Going on Safari
A wild getaway in the California Wine County
Story and images by Carole Terwilliger Meyers
I am falling asleep to the exotic calls of wild animals from the comfort of an authentic safari bush tent. But I am not in Africa. I saved thousands of dollars in airfare and packager fees, and I didn’t have to suffer the jet lag that accompanies such a journey, because I am at Safari West in Santa Rosa, California.
Yes. Santa Rosa — the only place in North America where you will find such accommodations. And there are plenty of animals, including gazelles and wildebeest but no man-eating lions or body-flattening elephants to cause concern. Some, like the addax antelope and scimitar-horned oryx, are actually extinct now in the wild.
How, you might wonder, did an African compound filled with exotic wild animals find itself in an outpost of California’s Wine Country?
It began more than 40 years ago as the dream of Nancy Lang (a former curator at the San Francisco Zoo) and her husband Peter Lang (his father, Otto Lang, directed “The Snows of Kilmanjaro”), who decided to devote their lives to preserving African species. Their 400-acre Safari West compound celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2023 and now holds hundreds of rare and endangered African animals and birds. Public tours help pay the great expenses incurred in maintaining their beloved menagerie and help to pay the dedicated guides and workers. Nancy and Peter treat the animals as lovingly as if they were their offspring.
But sometimes the animals get confused about just who their parents are. During my visit, I viewed a young helper wandering about the premises with a baby zebra (who was temporarily without her own mother) always following close behind.
True to Safari West’s goal of propagating endangered species, eventually most of the animals move on to zoos where they help promote healthy breeding.
Lodging
We arrived in early afternoon to check in and prepare for a safari tour. After being delivered by golf cart to an attractive hillside tent set back among some mature, lichen-covered oak trees, we rested for a while, observing through our mesh “windows” the unbelievable sight of several giraffes loping across the parched expanse below. (For safety’s sake, they are penned.)
Delightfully simple in design, our tent had nice hardwood floors and a log bed frame and some other furniture that were all made from local woods. The thoroughly civilized bathroom had slate floors and a canvas ceiling with mesh sides to let air in and keep insects out. There was no TV or phone.
Safari Tour
After gathering in a shady reception area, we piled into an authentic four-wheel-drive safari tour vehicle. Several agile participants climbed up into the seat mounted above the driver for a bird’s eye view of the sights.
The tour began with a visit to the large penned grazing area closest to the compound, where roam giraffes, some feather-fluttering ostriches, and a herd of African antelope. We also saw a newborn impala and, in another pen, some Cape buffalo.
We then moved on to another vast enclosure where we encountered a herd of enormous, impressively-horned Watusi cattle. We learned that Africa’s Masai people rarely sacrifice a live cow. Instead, they prepare something called a “Masai cocktail” as their primary source of protein. It is composed of the blood, milk, and urine of these cattle. Fortunately, we weren’t thirsty.
In another area we got up close to a herd of zebras. While we were snapping away with our cameras, our enthusiastic guide provided interesting details.
Back at the main compound, we refreshed ourselves and then headed off on foot to view some caged smaller animals, including ruffed lemurs from Madagascar and several gold-tipped African crested porcupines. We also entered a large aviary holding a rare and endangered bird collection that includes pink Roseate Spoonbills, scarlet ibises, and dark-blue Victoria crowned pigeons.
As the day guests departed for home, we overnighters headed up the dusty path to our tents to freshen up for dinner, stopping along the way to visit the giraffes who were gathered by the fence.
Dinner
As guests assembled, appetizers were served, followed by dinner in the vast, rustic dining room cooled by ceiling fans and furnished with massive wood slab tables and comfy canvas chairs. The buffet consisted of delicious barbecued ribs and chicken, a salad, and corn on the cob.
Though we all started out seated at different tables, by the time the apple pie a la mode arrived we had moved together to a central table to swap stories with Nancy. Sated, we gathered again in the central compound to take more pictures.
All too soon, it was dark and time to head off to bed, where we were lulled to sleep by a cacophony of crickets and the intermittent grunt from an unknown wild beast.
Morning
After a night of restless sleep brought on by the day’s excitement and the sound of passing traffic from the road reminding me that I wasn’t actually in the bush, I finally fell into a deep sleep just before daybreak and missed the dawn sounds of the various birds signing back and forth. My husband says it was magnificent.
As we departed, planning to visit a few wineries in the area before driving home, we noticed the phrase “Kwaheri rafiki” on the exit gate. In Swahili it means, “Come back, friend.” What a delightful good-bye.
Carole Terwilliger Meyers writes and publishes the website Berkeley and Beyond, blogs at Travels With Carole and at Weekend Adventures Update, and is also the author of Miles of Smiles: 101 Great Car Games & Activities. Her YouTube channel has more that 3 million views.
copyright 2023 Carole Terwilliger Meyers
