That could probably be used for a tramway for most of the ride. There would need to be a new trail put through one of the Asia enclosures to form a new loop. Presumably there would be a new tram station somewhere near the tigers. There is a pathway down from the tigers that dead ends where they are clearly planning to build more access to the Asia exhibits at some point.
Lion Camp actually pre-dates the demise of the monorail. Unfortunately, the new tram station really interrupts what was formerly a lovely panorama of the African Plains area with lions in the foreground that existed when Lion Camp first opened. Still love the grove of yellow fever acacias that surrounds the viewing walkway there though.
Have you had a chance to see the new tiger area? I just saw it a couple weeks ago. Very nicely done -really does feel like a rain forest. My wife doesn't usually get excited about zoo exhibits, but it made her giddy. I forgot the timing of Lion Camp and the monorail, but I'm sure that they must have know the monorail was going away and they needed a new lion exhibit when they built it?
I think if you go to Bing maps and look at birds eye photograph you can see it prior to the African Tram. I think you are correct. It seemed pretty well calculated. The station location linked up heart of Africa with more of the zoo and created a better loop. The unfortunate thing is that the old entry is rarely used now and the section with okapi is pretty empty. But it is nice to have quiet areas of the park. Reminds me of the WGASA days. I wish the park would experiment more with the tram experience or even other zoos, especially after doing several safari experiences in Africa recently. The potential for them is really untapped. Reduakari, I'm really interested in hearing your opinion about the new exhibit as well.
Thank you-but the article is wrong-"Petunia"ist the 69th Indian Rhino birth at the park, including dead and still born calfs.In the meantime, I've found the 2013 edition Studbook online, but again-tahnks for your help!
Sorry for the misinformation. I trusted the park to put out the right info but I suppose the total depends on how you count it. She's the 67th successful calf if that's the way you want to count. If its grand total then your count would be right.
A 57th birthday party will be held November 6th at 9 am for gorilla Vila. Gorilla Joanne: Little Miss Personality
Condor chick Su'nan has fledged and been removed from her parents. You can now view her and the other release candidates in the socialization pen. Moving Day for Condor Su?nan
On a Facebook group, I have seen pictures and mention of a litter of 4 Cheetahs on exhibit African Outpost, but I have been unable to find any information on their birth. The person who took the photos said they're about 4 months old and all I can find is about Allie's two that are in the Animal Care Nursery and the one who had to have surgery on his legs, Ruuxa. Nothing about the 4 I've seen in the pictures. I'm not a member of the group (yet) so I can't ask there about and thought I'd ask here if anyone knows anything. I know they saw mating behavior between Lindiwe and Noka, but that was reported in Dec 2012 so these kittens are way too young to be from that particular pairing, plus they're at the breeding center. I don't recognize the adult female with the kittens so I'm pretty sure it's not Moyo because she's the one I CAN identify. hahaha Anyway, does anyone know about this litter of 4? I'd sure appreciate any information. I do know that it's 2 males and 2 females and what their names are, but that's about it. Thank you.
The mother cheetah and four cubs have just gone on display in the main park exhibit. Too cute! Cheetah cubs go on display at zoo | FOX5 San Diego ? San Diego news, weather, traffic, sports from KSWB
HAHAHAHAHA. I had to look it up because I couldn't imagine how bad it could be. A name like that could give someone a complex.
Gorilla, Vila, had one very happy birthday bash. Zoo's Gorilla Is One of World's Oldest, Celebrates 57th Birthday | NBC 7 San Diego
Well, new Tiger Trails AND lion cubs AND cheetah cubs is just too much for a cat lover like me to take. I will be there Monday and Tuesday of next week.
As per my recent visit, a few notes. Cheetah mother and cubs are fed at 1:30pm. Keepers go in the yard with them and toss them hunks of meat. The two younger (hand raised) cheetah cubs are on exhibit in the Nairobi Village nursery from 12-1pm. At 2pm (and 11am I think) there is an animal demonstration on the lawn by the cheetah exhibit. They have the most exotic animals I have ever seen used as outreach animals. On Monday I saw a fossa and on Tuesday I saw a warthog. There are now two (neighboring) ocelot exhibits on Condor Ridge.
This is a little bit of old news, and not really the kind of thing that would be picked up by the press but certainly should be of interest to many ZooChatters. Apparently a few years back the San Diego Zoo Safari Park put the breeding of their Indian Gaur herd on hiatus. There was little need to add more animals to the population at the time. Since their housing requirements are similar to those of a rhinoceros, yet they don't hold near the appeal with guests (unfortunately), not many zoos wanted to keep the species. However, that has apparently changed and the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans (it is unclear whether this would be for the zoo or the off-site breeding facility jointly run by them and the San Diego Zoo) have expressed interest in acquiring a herd of gaur. Now the Safari Park has resumed breeding by bringing in a new breeding male as well as two additional females. Like I said, not big news, but exciting none-the-less for my fellow ungulate-enthusiasts. Gaur Game Plan
Strange, according to the International Studbook, 69 indian rhinos were born at the park til 31.December 2013,but only 46 of them were raised.So if I'm correct, together with two calfs born in 2014, 71 were born there...
