ADDRESS
15500 San Pasqual Valley Rd, Escondido, CA 92027, USA
RECOMMENDED DURATION
5+ hours
Timings
08:00–16:00
VISITORS PER YEAR
4000000
TICKETS
From $76
EXPECTED WAIT TIME - STANDARD
0-30 mins (Peak), 0-30 mins (Off Peak)
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park was initially used as a supplementary breeding facility for the San Diego Zoo.
Spread across 1,800 acres, the Safari Park is home to more than 3,000 different animals representing around 300 species. Additionally, it is also a spectacular botanical garden featuring over 1.3 million plants.
The safari has played an important role in the recovery and conversion of the California condor, the largest North American land bird.
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is bigger than the San Diego Zoo and focuses more on species that live in the arid regions of the world, like the savannas. There are safaris available as well as guided tours, and it is about a 45-minute drive from San Diego Zoo.
Yes, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park offers a number of kid-friendly safaris, tram tours, and activities, such as the Conservation Carousel and multiple themed play areas for them to enjoy. They can be a part of all the safaris and even take a wildlife trek, as long as an adult is accompanying them. This includes the roar and snore sleepover safari experience! Parents can also rent strollers at the Park if needed.
A large number of animals at the Safari Park are from arid regions around the world and many of them are endangered species. You can see wildlife from the African savanna like elephants, giraffes, okapis, and rhinos, from the SEA region like the one-horned rhino, Argus pheasants, and the flying fox bat, and other species from across the world like kangaroos and Matschie's tree kangaroos, camels, the Arabian oryx, flamingos, gorillas, pink pigeons, the Egyptian vulture and the Ruppel’s vulture, and the only species of wild horses remaining on Earth – the Przewalski's horse, more commonly known as the Asiatic wild horse!
There are over 300 species of animals residing in the Park, totaling up to more than 3,000 animals overall.
There are a few native species from California that you can see at the Park such as the California condors, flamingos, and the desert bighorn sheep.
There are two special safari tours that you can sign up for, the Animals in Action experience and the Inside Look Tours, to get you super close to some exotic wildlife species that inhabit the Park.
The Spring Safari and Autumn Festival are two seasonal tours that take place at the Park. Springtime also has a special Butterfly Jungle experience for visitors that takes place at the Hidden Jungle Greenhouse where they can see a variety of exotic species of butterflies from Central and South America. Some activities such as the Balloon Safari can be temporarily closed for operations if the weather is unfavorable.
