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I must preface my story about the San Diego Wild Animal Park by asserting that they could have easily named it the San Diego Wild Africa Park since the majority of the park’s 400 plus species of animals are from the huge continent. In fact the location for the park in the San Pasqual Valley was chosen in the late 1960s because the area closely resembled some of the semi-arid regions of Africa. To be sure, I am not complaining and the park does house species from all the other continents except Antarctica, of course.

But let’s start at the beginning. The Wild Animal Park is managed jointly with the San Diego Zoo by the non-profit Zoological Society of San Diego. The Society was started in September 1916 by Dr. Harry Wegeforth who wanted to find a way to permanently care for the exotic animals brought to the city for the 1915-1916 Panama-California International Exposition. Dr. Harry loved animals and it was his vision and dedication that laid the foundation for the world-renowned facilities that San Diego is so proud of today.

The original Zoo had very little in common with its modern day namesake. The motley collection of animals were housed in small cages and fed an assortment of horse meat, white bread, carrots or hay. One of the first animal donations to the Zoo became the catalyst that led to the Zoo’s remarkable open air enclosures. Caesar, a Kodiak bear, was donated by the Captain of the U.S. collier Nanshan. The crew had picked her up as a cub and she was the shipboard pet until she grew too large and unruly. No one at the Zoo knew how to transport her from the ship so they put a collar on her and put her in the front seat of a car. Caesar stopped traffic (both literally and figuratively), and soon the whole town was talking about the bear and the fledgling Zoo.

It turned out that getting Caesar to the Zoo was the easy part. Caesar didn’t like to be told where to stay and she seemed to take great pleasure in destroying her various cages by bending steel, tearing down walls and digging out. Caesar taught Zoo personnel some very important lessons in enclosure building. It appears that Caesar deserves credit for the Zoo’s (and later the Wild Animal Park’s) trademark large, natural exhibits. Caesar’s destruction work also brought in the first substantial monetary donation from the public, a form of income that still makes up a large part of the Zoo’s budget.

After a few financially rough years the Zoo was finally allotted 150 acres in Balboa Park and plans began in earnest. As the Zoo grew and flourished it soon became clear that a larger space was needed to fulfill the Zoo’s breeding and research goals. The idea of establishing a research facility morphed into an open enclosure area where species lived in recreated habitats. Opening day for the San Diego Wild Animal Park was in May of 1972 and the park has continued to improve since then. It is now home to the world’s largest veterinary hospital and a world famous research facility.

The Park consists of 1,800 acres—half of which was set aside as natural habitat. With the explosive growth of southern California it should come as no surprise that San Diego County has the most threatened and endangered species in all of the United States. The Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES) center operates out of the Park to fulfill the Zoological Society’s mission of species preservation. CRES is most famous for its work breeding and rearing the nearly extinct California Condor and Giant Panda and the severely threatened African Elephant. They are also active in local efforts to understand and protect native populations in southern California.

Everyone who visit supports their important work which made us feel good as we wandered through the Park. Our intrepid exploring partners for the day were Brendan, who lives in nearby Oceanside, and Karen and Rich, who are workkamping in the Lakeside area. We chose to visit on a Friday in the hopes of avoiding the weekend crowds and our plan worked out quite well. It was a perfect day for our visit to the sprawling complex. The spring weather was warm but not hot and many of the Park’s animals were in various stages of dealing with their young. Some of the birds were still sitting on nests while others were actively involved in the never-ending quest to feed their voracious offspring. There were even baby lions, elephants and giraffes, oh my!

I can’t begin to tell you about all the amazing animals we saw that day and I certainly can’t tell you about the entire Park since we didn’t see it all. But I will tell you about our favorite encounters. Our first inkling that it would be a special day came as we waited for our Journey Into Africa tour, as several African Lion (Panthera leo) cubs came tumbling over the hill in their nearby enclosure. What ensued was ten minutes of frolicking and chasing—all under the watchful eyes of their mothers, Mina and Oshana. The two litters, for a total of seven cubs, were born in November just a few days apart. The cubs were all sired by the massive and majestic, Izu. Here’s a fun fact for you, lions are second in size to the tiger and here I always thought lions were the largest cats! Learn something new every day…

After lunch we swung back by the Lion Camp and were rewarded with the idyllic scene of Izu, one of the mothers and one of the cubs sleeping on top of an old Land Rover. Apparently the top of the car had been Izu’s place of refuge when the rowdy babies were small. Unfortunately for Izu the cubs have grown so much that they can now reach the top. Izu tolerates the cubs but when he’s had enough he curls his upper lip back and shows his fangs. The cubs have learned to leave their dad alone after that.

Tearing ourselves away from the lions we headed for the Elephant Viewing Patio. There we watched as the newest members of the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) family played and rolled in the grass. The Park’s herd came over from Swaziland in 2003 since the country had more elephants than it could handle. Four babies have been born to the herd with the most recent births occurring this past September and November. We were amused by the youngsters’ pranks and their floppy trunks. Trunk control comes as they age so in the early months their trunk mostly swings around like a limp noodle.

Our wanderings took us past the Greater and Lesser Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus and Phoenicopterus minor) pond. Some of the tall pink birds were still sitting on their mud nests while others were tending their babies that looked like small gray puff balls. Sharing the pond were several birds common in California including the ever-present American Coot (Fulica americana). The most exciting thing about the Coots’ presence was finally seeing baby Coots. They look like somebody spilled orange and red paint on a black sock. They are quite honestly some of the ugliest babies I have ever seen. They were so ugly they were cute, if you know what I mean.

Speaking of odd looking birds we spent quite a bit of time watching a pair of Northern Ground-hornbills (Bucorvus abyssinicus). The males are built like a cross between a Turkey Vulture and a Turkey but with a huge black bill and a blue-and-red sack on its neck. The large bump on their bill, the casque, gives them their common name but I don’t think anyone really knows what purpose it serves. The birds didn’t seem too concerned about the questions they were raising in my head.

In fact that was probably my one disappointment during our visit, I wanted more information about the animals, about the plants, about the park and so on! But then again, I always want more information, it is just part of my nature. A bit footsore but still full of energy we left the park just before closing time and headed off in search of refreshments. More about that later…

Photos: View our photographs from San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Notes: We visited the San Diego Wild Animal Park on 04/04/08.