Six Flags Wild Safari Wild Safari revamp, part of Six Flags Great Adventure for 2013

TigerValley98

TigerValley98

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Six Flags Great Adventure announces new safari plans

Philadelphia Business Journal

Date: Thursday, August 30, 2012, 10:47am EDT - Last Modified: Thursday, August 30, 2012, 11:33am EDT


The suspense over the future of the Wild Safari at Six Flags Great Adventure is over.

Earlier this month, the attraction announced that, starting next year, the safari would no longer involve family cars wending their way through the grasslands of Central Jersey. It didn’t say much else.

Today Six Flags said the safari will get a new name, Safari Off Road Adventure, and that drivers will take guests around in a “rugged, open-air, Safari vehicle” to see the collection of 1,200 animals from six continents.

The concept behind the safari, which will be included in the general admission price, is the “fictional world of the Wilds Family, who have traveled the globe to bring the most interesting and exotic creatures to their home in Jackson, New Jersey,” Six Flags said. “When the Wild Safari closes its gates for the 2012 season this fall, it will undergo a massive renovation this winter that includes a redesign of various simulated natural habitats.”

Six Flags Great Adventure announces new safari plans - Philadelphia Business Journal
 
So it's a theme park attraction...themed to resemble a private zoo. Got it.

:rolleyes:
 
Just heard from a friend who visited today that Male elephant Rip passed away last winter. Does anyone know what happened to him. He was only 41 years old.
 
- Today the safari off road adventure opened at Six Flags Great Adventure. The safari park is 350 acres in size and features more than 1,000 animals. Instead of driving with your own car you are now in a vehicle simaler to kilmanjaro safaris at Disney. These allow unobstruted views of the various animals. The ride takes about an hour and halfway through the ride you come to Camp Adventura which is a area with reptile exhibits, barnyard animals, a cafe, zip line and giraffe feeding. Besides this improvements include moated viewing of the lions, and replanting throughout the animal fields. Looking at videos and pictures it looks very nice and preserves much of the old safari excluding the baboons. This facility is not talked about much but it has a world class hoof stock collection and excellent exhibits. Take a look at the links posted below and judge for yourself. I hope to visit the new version this season.

- A Trip report with lots of photos.
2013 Trip Report at Six Flags Great Adventure

- Skip to the end for ride video.
YouTube

- A brief video.
[ame=http://vimeo.com/66920098]Safari Off Road Adventure Kicker on Vimeo[/ame]

- Last seasons map with a species list that has changed very little.
http://www.greatadventurehistory.com/GAPubs/2012SafariMapGuide/1200_SWScan00590%20copy.jpg
 
I actually really enjoyed this ride and the camp in the middle with the giraffe feeding. The animals had a lot of room and we got very close to many of them, which was great.
 
Elephantelephant said:
The 48-year-old African elephant cow, Gloria, died in September. The exact date of death is unknown. There are now 6 cows: Tanya (50), Barbara (48), Debbie (48), Lucy (48), Sheila (47) and Joyce (36).
Click to expand...

Just a note that Joyce came to the safari separately and later than the others. She has never gone on exhibit with them, spending her time with keepers. I'll see if I can find the article about this. I seem to recall seeing this in September coincidentally.
 
This is the craziest thing. The link to Joyce's whole story is from NJ.com, but when I try to copy it here, what comes up is Wikipedia's CITES page!?!?!?

Here is the info. You can find it easily. It's quite a thorough history and very moving:

"A Millionaire Schemed to Save Baby Elephants from Slaughter,. Here's How One of Them Ended up in NJ," by Michael Sol Warren and Bobby Olivier, NJ.com, 6/20/2019.
 
AmbikaFan said:
This is the craziest thing. The link to Joyce's whole story is from NJ.com, but when I try to copy it here, what comes up is Wikipedia's CITES page!?!?!?

Here is the info. You can find it easily. It's quite a thorough history and very moving:

"A Millionaire Schemed to Save Baby Elephants from Slaughter,. Here's How One of Them Ended up in NJ," by Michael Sol Warren and Bobby Olivier, NJ.com, 6/20/2019.
Click to expand...
That title feature is so sick. Utterly distasteful language usage! Also flippant and self congratulatory.
 
Elephantelephant said:
The 48-year-old African elephant cow, Gloria, died in September. The exact date of death is unknown. There are now 6 cows: Tanya (50), Barbara (48), Debbie (48), Lucy (48), Sheila (47) and Joyce (36).
Click to expand...
I apologize until now I noticed that she probably died in September 2018 of heart failure. The article about her death comes from July 2019. Unfortunately, I cannot open it in my region.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
That title feature is so sick. Utterly distasteful language usage! Also flippant and self congratulatory.
Click to expand...

As happens so often, @KifaruBwana, I appreciate your notice of and concern about ethics in our world. I think they aim for drama and pity, but all in the attempt for self-aggrandizement.

However, if that's the price we have to pay to learn about an elephant like Joyce, I'm willing to hold my nose and drink it all in. My daughter worked at the safari and never saw Joyce, so however unctuous, this enabled us to experience a lovely soul we otherwise would never know.
 
As a PS:. This huge import came almost a decade after the CITES Treaty was signed in 1975 and went into effect in 1976. That was the end of simply buying endangered animals from the wild to replenish zoo populations. Enforcement falls to the importing country to carry out, which means US Fish and Wildlife. While Zimbabwe is known for its mass culls to "protect vegetation" and would have clearly been eager to profit so heavily from something they would do anyway, why on Earth would US Fish and Wildlife allow this? Animal imports trickled to a halt after 1976, which is why our population in human care has many fewer animals under the age of 43. With few exceptions Fish and Wildlife has refused imports of anything but zoos. Why this big exception with such a terrible outcome? Or did this outcome result in the real crackdown we see today?
 
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