San Diego Zoo Safari Park Journey into Africa

So far as I know, there were not too many moves of the larger species from the "old" park to the new set up, although I have not visited the park since the new tour opened.

Based on photos and accounts I've read, East Africa still has the southern white rhinos, Rothschild's giraffe, fringe-eared oryx, white-bearded wildebeest, and impala. I suspect the Nile lechwe, grant's gazelles, and Thomson's gazelles are here as well.

South Africa (should) have the northern white rhinos, reticulated giraffes, Cape buffalo, common eland, gemsbok, sable antelope, ellipsen waterbuck, and ostrich. The photo confirms springbok are in South: [ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mozesyap/2703245742/"]Wildlife Park on Flickr - Photo Sharing!@@AMEPARAM@@http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3087/2703245742_1be815f1a7.jpg?v=0@@AMEPARAM@@2703245742@@AMEPARAM@@1be815f1a7[/ame]

North Africa has changed little - it still houses scimitar-horned oryx, ankole, and Barbary red deer. (In the past, this paddock has also served to hold bachelor males of various gazelle species).

The Mountain Habitat now houses Nubian ibex and aoudad.

The "African Veldt" (former P horse exhibit) is very poorly named - it currently houses addax and slender-horned gazelle.

Central Africa is the one paddock with the least (accurate) information on it. I believe it houses bongo and red lechwe right now, but I've not heard whether red river hogs were introduced as planned.

Other species which have had their photos taken recently in the field enclosures (but which ones I am not sure of) include greater kudu (Central?), roan antelope (?), topi (South?), springbok (confirmed - South), and Uganda kob (formerly East ... not sure now). I'm not sure if the sitatunga are still on exhibit.

... just found a photo with greater kudu, bontebok, and Soemmerring's gazelle together at the WAP: [ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/orokuxsaki/2715758266/"]on Flickr - Photo Sharing!@@AMEPARAM@@http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3142/2715758266_e05825ce0b.jpg?v=0@@AMEPARAM@@2715758266@@AMEPARAM@@e05825ce0b[/ame]
 
@Ungalate: You are forgetting the prolific family of Black Rhinos. The female, Lembe, had two births (one in 2008 and one in 2005) in the past three years.
 
LOL, no offense BlackRhino, but your namesake species isn't in any of the field enclosures okapikpr was talking about!

Do let us know if they've started construction on the new peripheral habitats they were marketting last year.
 
Okapikpr wanted to know what animals can be seen on the Journey Into Africa tour. If you ever rode the Journey Into Africa you would know that Black Rhinos are on exhibit as part of the tour.
 
okapikpr said:
Does anyone have a general or accurate species list for the Journey to Africa exhibits:

East Africa
North Africa
South Africa
African Veldt
Mountain Habitat
Central Africa
Click to expand...

Actually i was looking for the field exhibits...I kinda felt that the Black Rhinos and Bonobos were a given. But thanks anyway! By the way, are the bonobos on the tour and are Grant's Zebra still housed with the Black Rhinos?
 
@Black rhino, Could you ask when you go to the SD WAP what their current plans are in regards to their breeding program with Indian rhinos, are they only using the imported Indian male rhinos at this stage in their breeding plan?, or do they have any plans to export any females which can not be used in the current program due to a over repersentive bloodlines, I guess the male we have in Australia may like a second lady friend, lol.
 
The Grevys Zebra are not housed with the Black Rhino, and there were no Bonobos when I last was there in Nov. 2007.
 
The Grant's zebras where in there several years ago, and then later they had Damara zebra in there, but when I went in 2004 they had no zebras in with the rhinos.

Here is my list. My sources are outdated, Zoonooz April 2007 and a podcast from 8/15/07

EAST AFRICA
southern white rhinoceros
East African sitatunga
Thomson's gazelle
Grant's gazelle
eastern white-bearded wildebeest
Lake Victoria Defassa waterbuck
Nile lechwe
Uganda kob
Zambian sable antelope
fringe-eared oryx
Rothschild's giraffe
SOUTH AFRICA
northern white rhinoceros
southern white rhinoceros
Patterson's eland
South African sable antelope
gemsbok
ostrich
goliath heron
CENTRAL AFRICA
East African sitatunga
greater kudu
Zambezi lechwe
blesbok
roan antelope
Abyssinian ground hornbill
wattled crane
pink-backed pelican
western Rueppell's vulture
saddle-billed stork
AFRICAN FOREST
red river hog
East African bongo
Vaal rhebok
NORTH AFRICA
Ankole cattle
scimitar-horned oryx
Barbary red deer
AFRICAN VELDT (seriously why don't they call it the Sahel)
slender-horned gazelle
addra gazelle
addax
 
Great list Ituri!
I believe "African Forest" and "Central Africa" are one and the same ... presumably they switched from the former to the latter to ease the transition years while the trees grow up! I'm not sure if the rhebok were ever introduced into the enclosure, but the species is now gone from the WAP's collection. I'm very interested to find out if they ever tried red river hogs in the exhibit ... what a sight a large sounder would make!
 
I would love for someone to get us an updated detailed version (birds as well)
 
I remember that too, do you remember wild boar in the Asian waterhole?
 
MARK said:
@Black rhino, Could you ask when you go to the SD WAP what their current plans are in regards to their breeding program with Indian rhinos, are they only using the imported Indian male rhinos at this stage in their breeding plan?, or do they have any plans to export any females which can not be used in the current program due to a over repersentive bloodlines, I guess the male we have in Australia may like a second lady friend, lol.
Click to expand...

Yes, I will ask as I am curious myself.
 
Ituri said:
I remember that too, do you remember wild boar in the Asian waterhole?
Click to expand...

Were they wild boar or bearded pigs? I know they tried the latter (briefly), but the pigs had to be removed as there were issues. Aside from the two warthogs in East Africa which seemed to work out for some time, there hasn't been much success with suids in the field exhibits.
 
That's right bearded pigs were most recent, although I remember reading about Sunda wild boars adopting themselves into the water buffalo herd.
 
I visited the park in early October and kept detailed notes on the species I saw in the Journey Into Africa ride enclosures. Here are some clarifications about the Journey Into Africa tram ride. The tour IS included with the standard admission package but is a separate fee for people entering with guest passes. The loading station is not the old Wgasa Bushline Monorail loading or separate unloading station, it is a new station between Lion Camp and the Heart of Africa, inside a part of what was once the East Africa enclosure. The tram is a fairly quiet motorized train composed of an engine truck with open-air rows of seats and three trailers of similar design. The driver still delivers live commentary throughout the 25 minute ride and still makes viewing stops tailored to the current locations of the animals. Distance traveled is probably less than half of the length of the old monorail while the length of this tour is about half of the monorail length so the pace is about the same. A curbed paved road has been built for the route, part of which is a two-way road between the East Africa and South Africa sections. The route does travel the opposite loop direction of the monorail, however it does not exactly follow the route. The part that does is a section at the South Africa lake, and a long section on the West side of South Africa and East side of North Africa. The East side of South Africa features the new road being located much further down the slope. The advantage of this is that views of the animals are much closer than previously, but the disadvantage is that it has shaved a large slice of land out of the exhibit and also cuts off access to the Mountain Habitat. The route cuts the former Asian Waterhole in two by crossing the lake on a dam-like bridge, creating the separate new Central Africa and African Forest exhibits. No part of the route actually enters any of the exhibits. The road for the ride is also used as part of the routes for the extra-fee Rolling Safari (Segway tour) and Savanna Safari and VIP Tours (electric cart tours). The extra-fee Photo Caravan (keeper truck tour) is the only one that enters the animal exhibits. The extra-fee Balloon Safari (tethered passenger balloon) does not float directly over any of the exhibits. The extra-fee Flightline (zipline) does cross over a small corner of East Africa, but that part has been walled off to the animals and is nowhere near the tram route. (I understand that it does go over a large portion of the old Asian Plains exhibit however). The extra-fee Wilderness Ridge Mule Ride does not appear to use the tram route either and is a tour of the park backcountry instead.

I’ll describe the exhibit species as they are encountered on the route. Please note that this may not be a complete list of the species in each enclosure:

The exhibit contained by the loading station road loop holds nyala.

East Africa holds giraffe (I counted 17), Southern white rhino, fringe-eared oryx, nile lechwe, impala, defassa waterbuck, Thomsons gazelle, crowned crane, and marabou stork.

The black rhino exhibit holds…black rhinos.

South Africa holds giraffe, Southern white rhino (2 of them are 46 years old and are remnants of the last 50 that were known to exist at their lowest count), Northern white rhino (2 of the last seven known to exist in the world), Cape buffalo, Pattersons Eland, wildebeest (not sure which species), sable antelope, gemsbok, ellipsen waterbuck, springbok, and ostrich.

African Veldt (the former Przewalskis horse exhibit) holds addax, Addra gazelle, slender-horned gazelle, and sable antelope (2 bulls, this is probably temporary).

Mountain Habitat is not directly on the tour and is not pointed out by the guides but is still visible in the distance. I saw what looked like an ibex species up there on the wonderful rocky cliff exhibit.

Central Africa (the lower half of the former Asian Waterhole exhibit) holds roan antelope, greater kudu, bontebok, and Ugandan kob.

African Forest (the upper half of the former Asian Waterhole exhibit) holds red lechwe and red-flanked gazelle.

The guide I talked to said that several yards still exist beyond African Forest in that canyon and still hold Japanese serow and Chinese goral, as they did when the old monorail route used to travel further up the canyon.

A large steep separate yard that was long ago carved from South Africa for greater kudu now holds Grevys zebra.

North Africa holds scimitar-horned oryx, gazelle (I think it was slender-horned), Barbary red deer, and ankole cattle.

The old Asian Plains exhibit is not seen on the newer tram ride, so I do not know the species there or the several hillside yards that surround it.

While I am at it I might as well list the Heart of Africa exhibit current species as they are encountered from the path entrance to the Journey Into Africa station: 1 for bontebok, 1 for giant eland and red-flanked gazelle, 1 for Egyptian vulture and another vulture species I did not note, 1 for Western red-flanked duiker and Southern gerenuk and Demoiselle crane, 1 for yellow-backed duiker and okapi, 1 for yellow-billed stork, 1 for Kori bustard and secretary bird, 1 for Abyssinian ground hornbill, 1 for bat-eared fox and warthog, 1 for colobus monkey, 1 for (radiated?) tortoise, 1 for greater and lesser flamingo, 1 for shoebill stork, 1 for cheetah, 1 for Southern steenbok and crowned crane and Abdims stork, and then Lion Camp with 1 for African lion.
 
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