SAN DIEGO (May 10, 2022) – Today marks 50 years since the opening of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. While festive music played and Safari Park team members and entertainers welcomed guests, an unsuspecting visitor, 10-year-old Ethan Kemerling, and his parents, Stacy and Eric, were taken aside by Lisa Peterson, the Safari Park’s executive director. Peterson informed Ethan that he was the 50th guest to enter the Safari Park, and presented him with an oversized San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance lifetime membership card. This surprise gift allows Ethan, who lives in Fargo, North Dakota, to have unlimited visits to the Safari Park and the San Diego Zoo, where he can explore and connect with wildlife for years to come.

SAN DIEGO (April 22, 2021) – Two juvenile male African elephants, Tsandizkle (meaning “beloved”) and Inhlonipho (meaning “courteous”) have taken up residence at the San Diego Zoo Elephant Odyssey habitat. The males, who arrived from the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park earlier this week, are adjusting well to their new surroundings.

A big celebration got underway this World Elephant Day (Aug. 12, 2020) at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, as wildlife care specialists raised awareness of the plight of elephants worldwide, kicked off the Safari Park’s Kenya Days celebration set for this weekend (Aug. 14–16) and also celebrated the second birthday of male elephant calf Umzula-zuli, better known as “Zuli.”

Orphaned elephant calves from the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary are being translocated to their new home in Sera Wildlife Conservancy, in Kenya’s Samburu County this week.

Wildlife care specialists are working with the African elephant herd at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to find out more about a disease that was recently identified as a threat to the species.