I went on a safari! Not in Africa…but right here in Northern California. I was ecstatic when Mike surprised me with a trip to Safari West for my birthday. It’s a drive-through wildlife park – you sign up for a tour, and a guide takes you in an open-air Jeep ride through the entire property, stopping to talk about animals that are seen along the way.

It is MUCH better than a zoo. Seems to me that zoo animals are either sleeping most of the time, or look depressed. Here, the animals are on acres of open space, and are free to roam around with the other animals. It’s also nice to see animals not behind bars, and behaving as they normally would in the wild. There were a few times where we had to wait for animals to cross the road, or had to drive around looking for animals because the guide didn’t know where they wandered off to…I loved how the tour was unpredictable like that. It made it more of an “adventure”.

The space is owned by a couple, Peter and Nancy Lang, who actually live on the land – and not in a huge mansion either, just a modest little house tucked in the corner of the property. I would be so happy if there were that many animals in my backyard. MTV Cribs needs to come over and check it out.

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The tour

Woo hoo! Finally at Safari West, near Santa Rosa. I’ve been talking about going here for the longest time. It was pouring that day but we wore ponchos, and it was actually more fun driving through all the mud.

Here’s the open-air car that we rode in. It was like Jurassic Park except no one died. You can actually sit at the top of the car! We wanted to do that but we would have been soaked.

This was our tour guide, Terry. If you go – try to get him! He was such a great guide. He knows a lot about the animals, and has been to Africa before on safaris.

He saw me eyeing a skull laying on the side of the road, so he picked it up and talked about it. I was even able to hold it…wasn’t as heavy as I thought it was.

I am SO happy. Best birthday present. (We’re wearing ponchos by the way, not really ugly vests)

Mike brought the dorky binoculars but I shouldn’t have made fun of him because they really did come in handy.

I thought this was cute :)

Safari Animals

Doesn’t he (or she) look amazing? The face is a common design used on African masks. He stopped in the middle of the road and stared at us, but eventually continued on his way.

There were a few of these cape buffaloes on the side of the road. By the way, I’m having a hard time remembering the names of some of these animals…so my apologies if I get them wrong. (If you’re really curious, you can look them up here)

These antelopes were gorgeous. They turn from brown to white in the summer.

Antelopes running up a hill. I love how they have so much space to roam. It makes me happy.

Hello, Mr. Zebra.

A cheetah! This guy was not in the open area with the rest of the animals for obvious reasons.

Deer in a pasture….reminds me of Bambi.

A baby animal antelope (?), hanging out at the giraffe’s house.

“Huh?”

A wild hog. Without the flu.

Look! Lemurs!

White African Rhinos. Apparently they can hear well but can’t see a thing.

Rhino butts! Awesome.

Probably one of the most interesting animals there. It’s a tiny antelope called the Suni…it even has tiny horns. This guy scampered in front of me a few times while I was there.

He was about the size of a large bird. Maybe they’re best buds.

Wild Birds

You can’t see it here, but these birds have huge feet to prevent them from sinking into the mud.

These cranes were nice enough to pose for the camera.

I loved these guys! They were so friendly and cute. They really didn’t seem to mind humans walking around.

Duck butt!

Take-off time.

Mr. Duck.

These Greater Flamingos looked nappy because they were still developing the oils in their feathers. They were quarantined for a while, and being away from the water stopped them from producing oil.

These pigeons were so funny! They were everywhere they weren’t supposed to be. I snapped this photo when they were running across the walkway near the visitors center….

…and this one later when I was visiting the giraffes.

Meeting the Giraffes

Since we were the last tour of the day, our guide parked the car and said…

“Ok, we’re getting off here, and we’re going to walk the rest of the way back. Trust me, this is well worth it.”

He led us into the giraffe housing marked “Staff Only”. It was such a magical place. I was able to put my hand up and actually have one nuzzle me! It’s nose was SO soft! They are such sweet animals. It was a one-in-a-lifetime experience.

The giraffes saying hello to us.

They were such friendly animals. I liked them a lot.

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