Did you know you can camp out overnight in the San Diego Zoo? Read on for a review of Roar & Snore by Brain E. Clark for the Union Tribune!
Last time I checked, an African safari — in, say, Uganda, Kenya or Tanzania — could ding you $500 or more a day. And flying from San Diego to Nairobi? Figure in another (ouch) $1,500.
But just five miles east of Escondido, in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, you can get a similar and considerably less costly experience, camping out with lions, tigers, giraffes and a whole herd of elephants.
Dubbed Roar & Snore — with an emphasis on the roar — this program has been offered since 1994 to give adventurous visitors a more intimate experience with the park and its animals.
I’ve done it twice, with all three of my kids, and they give it the Clark family stamp of approval.
The first time was about 12 years or so ago and my now-22-year-old son, Matt, and I, camped in a tent, snoozed in sleeping bags on foam ground pads and nearly got licked in the face by a huge giraffe on a late-night stroll. Matt loved it.
In the years since then, the program has been upgraded and now the park offers commodious (12-foot-by-16-foot) tent cabins, similar to ones I remember from a real rhino-and-elephant-watching safari to Zimbabwe I did nearly two decades ago.
So, when my family and I visited San Diego this summer, I treated my 11-year-old daughter, Maddie, and 9-year-old son, Anders, to the premium Roar & Snore program in a big, cushy tent.
The only thing we didn’t have was a private bathroom. The public one was a 50-yard walk away. But ()this was supposed to be camping, after all.
We started our visit to the park with a stop at one of our favorite exhibits, Lorikeet Landing, where we fed the colorful birds. Then, after lunch, we took a family truck caravan into the African plains to observe and feed giraffes and rhinos.
A little after 4 p.m., my wife bid us adieu (she prefers her camping in four-star hotels) and we headed off to Kilima Point, overlooking the savanna we’d visited earlier in the day.
As we walked in, most of the park’s other visitors were heading the other direction.
“Are we really going to have the whole place to ourselves?” asked Anders.
“Yup,” I said. “Just us and the animals.”
“Awesome,” Maddie chimed in.
After finding our tent cabin — complete with a queen-size platform bed, refrigerator, nightstand, heater and fan — the 100-plus campers in our group gathered for an orientation from the guides.
We ate dinner, which included chicken, hot dogs and burgers, while we gazed out at wildebeests, water buffalo, antelope, gazelles, zebras and the rhinos and giraffes we’d seen earlier in the day. We also got an unexpected treat, our own zoo mugs and earth-colored Roar &Snore T-shirts.
As the late afternoon air was beginning to cool, our guides split us up into groups of 20 for a post-supper hike. My group started out with a short stroll to the elephant enclosure — which bordered the tent-cabin area — and were introduced to herd.
With 17 animals, we nearly had a one-to-one ratio. Our guide told us about their quirky personalities, pointed out the mother-child pairs and taught us a little about elephant biology and psychology.
We strolled to a covered area where the kids got to touch the shell of a huge tortoise and learn about some of its unusual habits.
Then it was on to the compound where the lions slept to get a behind-the-scenes tour and see the “blood Popsicles” made especially for the kings and queens of the jungle.
Back at Kilima Point, we were greeted with hot chocolate and marshmallows as the setting sun cast a soft glow over the grounds. Then we gobbled up s’mores. Anders’ new friend, Alex from Australia, had never heard of this tasty American camping treat. But he and his parents were quick converts.
But the best part of the evening was the raucous African drumming ceremony around a blazing campfire, complete with hair-raising stories about the park critters from veteran guides. (Why, this was even better than my “real” Zimbabwe safari.)
After mandatory tooth brushing (so I could give a truthful report to their mother), the kids and I ambled over to our tent and snuggled in for the evening.
And while there was (thankfully) no major snoring from nearby quarters, I shot straight up when a lion’s roar rocked our tent.
OK, maybe the tent didn’t actually rock. But it took a few assurances to convince my kids — and me — that the lions really were a long distance away in their own enclosure.
Dana Arbogast, who is in charge of the Roar & Snore program, told us that a lion’s roar can carry five miles.
“So it really could have sounded like it was under your bed,” she said with a chuckle. “And you’re lucky you got to hear it because they usually only roar at night or early in the morning.”
Around 6:15 a.m., singing gibbons (love songs, probably) awakened us from our sleep. But at breakfast, the big cat’s call was the most popular topic of discussion as we ate our scrambled eggs and sweet rolls. Soon we were hiking again, off to see cheetahs stretching as they woke from their slumber.
Then we got a special hands-on session with a friendly little hedgehog.
All too soon, it was time to pack up our gear and meet up with my wife, who was picking us up at the gate. But we didn’t leave, not just quite yet. First we hiked out to Condor Ridge to look at the big birds and have one last look out over the park and the inhabitants we’d come to know and care about a wee bit more.
For more information on the Roar & Snore and other overnight programs at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, visit sdzsafaripark.org or call (760) 747-8702
Rates range from $120 to $260, depending on tent size, age and zoo membership. Non-premium campers need to bring their own sleeping bags and pillows
Come February, the Roar & Snore adults-only park sleepover on Valentine’s Day weekend will deal with the birds and the bees.
Read more http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/oct/26/hit-the-road-roars-snores-and-smores/?print
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