San Diego Zoo Safari Park What to see at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Does the safari park really take all day to see? When I visited I arrived at opening, took a bts tour, and rode the safari twice before leaving maybe two hours early because I had seen everything.

~Thylo

 

It took me 5 hours, although I didn’t stop for lunch and only re-visited certain areas of the zoo.

I’m normally pretty fast when it comes to zoo visiting, (I saw San Diego in a day and Bronx in about 5:30 hours), but for some reason the Safari Park took a long time to visit. Maybe it’s because I rode the Tram 3 times, but if you factor in driving and maybe do one of the caravan tours, it’ll take all day.

 

I spent two days there on each of my visits. I really love to watch animal behavior, especially of large groups or rare species like the shoebills, so I spend a lot of time. A lot of time.

 

I took all day there, opening to closing. I am one of those who likes to try and find all the species in a mixed species exhibit given the opportunity, and so I can tend to take longer. Also for species I haven't seen before I tend to take quite a few photos if I can.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. Unfortunately I'll be going with someone that's not much of a zoo person so I've been told I only have from opening (9 am) to 1:30. I also will likely not be able to do any special tours. I will at least try to get on the tram tour more than once. Also I'd like to see at least one of the bird shows, any suggestions as to which one I should see? Frequent Flyers Bird Show or Training Talk? Both are at the Benbough Amphitheater.

 

What are your must-see species? The park is large, and not flat either.

I saw the Frequent Flyers and it was pretty good, species included Black-crowned Crane, Verreaux's Eagle Owl, American Black Vulture, Ferruginous Hawk, African Gray Parrot, Green-winged Macaw, Scarlet Ibis, Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, Plush-crested Jay. I understand there is day to day variation and none of those are guaranteed. I didn't see the training talk.