Safari Park's Roar and Snore: Glamping at its Best
I finally got to fulfill a planned adventure for 2020, even if it came four months late. Last weekend my sister, her son and I participated in the San Diego Zoo’s Roar and Snore, an overnight camp in which you experience one of the area’s most popular attractions up close with other families or couples. Our trip originally was scheduled over Memorial Day weekend, when my nephew turned 12, but that pesky virus shut down everything. Things still aren’t what they were, no matter where you go in San Diego, but the zoo brought back this popular program for the summer and, hopefully, well into the fall and following year.
Getting there: Safari Park (previously known as the Wild Animal Park) is located deep in Escondido. There’s a well-marked exit off the 15 freeway in North County and signs along the roughly five-mile drive to the park on San Pasqual Valley Road.
Parking: It’s $15 for most vehicles, and it costs everyone unless you have a top-tier membership. There is plenty of parking, though the earlier you arrive, the closer you’ll be to the entrance. For the Roar and Snore campers, you show up at a reserved parking area at 4:15-4:45 and drop your sleeping bags and duffels/suitcases (1 per camper). If you are in a premium tent, you have a bed and linens provided; everyone else will be sleeping on cots or floor pallets.
Admission: After you check in with Roar and Snore personnel, you need a ticket to get into the park. We have memberships, but for those paying the full $58 admission fee, you might want to come early or re-enter the next day to get your money’s worth. At present the very popular African tram and Cheetah Run are not operating and there are no shows, nor any exhibits like feeding the lorikeets due to COVID-19. This had some campers who came from afar grousing that families shouldn’t be charged full price for half the attractions.
Roar and Snore tickets are on top of the admission price, and they are relatively steep. We opted for a Vista tent ($180 per person) overlooking the African Plains and with cots instead of floor pallets. This was mainly to accommodate my ant- and spider-phobic nephew, and I’ll tell you later how that turned out.
Program: We took our time and took in about half the park’s sites on our way to the campgrounds, where our bags were waiting for us outside our tent doors. Because it was extremely hot that day (low 100s) and both zoos have reduced capacity, we had no problem seeing everything at a socially acceptable distance. Face coverings are required as soon as you pull up to the parking booth. Be prepared.
After setting up our sleeping bags and unpacking other items, we moseyed down to the Lion Camp to check out the Roarers and lucked into seeing a three-man acrobatics team. Crowds were sparse and mainly campers since the park was closing to all other guests in about an hour. Everyone is assigned a table for dinner, camp activities and breakfast. I really enjoyed the food, but we all agreed there was too much of it. Kids get the same portions as adults because they pay the same price, but I felt guilty throwing away so much of our meals.
After dinner, you can check out the elephant village, lion camp and Kilima Overlook, where herds of African animals laze around or graze before sundown. We also had an appointed time for an up-close-and-personal show featuring two zoo animals: a three-fingered sloth and another nocturnal creature related to the platypus.
By the time our animal encounter ended, the sun had set and it was time to head back to Kilima Overlook for s’mores and bingo. I should note there’s a bar that serves complimentary sodas and alcohol for a fee from 6 to about 9. The highlight by far was watching a southern white rhino come over with her 2-week baby to settle in for most of the evening. It was light’s out around 10:30 and then the silence and darkness settles in as you fall asleep to the sounds of night creatures big and small.
Except for us.
It’s August. It’s Escondido. The night temps stopped in the mid-70s, with absolutely no cross breezes to cool down our tents. Many of us kept the outside flaps open to let in whatever cool air might come our way. Our tent was in a prime location (no one in front to obstruct our view of the savannah and no one on one side of us). I fell asleep watching the Mama and baby rhino, only to awaken less than 40 minutes later to my sister freaking out. We’re warned that during summer months insects are a distinct possibility. My sister had gone to bed with a sealed cup of lemonade that spilled and that was all that was needed to attract legions of ants and, worse, a nest of tiny spiders that were running all over her bunk.
So, as everything quieted down, there we were squealing, bright lights bouncing around our tent as we tossed the lemonade-soaked items and set up my sister on the other top bunk. She’s a poor sleeper to begin with and prone to drama, so I’ll just leave it at that. Honestly, I didn’t mind staying up most of the night watching and listening to animals. Sleep could come later.
I woke to a beautiful sunrise since our tent faced east and watched from our REI camp chairs as the animals came to life and, eventually, so did all of the campers. The lions put on a great show of roars; the elephants made sure we got to photograph them from their good sides and before we knew it, we were gathered up and walked to the park exit by a backway path through the tiger area. Unfortunately, those cats weren’t in the mood to play.
Was it worth the expense?Absolutely! Even with COVID restrictions and limited attractions, the chance to sleep among wild animals (well, “wild” by zoo standards) and watch giraffes graze on trees, water buffalo take turns at the watering hole, and get exclusive access to this animal kingdom was a unique opportunity. I don’t think we’ll make this an annual thing, but I’m grateful the coronavirus didn’t cancel our trip completely. May definitely would have provided better weather, and we might have gotten decent sleep if someone hadn’t brought in food and drink. Just sayin’. The memories from that evening, though, will last a lot longer than this current heat and those creepy crawly spiders. Especially those hours spent lying on my sleeping bag and watching a mother rhino nurse her child and then settle down to sleep like everyone else up the ridge. Well, almost everyone else.
Here's a video featuring my sister and nephew...and some others. I couldn't get it to embed in this post (maybe because I used a competitor to YouTube).
Photo above was the view at sunrise from our tent along the vista. Animals are actually closer than they appear.
