Peter, 75, was very tan, with agate eyes and the perfect amount of swashbuckler to impress but not overwhelm your average Northern Californian. Nancy, 65, wore pearl earrings and had effortless manners at as much risk of extinction as the Nicobar pigeon in Safari West’s 45-species bird collection. I had a satisfying meal of roast chicken and salad with Nancy and Peter Lang. Boyer pointed out that that would be terrifying. Other than freeloading visitors like mallards and otters, the animals are all from Africa.Īs my short private tour continued, I was again struck by how little I knew about wild animals. The vehicles travel through a series of enclosures - anyone who wants to be a guide here should be inclined to mark “strongly agree” on the statement “I love opening and closing gates” - allowing guests to get very close to the animals. “We sit around at lunch and talk about evolution,” Boyer told me. And the guides are clearly all obsessed with animals. If it sounds theme-parky, don’t worry - it’s earnest, and concerned with education and conservation. If you’re staying overnight, there’s a nice, no-nonsense dining hall where they serve nice, no-nonsense food and totally decent beer and wine, but again, the draw is the 900 animals of 80 species - not la gastronomie. The majority of its 70,000 yearly visitors come for the three-hour guided safari experience - one hour with the birds, monkeys, assorted carnivores (a tiny fox, servals, cheetahs) and then two hours driving through the “savannah” where giraffes, antelope, rhinoceroses, wildebeests and their animal friends lope around in large, gated enclosures. Over several years, the enterprise grew into what the website calls an “African adventure in the heart of California wine country.” There are also 32 luxe hillside “glamping” tents, with wooden floors and bathrooms, like nice hotel rooms minus TV and Internet. Nancy and Peter Lang founded Safari West as a breeding ranch in 1989 but opened it to the public for visits in 1992. I’ve seen the Safari West sign along the highway many times and wondered, “What is this place?”
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