Wild Wild West

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African Wild Life Safari in California!

Safari West is a hidden jewel of North California. Well, it’s not exactly a hidden jewel, as some of the time slots we wanted were already sold out. However, I had not heard about this place from people around me. When I talked to some of my colleagues at work, none of them knew about it!

Safari West is a privately owned wild life habitat and a zoo spread over 400 acre of area near Santa Rosa in Sonoma county. Safari West is home to over 400 mammals and birds including some endangered species.

This time Nirav, Mohnish, and Prutha joined us for the safari trip. It is a 2 hours drive from San Jose. We had a reservation for 1 pm; however, after the lunch at Giovanni’s pizzeria in Petaluma, we barely made it on time for the safari! After checking-in, we were introduced to our guide and the safari truck driver Jessie. I was really impressed by the safari truck. It was an authentic open-air safari vehicle imported from Africa and renovated in USA! It could fit up to 12 people including 4 on the roof. Ideally, four people can fit in one row of this vehicle; however, Nirav decided to squeeze himself in the same row to reject the driver’s offer to sit with her on the front seat!

We were first driven to the “giraffe-barn”. It was really interesting to see how giraffes bend themselves to reach the grass and how long their tongue is! People sitting on the roof were face to face with one of the giraffes! We had plenty of opportunities to take pictures. We also came across different kinds of antelopes including Addax Antelopes, Greater Kudu, Bongo, Eland, etc. We also got to see zebras and a four days old baby zebra, cape-buffalos, wildebeest, watusi-cattle, ostriches, different species of cranes, etc. in their habitat.

This safari was a 2 hours long off-road trip! It was a great fun riding on the bumpy rugged surface through the wildlife preserve. We also got a chance to seat on the roof of the truck! It was so much fun!

After the safari in their vehicle, the guide led us through the aviary and the “zoo” part of the preserve and showed lemurs, blue-duikers, foxes, cheetahs, etc. It was a bit disappointing to know that cheetahs were put up in the fenced area instead of in the wild as expected.

Overall, Safari West is a must-go for wild life enthusiasts and kids over 3 years. However, even if you are not a wild life enthusiast you will enjoy this 2.5-3 hours long safari for sure!

They also have “luxury tents” inside the preserve. Nightly rates for accommodation are pretty high but I am sure it will be a great fun to stay in the tent facing the giraffes!

Old Faithful Geyser of California

We still had 3 hours or so before it gets dark. We decided to visit Old Faithful Geysers of Calistoga near Safari West. This geyser is the result of cool water of an underground river entering the volcanic chamber far below the surface. It is then super-heated by molten magma and erupts skyward. It is called “faithful” geyser because it erupts on a regular intervals.

We hadn’t heard of this place before. We came across its board en-route to Napa. Entrance fees are $7 per person after AAA discount of $1. We were told that it will erupt every 10 to 20 minutes. When we entered, we saw a 4-5 feet tall water eruption just within 5 minutes. All of us were kind of disappointed as it was supposed to be 30 feet tall! Again after a couple of minutes we saw another 5 feet tall water eruption and started doubting the authenticity (Nirav and Mohnish still doubt it!)… Soon, Shreya read the information pamphlet given to us and noticed that there will be several small eruptions followed by a long delay before the real water eruption of 30-40 feet tall! This gave us some hope… but we still remained skeptical. Nirav started his timer… we waited… after 23 minutes there was some activity and we hoped this time it will go higher than just 5 feet. The geyser started erupting steam and water quite high… and it should have reached 30-40 feet atleast if not more! Mohnish checked the water temperature which didn’t feel hot at all! However, we could easily smell sulfur or some other gas coming out of the pit. The geyser eruption lasted for about a minute or so, giving us plenty of time to take pictures with it.

Later I came to know that this geyser was one of the only three old-faithful geysers around the world! It is also possible to predict earthquakes by monitoring the geyser activities.

Around 6 pm we left the old faithful geyser and drove towards Napa. We passed by number of wineries and vineyards. However, this is not a harvesting season; so, we didn’t see any the perfect grape trees. We decided to reach San Jose before dinner time. It was a nice drive; however, I wish to come back in the harvesting season to have the real vineyard experience of Napa.

Some useful links:
Safari West
Old Faithful Geyser of California

Where to eat:
Number of good places in Santa Rosa and around
There is a BBQ grill inside Safari West; however, not good for vegetarians

Where to stay:
Just 2 hours drive from San Jose and 1 hours from Napa Valley
Safari West have their luxury tent to experience the real African safari stay!

Nearby attraction that we did not visit:
Petrified Forest
Historic downtown of Calistoga
Napa Valley wineries, vineyards, and gourmet rail

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Photos

Giraffes
at the giraffe barn

Baby Zebra
Baby Zebra and Mommy Zebra in their habitat

Old Faithful Geyser
30 feet tall water eruption

Comments

[anonymous]

Is this gyser also programed? lol