Edwin Villanueva

While doing the Journey Into Africa Tour a couple of weeks ago at W.A.P, we had a brief encounter with this little guy on the trail. He was actually “outside the fences” so I’m not really sure he was part of the attraction. Nonetheless, he gave us a great photo opportunity.

I Heart Gorillas.

Next to the Lion Camp and Cheetah exhibits, I love watching the Gorillas at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. I’ve always been fascinated by them since I was a little kid and being able to see them in such a close proximity has been a dream come true. I can literally sit for hours just watching them interact with each other.

Here are few facts about Gorillas:

- Gorillas are the largest of the living primates.

-The DNA of gorillas is 98%–99% identical to that of a human, and they are the next closest living relatives to humans after the chimpanzee species.

-Gorillas live in tropical or subtropical forests.

For more information, check out the Wikipedia on Gorillas.

About two weeks ago, I received a message on Flickr from Emma Williams, the Managing Editor of Schmap Guides, indicating that one of my photos was on the short list that was being considered for the Eighth Edition of the Schmap San Diego Guide. All I needed to do was reply back indicating my approval to include it for consideration, which I gladly did.

The other day, I received an email verifying that my photo was chosen to be included in the upcoming edition. You can’t even imagine how psyched I am about this! Below is the photo that will be included in the San Diego guide for the Wild Animal Park.

You can check out the guide for the Wild Animal Park here:

www.schmap.com/sandiego/tours_tour5/p=27771/i=27771_141.jpg

For those that do not know about Schmap, they are a publisher of digital travel guides for 200 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Their guides can be downloaded from their site or browsed online with verisons optimized for iPhone and Nokia users. For more information, check out their website: http://www.schmap.com/

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to join the Flores Family on their family trip to the Wild Animal Park in Escondido, Ca. It was their first time visiting the park, so I was sort’ve their guide. With 7 kids to look after, it was definitely a different experience. But one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The San Diego Wild Animal Park is…WILD!

I would totally recommend going here instead of the San Diego Zoo if you had to pick and choose. The first time I went to the Zoo at Balboa Park, it was hit or miss if I would actually see the animal in their exhibit. At the Park, I didn’t have that problem. At least not on this trip.

The Park offers many different options for you too see the animals. I chose to walk around the park to witness the 3000+ animals in their natural environment. There are many exhibits such as The Nariobi Village, Condor Ridge, Heart of Africa and my favorite, Lion Camp.

The park also offers different tours to see the exhibits and to interact with the animals. These tours have an additional fee which you’ll need to check when you first enter the park. Some of the different tours include: Journey Into Africa – A tour ride that will take you into the wilds of Africa to observe animals in their naturalistic environment. Rolling Safari – A unique two hour tour that takes you on an off road path using Segway X2. Photo Caravans – A Safari tour where you get a unique opportunity to go into the heart of the Wild Animal Park and feed giraffe’s or rhinoceros.

When my family comes down to visit in late May, I’m definitely taking them here and will undoubtedly do one or two of these tours. For this trip, walking gave me the best opportunity to take some great photos of the park and animals. Here are a few of my favorites.

Enjoy!