Three from the San Diego Wild Animal Park

[Jim Jeter]

These are from April 2nd, 2005:\

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Thanks for looking.

More at: http://www.pbase.com/jim_jeter/san_diego_wild_animal_park

 

[Flew]

Very nice shots Jim.

So is this a place that you drive around and shoot free ranging animals, or were they though fences?

 

[Scott Sherman]

Hi Jim,
Great stuff, I had no idea that there were that many animals or the variety of species tht are together in such close proximity.

There must have been some sort of dividers seperating the monkeys/gorillas for example from the lions. Were the more aggresive animals like the lions or gorillas in enclosures or were they also free range?

I live north of Los Angeles and I have never been there. It's about 300 or so miles but quite do-able for me. What can you offer by way of suggestions; what lenses to bring, tripod or no tripod, is there time to download CF cards or do I need to carry many gigs of CF cards, is it really dusty (not a good place to change lenses)?

Is there a choice between morning and evening tours. It's getting pretty hot now during the day, so I imagine that most of the animals are sleeping most of the day and hunting or roaming at night. Should I wait until next winter to avoid a bunch of animals with their eyes closed?

 

[Jim Jeter]

Very nice shots Jim.

So is this a place that you drive around and shoot free ranging animals, or were they though fences?

No, these were taken from a tram that runs inside the park. There are a lot of places to walk to where you can get good shots but for animals like these you need to ride the tram. The 80-200 and D100 were mounted on a Manfrotto monop[od.

 

[Jim Jeter]

Hi Jim,
Great stuff, I had no idea that there were that many animals or the variety of species tht are together in such close proximity.

There must have been some sort of dividers seperating the monkeys/gorillas for example from the lions. Were the more aggresive animals like the lions or gorillas in enclosures or were they also free range?

I live north of Los Angeles and I have never been there. It's about 300 or so miles but quite do-able for me. What can you offer by way of suggestions; what lenses to bring, tripod or no tripod, is there time to download CF cards or do I need to carry many gigs of CF cards, is it really dusty (not a good place to change lenses)?

Is there a choice between morning and evening tours. It's getting pretty hot now during the day, so I imagine that most of the animals are sleeping most of the day and hunting or roaming at night. Should I wait until next winter to avoid a bunch of animals with their eyes closed?

Actually, animals like the lions and other predators are seperated by fences but animals like the rhinos, zebras, giraffes, etc, are all out on the 'plains' just like they would be in their natural habitat. This park is part of the San Diego Zoological Society (San Diego Zoo) and is just east of Escondido which is about 30-35 miles north of San Diego.

From now until late September it's pretty hot there. It was starting to get wearm when we were there on April 2nd but not too bad. If you check out their website you see schedules for all of their activities.

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wap/visitor_info.html

 

[drueter]

Jim -- great shots! I went to that park once about 5 years ago and really enjoyed it. I remember there being a lot of great photo opportunities and I hope I can get back there some day.

 

[jfrancis]

Nice shots. I love the San Diego zoo

 

[PhotoDawg]

Good goin' Jim. The second shot is my favorite!!