Safari Cards (1970-90's)

[Haliaeetus]

It isn't about a website but I ask you a question about an old collection of animal cards.

If you grew in the 1970-80-90's you may had a collection of Safari Cards.
The most complete collection is in French language, but they are partially edited in other languages : English, Spanish, Italian and even Hebrew.

Few resources exist about them now, even if batches can still be bought on sale sites of the web.
We can also find on the web a few vintage TV- and press commercials, and even a small Facebook group : Log into Facebook

Personally I started to collect them when I was a schoolboy, after many years I managed to have the complete French collection (that's rare !) with several purchases of old batches.

Here's a sample of my collection :

For me it remains a very comprehensive and unequaled reference, even in the Internet era.
Even if these cards are quite old and sometimes outdated, I still love this collection, and I think I'll do so during all my life. [and I use this collection of a database for my fantasy zoos !]

Did you had (or still have) this collection ? Have you heard something about it ?

Thank you for your answers.

 

[Haliaeetus]

It it possible to switch this topic in the following thread :
TV, Movies, Books about Zoos & Wildlife

Thanks.

 

[Haliaeetus]

Additionnally I may submit you a few images of this collection in the next days, in order to let you identify some doubtful species due to mistakes or taxonomic changes.
The errors are rare in this collection, that's pretty rigorous for this time, but I suspect some of them (or I've some doubt about a few pictures) for these reasons.

 

[Pleistohorse]

I had that collection. Didn’t they arrive in the mail, in packs of 6 or so every few weeks?

I one point I believe I managed to get a full site of a similar brand, (I believe they were fold-out factsheets) Wildlife Fact File(?), but lost it or gave it away many years ago.

 

[Haliaeetus]

I had that collection. Didn’t they arrive in the mail, in packs of 6 or so every few weeks?

Yes, they arrived by mail every month : in France 3 packs of 24 cards were sent monthly.

 

[dublinlion]

yes I also collected and loved these cards and they were posted monthly in packs of 24?. I collected hundreds of them and only stopped because they began to send more and more different cards about behavior and ecology, which at that time irked me as I was more interested in the individual species cards.
I still have these cards (very durable) and my children loved them and now my very young grandchildren love to play with them.

 

[CheeseChameleon1945]

See, these aren't the main animal cards I had when I was younger, that set was almost entirely composed of mammals, however I did have a few of these. I've mentioned my other animal cards set in more detail on other threads, including the Kau'ii endemic birds one.

 

[Ned]

There a real blast from the past, I'd completely forgotten about them. There was a set in the library of the school I went to. Haven't seen them since then.

 

[TinoPup]

My collection is a tad smaller All purchased on ebay.

 

[Mickey]

Woah, there's more than a thousand of them, are they your source of inspiration for your zoos' masterplans?

 

[Haliaeetus]

Woah, there's more than a thousand of them, are they your source of inspiration for your zoos' masterplans?

Obviously yes.
I've planned many virtual / fantasy zoo masterplans with these cards for numerous years.
It's a major source of inspiration for me.

 

[Newzooboy]

I also have a large number of these cards from the late 1970s - they are the English versions but they were purchased mail order by my Dad, when I lived in Australia. I think they say 'printed in Italy' on them though, so likely not different to the other English versions. I certainly don't have a full set, but I did once have the red plastic box to hold them in (with folding clear perspex lid) - now lost unfortunately.
I certainly recognise quite a few of the ones in the pictures above. Many of the pics were clearly taken in zoos, but the photo credits rarely say which ones. I've tried to identify some from structures, etc in background, but there is usually not much to go on.

 

[Newzooboy]

 

[Newzooboy]

 

[Newzooboy]

Here's a few of them..........above

 

[NigeW]

Ah wow, I started a collection of these as a child, and also had the red plastic moulded filing tray that come with the first deliveries. As I remember, they were expensive, and there was no inkling of when the collection may complete, so my dad who'd subscribed for me cancelled it. Without much objection from me at the time. They were OK, but pretty poor value for money as I remember.

 

[doggoswoofwoof]

These seem so cool! Would it be possible for you to scan them and then upload them so we can all see them?

 

[TinoPup]

These seem so cool! Would it be possible for you to scan them and then upload them so we can all see them?

There's hundreds of them. You can find a lot of them on ebay if you'd like to see them.

 

[Haliaeetus]

Do you know this other collection ?
These cards were edited by the WWF and released in the 1980/90's in France.
I don't know if they were available abroad.
This collection was a bit smaller, but counted at least 1780 cards (I've managed to collect all these cards, I don't know if more cards have been edited, and it's now rare to get information about this collection).

 

[TinoPup]

Do you know this other collection ?
These cards were edited by the WWF and released in the 1980/90's in France.
I don't know if they were available abroad.
This collection was a bit smaller, but counted at least 1780 cards (I've managed to collect all these cards, I don't know if more cards have been edited, and it's now rare to get information about this collection).

I don't think I've come across these ones before!