San Diego Zoo Safari Park
— — the open country the elephants got to keep.
Not only on a wall.
“An 1,800-acre wildlife park in the San Pasqual Valley, north of Escondido. Opened in 1972 as a breeding annex to the San Diego Zoo, now its own destination, with field-enclosures the size of small ranches and a tram line that runs the perimeter. From the studio, we see the long grass, the umbrella thorn, the rhinos in the distance, and the kind of sky San Diego County hands out for free.
San Diego Zoo Safari Park, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park covers about 1,800 acres in the San Pasqual Valley, roughly 50 kilometres northeast of downtown San Diego near Escondido, California. Opened in 1972 as the San Diego Wild Animal Park, it was renamed the Safari Park in 2010 and is operated by the non-profit San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. The park holds roughly 3,500 animals from more than 400 species across large open-range field exhibits modelled on African and Asian habitats, viewed from a perimeter tram, elevated walkways, and a network of guided off-road safari vehicles.
Gates open most days at 9 a.m.; single-day admission in 2025 runs in the seventy-six to eighty-four dollar range, with a separate fee for the Africa Tram and added cost for off-road safari and balloon experiences. The park is reached from Interstate 15 via Via Rancho Parkway. Summer afternoons in the valley are hot and dry; thirty-five degrees Celsius is common in July and August, and most visitors start early. The walking loop covers about three kilometres, and the tram covers the back country.
The Safari Park has built one of the world's leading hoofstock conservation programs. Its Frozen Zoo and onsite reproductive science work hold genetic material from the functionally extinct northern white rhinoceros, with research toward assisted reproduction continuing in partnership with international teams. The park also runs long-running breeding programs for California condors, Przewalski's horse, and southern white rhinoceros, and has helped return condors to release sites along the Pacific coast since the federal recovery program began in the late 1980s.