A Monday Chuckle, The Deweys at San Diego Wild Animal Park

[Retief]

If you ever get the chance to take a Photo Safari at the Wild Animal Park it is quite a treat. We spent 4 hours in the enclosures on our vacation, the "real" animal pictures will follow. But I thought I'd put these up and give you all a chuckle for a Monday. Obviously, I can't take credit for a couple of these, but here we are, The Deweys' Up Close and Personal..

With the "Little" Giraffes....

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Give me back my Hand!

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Here Doggie, Doggie...oops, Rhino, Rhino.....

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With the "Big" giraffes..Ivan is 18 feet tall...

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Big Smooch....

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Back from England, and a superb day with Paul, "Monty Dog", way behind on images of mine, and stuff at the Cafe. Any hints on how to cram 127 hours into a day?????

Oh, well, now you know the "Real Me" :wink:

 

[james thiel]

Bill glad you made it back. It looks like you and Nancy had a great time. I remember going there when our kids were younger. A fun place, but as I recall there was a lot of walking and it was pretty hot. In the photo tour maybe you got to ride more?

 

[JayR]

Refreshing pictures. I bet my son would love the animal park. Can you give more information on the safari? website?

Thanks.

 

[Gale]

Really Great stuff Bill.

I am so glad you had a great vacation.

Gee a day with the "montydog" what a wonderful experience that must have been.

He is a hoot....

 

[Flew]

Hey Bill, great to see you back posting again. You're right, these are fun (and good) photos. Looks like a cool place, and it looks like you had a great time. I hope you said hello to Paul from all of us state-side.

Welcome back. :wink:

 

[Retief]

Bill glad you made it back. It looks like you and Nancy had a great time. I remember going there when our kids were younger. A fun place, but as I recall there was a lot of walking and it was pretty hot. In the photo tour maybe you got to ride more?

Thanks, Jim, glad to be back.

Yes, there is a fair bit of walking at the Animal Park, but it is well worth the walk. We spent the whole day, open to close, at the park with our 4 hours in the enclosures from 10AM to 2PM. They have a ton of different things you can do, including staying the night. This is both at the Zoo and the Wild Animal Park. I don't know of anywhere else you can be this close to the animals. I had my 70-200 on the D2H with the 18-70 along as well and this worked well in the truck, with the 120-300 along for "off the truck". A fair bit to carry, but glad I had it along. Nancy had the 70-300 on the D70 and loved it. It does get a bit warm and dusty, but well worth it. Now the problem is time to actually look at and process the pictures :wink:

 

[Retief]

Refreshing pictures. I bet my son would love the animal park. Can you give more information on the safari? website?

Thanks.

Hey, JayR, thanks. The cold water on the truck was sure refreshing as well :wink:

Here is the main web site for the Zoo and WIld Animal Park:
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/

and here is the link direct for the Photo Safari:
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/calendar/wap_photo_caravan.html

They have trips from 1 to 4 hours, depending upon the number of enclosures you go through. Not cheap, but well worth it in my opinion. We were the only folks on board with anything other than P&S cameras. Monopds and Tripods would not work well due to space. I used my 70-200 VR most of the time, with the 18-70 for "up-close" encounters. I had my 120-300 f2.8 along for use when we were walking the park before and after the Photo Safari.

It is a great way to see most of the animals in the most natural setting possible, and hand feeding Giraffes and Rhino's is quite a trip.

 

[Retief]

Really Great stuff Bill.

I am so glad you had a great vacation.

Gee a day with the "montydog" what a wonderful experience that must have been.

He is a hoot....

Thanks, Gale, I have a couple a "Gale Special" I'll post as well, just for you :wink:

All I can say about my day with Paul and Ann is that they were the best hosts I could ever ask for. Once we get some shots done we will post from our outing, and what a great day it was.

 

[Retief]

Hey Bill, great to see you back posting again. You're right, these are fun (and good) photos. Looks like a cool place, and it looks like you had a great time. I hope you said hello to Paul from all of us state-side.

Welcome back. :wink:

Hey, Frank, it is good to be back for a while. Way too much airplane time over the past 4 weeks, my tired old butt can't take that must "seat time" confined that way .

The San Diego Wild Animal Park is a fun place to shoot, especially from the truck. No bars or glass to worry about and seeing the animals interacting narturally is great. Next best thing to going to Africa, and I don't think you can see as much there in as short a time period. A lot less expensive as well :wink:

As to Paul, great folks, absolutely superb. And the event we went too, top notch. Watch for our joint posts on that sometime in the next week or so.

 

[mike mac]

Great stuff looks liek a lot of fucn and will keep this im mind for my next trip to CA

 

[greyflash]

Fun to look at images Bill. It brings back memories of a giraff that stuck his head inside my car window and scared the crap out of me.

 

[Keith]

Oh my god, I laughed Bill.......great series, fun pics, luv them. Look forward to more..........see that is a family thing yet we need to do!! hopes still on Florida in January ;-)

 

[Retief]

Great stuff looks liek a lot of fucn and will keep this im mind for my next trip to CA

Mike, this really is a great thing, with or without a camera. A large portion of the time on the truck is spent learning about the animals, and what conditions are like in the wild. We did one of these just a couple of years after the Park opened, a LONG time ago, and if anything it has gotten better.

Thanks,

 

[Retief]

Fun to look at images Bill. It brings back memories of a giraff that stuck his head inside my car window and scared the crap out of me.

Where the heck were you when a giraffe popped into your car? That MUST have been a real shock. One of the things we were warned about was not to feed the giraffes when they had there heads inside the truck, under the cover. If one of them got spooked it would not be a surprise to have someone go flying as the giraffe jerked its head out of the way.

Thanks, Gordon, the whole dang trip was a ton of fun, glad it could bring back some memories, I don't think there is a better complement we can get than that.

So, tell us about the giraffe and your car window.......

 

[Retief]

Oh my god, I laughed Bill.......great series, fun pics, luv them. Look forward to more..........see that is a family thing yet we need to do!! hopes still on Florida in January ;-)

Thanks, Keith, a great thing for the family. There was one young fellow, maybe 13 or so, on the truck and every time the issue came up of tossing something out to keep the animals happy, somehow he came up.....just the right size if I remember correctly :lol: .

January, who knows, maybe I'll change my D2H into a D2X by then, it is sure becoming more tempting.....

 

[eng45ine]

Welcome back Bill...you've been missed. Really enjoyed the snaps as well.

 

[Retief]

Welcome back Bill...you've been missed. Really enjoyed the snaps as well.

Thanks, just been too danged busy, and now I need to be busier to get through all the bits from the last month. I just realized that most folks won't believe I'm 6'4" tall, 225lbs of "buffness" anymore. I'm just glad that everyone has been so polite, no comparisons to the Rhino :lol: :lol:

 

[Gordon Large]

Hey Bill -

These are priceless photos. I've seen people let dogs lick their faces - my son let's his do it for hours - but I've never seen anyone being licked by a giraffe. ROFL. I have to go to that park....

Thanks for sharing...
Gordon

 

[Retief]

Hey Bill -

These are priceless photos. I've seen people let dogs lick their faces - my son let's his do it for hours - but I've never seen anyone being licked by a giraffe. ROFL. I have to go to that park....

Thanks for sharing...
Gordon

Hmm, let's see, my dog's tongue gets maybe 4-6 inches out of her mouth, that big Giraffe gets all the way...oh, never mind :lol: :lol: :lol:

They do get a bit pushy when the biscuits are out, it is just a good thing the Rhino's aren't so tall.........