Come daybreak, we ripped open the windows and spotted a group of Barbary sheep, an African species, grazing on the nearby hillside. We strode bleary-eyed to breakfast, lured by the sound of shrieking macaws. As if in a dream, we spotted Milton Rieback, the lodge's khaki-clad 32-year-old director of education, who is also a South African herpetologist with a specialty in the cobra species.
Rieback, who worked at the Mabula Game Reserve in South Africa and whose wife is American, said the most authentic aspect of this make-believe African preserve was that "there's no script, and the animals are not strictly confined, so you see species interacting with each other." Hang around awhile, he said (an expensive proposition at US$225 a night, plus US$25 for each child), and you can watch males establishing dominance, females coming into estrus and complex social hierarchies. Even so, ieback calls the camp "a Club Med for animals."
Like many zoos, the lodge is involved in a captive breeding program that it says promotes genetic diversity. Animal rights activists take a dim view.
"Despite zoos' claims that their breeding programs have an intent to save species," said Lisa Wathne, the captive exotic animals specialist of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, "the fact is zoos breed animals because baby animals bring paying visitors to the gate."
Still, the place isn't Hemingway. This was brought home at the gift shop -- which Baker suggested we visit to cap off our safari -- especially by its mesmerizing assortment of Turkana seed fertility dolls ("makes a very unique wedding gift!" at US$39.95) and, most notably, Lucky Dudu animal charms said to be filled with impala dung.
It was very difficult to pull our boys away. So we established dominance. Our family left Safari West embracing the way of the wild, our familial hierarchy intact as we reaffirmed our social bonds.
Checking the beasts
Safari parks -- attractions where exotic animals are gathered in a protected setting that human observers can drive or walk through -- are fairly common in the US, but only a few offer family overnight experiences. Here is a sampling:
* Safari West (Santa Rosa, California, www.safariwest.com). Tents and cottages are rented for family overnights; rates start at US$225 for two people.
* Fossil Rim Wildlife Center (www.fossilrim.com). Tent cabins overlook a watering hole for its exotic animals and a lodge near its pastures. Overnight rates start at US$175.
* Vision Quest Ranch (400 River Road, Salinas, California, www.wildthingsinc.com). A bed-and-breakfast offers tent-style bungalows starting at US$195 in winter and US$225 in summer.
* Lion Country Safari (www.lioncountrysafari.com). A campground next to a drive-through theme park.
* Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge (disneyworld.disneygo.com). This 10-month-old six-story hotel at Walt Disney World in Florida advertises "savannah view" rooms, starting at US$285, which overlook an artificial savanna that is home to some of the 200 animals in Disney's Animal Kingdom.
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