At the end of October Beverly and I spent the weekend at Safari West with our good friends the Garons. From the Safari West website – “Nestled on 400 acres in the heart of California’s wine country, Safari West is home for over 400 exotic mammals and birds. Not a zoo, not a drive-through park, it’s a wildlife preserve where the whole family can experience some of nature’s most beautiful animals in a natural habitat.”
We arrived Saturday afternoon, and after checking-in enjoyed a BBQ lunch. After we dropped our stuff off at our tent cabins we wondered around the animals that you can visit in the main area. Around 4p we took off on a 3-hour tour (a 3-hour tour) to see the rest of the animals on the 400 acre property. They use a jeep/bus that can sit 18 folks and are pretty comfortable. A word to the wise – if you sit on the bench on top, make sure to wear your seatbelt. No really, wear your seatbelt.
Our guide Gideon is from South Africa. Gideon is not his real name – his real name is one that I can’t spell much less pronounce. It is from the language that has the pops and clicks. He came to the states as part of the choir that performed in the Lion King – he even sang a bit of it for us while on the tour. On the tour we saw all of the animals that are living on the property. Check out the photos on the web gallery link to the right.
After the tour we had a few minutes to get cleaned up and it was dinner time. Dinner was nothing fancy, but was filling. The highlight of dinner was the entertainment. There was a group of approx 12 staying there to celebrate a birthday. They had hired a group that sang and danced songs from South Africa. The members of the group are all from South Africa and work at Safari West – Gideon was one of the member. And he performed in native costume. They sang several songs and did some dancing with Zuluettes – one of which was Gideon’s daughter.
After the singing we went outside to see South African fire dancing – which I have some photos of.
Hit the sack – well actually a very comfortable king-size bed with a electric blanket – around 11p. Around 2a we were woken up by two very loud, very drunk guests looking for their cabin. The guy kept insisting he was at their cabin – number 11 – when actually they were coming up the stairs to our cabin – number 16. I opened the door as they reached the deck – scaring the bejesus out of the girl. Told them they were not at cabin 11, and no, I had no idea where it was.
The next morning the view was awesome. It was quiet. Had the morning sun. And the animals were just waking up. Nothing like getting the first cup of coffee and watching the giraffes coming out. After breakfast we walked around and visited with the animals and then headed out by noon.
This is an adventure I would strongly recommend. We had a great time and it was really cool to see the animals up close and personal. The only thing I would have done different is take the tour in the morning. Better light for photo talking and all of the animals were still out and about.
Photos from the adventure on on the web gallery – here is a direct link to the Safari West Photos.
I think I might try some of 
Oh. My. Good. Check out this unaired MythBusters 
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