San Diego Wild Animal Park

epetti

My wife surprised me with a trip to the San Diego Wild Animal Park for our first anniversary. Amazing place -- so much more than a typical zoo. We went on a Safari Photo Tour where you can get up close and even feed some of the animals. No other way you would ever get this close. I took my Canon Powershot S5 IS. This is only the second chance I had to use it. The first was for a hike in Mammoth, and while it worked out great, there wasn't nearly as much need for its 12x range as there is for something like this. Anyway, take a look, enjoy, let me know what you think.

For some reason, photos where animals of different types are interacting together always catch my eye.









This gives you an idea just how close we could get to the animals:











It looked like this deer was there for her lineup picture. Many animals would line up against the wall to try to get some shade.





Next up it was rhino feeding time. Not the more aggressive black rhino, but a southern white rhino.







And then there were just lots more amazing animals to see.

























As I side note, I never knew that lily pads had these alien-like monster tentacles underneath connecting them all. Very cool. Also, there were some other nice flowers available for some macro shots.









Okay, I already probably posted way too many. If you're interested, there's lots more on my gallery:

http://epetti.smugmug.com/gallery/3491208#196709438

I'd love to hear comments, feedback on ones that stood out or where they could've used improvement. Enjoy.

Ernie

Maestro

I looked at your gallery and you have some really nice shots, but for DGrin I think you need to go back to your gallery and in the customization area you need to allow for external linking. Your pics are all red x's for me anyway here at DGrin.

epetti

Maestro wrote:

I looked at your gallery and you have some really nice shots, but for DGrin I think you need to go back to your gallery and in the customization area you need to allow for external linking. Your pics are all red x's for me anyway here at DGrin.

Thanks. I was just trying to track down why they were all blank when I had successfully posted other pictures in the past. Guess I turned off that box without thinking. They should all be working now.

Maestro

epetti wrote:

Thanks. I was just trying to track down why they were all blank when I had successfully posted other pictures in the past. Guess I turned off that box without thinking. They should all be working now.

Yep, everything is working. Great pics. I especially like the picture with the blackbucks and rhinos.

Harryb

Good set and these shots stood out for me.

dbaker1221

looks like it was a pretty cool trip. good captures

epetti

Very cool. I highly recommend to anyone near the area who hasn't been and likes wildlife. There is just so much more out in the open where you don't have to deal with cages and fences and other things, and the opportunity to see different animals together. A great experience just on its own, and a great opportunity for photography as well.