Safari Park King and Queen

Today Arvin and picked up a rental car and headed up to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. It used to be called the Wild Animal Park and we both had visited quite a long time ago. I was a bit nervous about driving the California freeways but turned out I didn't need to worry. We found our way there easily following the directions on their website. We got there around noon and had some time on our hands until the Cheetah Run. We took the Africa Tram and drove all around the 100 acre area where all kinds of African animals live very much like they would in Africa. One difference is that the predators are not in with the prey animals. Would be a whole different kind of place if they were.

The San Diego Zoo is famous for it breeding programs and we saw a number of species that had been saved from the brink of extinction by the zoo. The Safari Park started as their breeding area and originally was not open to the public. But the public made it clear that they really wanted to see the place and now it is open for visits.

On the way up to the cheetah run we saw these magnificent lions. There is a pride of three here, one large male and two females. This was my favorite of the pictures I took of them. Check out the two in large, "L".

We finally went to the Cheetah Safari. For a bit extra you get to see another animal before the cheetah run and have prime seats to watch the run itself. Our animal was a corical, a beautiful bird we had seen at the San Diego during our visit there. We all got a chance to let it fly onto our arms and to feed it. Then it was time for the run. A young male cheetah and his friend dog both arrived. First the dog did the run at a significantly slower pace than the cheetah. Then the cheetah ran. I didn't get any usable pictures from the runs and mostly just watched. How beautiful they are when they run. Then they brought the cheetah into our area for a visit. Of course we couldn't touch him but we did get to see him very close. He came in and chowed down on beef and steak and then came walking into the midst of us all. He was purring loudly. I knew they purred and it was so great to hear him do it. He stayed quite awhile and then meandered out with his white dog buddy. They live together. The only thing they don't do together is eat because the dog gets kibble and the cheetah gets meat. Since the dog is the boss if they ate together the dog would get fat and the cheetah very skinny. I've put more photos including the cheetah over on Chaikins of Bellingham.