The park itself is beautiful and it was quite enjoyable to simply walk around and take in the views.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/princessleia.com\/images\/journalpics\/122012\/sdzsafaripark_view_sm.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nIt was also an exceptional opportunity for MJ to use his shiny new DSLR camera for the first time “in the wild” so to speak.<\/p>\n
But the reason I felt so strongly about coming here was for one particular animal who I recently learned lived here, the northern white rhinoceros<\/a>. I first learned that a pair of them lived here when I watched the second episode of Last Chance to See<\/a> with Stephen Fry that was specifically about the northern white rhino. I’d read the book by Douglas Adams that the series is a follow up to while in high school and while sad, the book and subsequent shows are very good. From the show I learned that there are only 7 of the northern white rhinos left in the world, 4 in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, 1 in a zoo in the Czech Republic where the other 4 also came from (this 5th was not able to travel) and the 2 at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. It was sadly clear that the only way I’d get to see one is by visiting the safari park there in San Diego.<\/p>\n And see them I did! Their male, Angalifu was up walking around and I got some pictures of him from the tram safari<\/a> (included in park admission):<\/p>\n Their female Nola was laying down on the plains, I got a picture of her here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Later in the day we went on the Asian Cart Safari<\/a> which took us out to the Asian section of the park. That brought us very close to some of their greater one-horned rhinos, which our tour guide took some time to feed so we could visit with them.<\/p>\n The smaller one in the photo was a rhino born last year, after the food was gone her and her mother came down closer to us as well. Rhinos are so great!<\/p>\n We stayed at the park almost until closing, visiting elephants, giraffes, lions and even seeing the Cheetah Run<\/a>. I was particularly happy to see the elephants, as the Chumby<\/a> on my desk spends most of its life feeding me a webcam stream from their enclosure and the polar bear at the San Diego zoo, I could finally see them in person!<\/p>\n More photos from the day are here: http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/pleia2\/sets\/72157632266586435\/<\/a><\/p>\n Once processed I hope to be able to share some of MJ’s photos too, he got some great shots, including one of a Przewalski’s Horse from the Asian Cart ride that came out very well.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/princessleia.com\/images\/journalpics\/122012\/sdzsafaripark_northern_white_rhino_sm.jpg\")
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