Safari West in Wine Country

For my husband's birthday this year, which happened to be the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, I decided to take him to Safari West to have a different experience. Not too long ago we were talking about how long ago it had been since we last visited a zoo. We were so curious as to any improvements in San Francisco Zoo, so we planned on going there soon. This was not the zoo, but it's the same thing - spending a day with the animals.

Safari West is a wildlife sanctuary in Santa Rosa (Sonoma County) right in the wine country. The sanctuary is on a 400-acre rolling hills at the foot of the Mayacamas Mountains. The mission of Safari West is "to actively promote conservation and environmental education while imparting knowledge that helps each individual make well-informed choices in regard to the environment and wildlife conservation. At Safari West it’s all about the animals. Always has been, always will be."

One can stay the night in one of their "tents" and there are other packages/activities they offer, but for us we just chose to spend the day with a jeep safari tour, which included a walking tour and a jeep tour around the property to see the wildlife.

Let me tell you that this was simply a wonderful experience. And my husband thoroughly enjoyed his birthday present. To be perfectly honest, I think I had more fun than he did.

Allow me to show you photos from the day at Safari West.

The first part of the tour was a walking tour around the perimeter of the entrance to the park.

Caracal - medium-sized cat. 12-year life span in the wild, up to 20 under human care.

Fennec Fox - world's smallest naturally occuring canid species (canidae). Way too cute.

De Brazza's monkey - they store food in their cheek pouches like squirrels and chipmunks.

Patas monkey - we enjoyed watching the small family of three.

Striped hyena - if you think they are cute (I do! I do!) you are not wrong, because they are arguably the most beautiful member of the Hyaenidae family.

My favorite part of the walking tour is going inside the bird enclosure. Who knew I enjoyed looking at birds and fowls so much.

The scarlet ibis is quite eye-catching.

A couple of crowned blue pigeons seemed unbothered by all the attention.

The roseate spoonbill has been my favorite bird since the first time I laid eyes on it some 10 years ago. These pink color in these birds are washed out, unlike their counterparts from Costa Rica - must be something to do with the environment.

Across the enclosure, three kinds of flamingoes offer a dazzling background to visitors' selfies.

After a brief snack break, we continued the tour with a jeep safari. I've seen photos of these online and jeeps were always full. However, due to this being a Tuesday, our jeep only comprised of 6 adults and 1 child. And four of us chose to ride on top for a better view.

Birthday boy is all smiles.

Addax

Can't remember if these are antelopes or something else.

Papa, mama and baby rhino.

Most satisfying watch for me. There's something in the wood that they find appetizing.

Zebra crossing

I almost forgot the cheetah. What a sleek animal, so beautiful. They don't have tigers, elephants, or lions; although my boss told me that when her son was little they saw elephants there.

I have more photos on my Flick'r album, if you are interested to see more.

I will try to continue with the Israel documentation. It's been quite difficult to concentrate on writing about the trip that seemed so long ago and given the sentiments and mood around the world it's a challenge.

If you live nearby and would like to visit, we booked our tour here.