Sorry for the delay on this (and, presumably, the next) update. I'm home now and am rather busy.
I Hope a Rhino Doesn't Charge at the Rental Car
Zoo 11: Lion Country Safari
Size of zoo: 100 acre drive through + ? sized small zoo
Time spent: 2.5 hours
Branded as America's first cageless zoo (does anyone know how true that is?), Lion Country Safari opened at its current location in 1967. It originally featured lions only, but has since expanded into a larger safari, zoo, and theme park with multiple species, primarily from Africa.
Upon paying the (expensive) entry, visitors are issued a CD with 10 tracks. Each corresponds to a certain section of the preserve, and is a mixture of tacky music, mostly correct animal facts, and advertisements for other things the park has to offer, like annual passes or the on-site campground.
The first part of the reserve is Las Pampas, home to Brazilian tapirs, greater rhea, Aldabra tortoise, and brown pelican. Is it just me, or are half those animals not from the Pampas? The scenic waterfall, pond, and island attract native wood storks and black vultures, and the area overall is a nice entry to the park. Up next is Ruaha National Park, which has 22 greater kudu. That alone is probably greater than the sum of all of the greater kudu I've seen elsewhere, and in total I counted 10.35 for the park. This mass of kudu is joined by a small herd of impala and some ostriches. The Kalahari Bushveldt follows, with scimitar horned oryx, Nile lechwe, and more ostrich. It is smaller than the last one, though still huge when compared to a normal zoo exhibit. After briefly passing through Gir Forest, we enter Gorongosa Reserve.
Lion Country Safari is different than many drive-through parks because it does not allow the feeding of animals. This is because of how it started. In 1967, the park simply had lions. While it grew (and other locations opened, though they're now closed), the drive-through lion exhibit remained central to the park. Though that stopped in 2005 (after people unsurprisingly continued to open their doors), the park still has the strict rules of doors closed, windows up. There are even staff members every so often along the way enforcing that.
As it is today, the lion exhibit is double-fenced and electrically charged, but large and home to a lot of lions. This is the most clogged-up part of the preserve, as every person wants to stop and take a photo. There's not much to say; the exhibit is large and has shelter but isn't particularly breathtaking.
The first section of Gir Forest is then re-entered. It is home to an animal that is found nowhere else in America's zoos (and isn't found in the real Gir Forest, either): a large herd of kulan. They had land to roam, and were a cool sight as any subspecies of Asian wild ass is rare in the country. The next section of Gir Forest features a lot of water, as it is home to Asian water buffalo. Other inhabitants of the exhibit are nilgai and a large herd of blackbuck, but all I saw were the blackbucks. They were hard to miss, I'd estimate there were easily over a hundred of them. They are one of the most standard species in such parks, so I was not surprised at their presence.
The next, and seemingly the largest, area was Serengeti Plains. No animal is really numerous here, there are small groups of ostrich, wildebeest, common eland, waterbuck, and impala, with watusi cattle and nyala fenced off to the side. The large field is mostly tall grass, which alone is better than many exhibits attempting to recreate the region. The remnants of an elephant exhibit are off to the side, and though it was signed for rhinoceros it appeared empty.
The next area, without a doubt, is the crown of Lion Country Safari, whether you are a zoo nerd or a normal visitor. Why is it so for the normal visitor? Because there is a plethora of well-known creatures: particularly, around 7 rhinos and at least 32 plains zebras. These animals are everywhere in the Hwange National Park exhibit. No barrier prevents the rhinos from moseying on up to the visitors' cars, nor the many zebras from blocking the road. Why is this the jewel for zoo nerds? Because it is, as far as I can tell, home to the only Jackson's (lelwel) hartebeest on exhibit anywhere outside of Africa. The magnificent animal roams with the others in the large paddock.
The final area of the preserve is a sort of continuation of Hwange, but with different species. In the drive-through portion, giraffes and more greater kudu are free to roam. Off to either side, there are ape islands. On the left is a set of four for chimpanzees, some of few pure western chimps in America among them. They are in two social groups, and in a unique husbandry aspect, rotating bridges between the islands give these two groups different land to roam every day. On the other side of the road, there is an island exhibit for white-handed gibbon. These two enclosures finish the drive-through section of the park. It is a much better drive-trough than many, as it is sorted and not just thousands upon thousands of blackbuck in a fenced area of grassland.
The theme park and zoo ("SafariWorld") portion is much smaller, though the exact size I couldn't say. There are several primate exhibits: some islands, some not. A strange assortment of exotic birds are found, anything from pied hornbill to sarus crane to vulturine guineafowl. There are boat rides, water rides, and a few games including mini-golf (around an enclosure for southern ground hornbill. My mom and I played; I won). Much of this is higher quality than unaccredited safari parks, and I was a little surprised by the quality. It wasn't fantastic, but it was much more than I expected.
