The Siberian American: California Road Trip: Private Tour at the San Diego Zoo

Monday, August 31, 2015

California Road Trip: Private Tour at the San Diego Zoo

When Chris was in Kindergarten, he had to pull two pins at school for saying the word “pitchfork.” A kid in his class thought he said another not-so-nice word that rhymes with pitch and told the teacher. Poor Chris didn’t know any bad words, so he was confused by his punishment. His parents didn’t believe him, though, so he had to wait in the car with one of his parents while his younger brother got to go to “Boo at the Zoo” without him.
The story of this injustice is told often in Chris’s family, so when we visited the San Diego Zoo as part of his medical school graduation present, Chris’s parents decided to “make it up to him” by taking us on a private tour of the San Diego Zoo called the “Inside Look Surprise Tour.” I never considered doing a private tour at the zoo and honestly didn’t know it was something people did, but it ended up being one of my favorite parts of our time in San Diego.

Our tour guide took us around the zoo in a golf cart for about two hours, telling us interesting facts about the animals on exhibit. We found out there are currently 4,000 animals at the zoo, not counting reptiles.
We also got to skip the line for the panda exhibit and get some close up photos of the pandas. It was interesting to learn that panda means “one that eats bamboo,” and that they were named giant pandas because red pandas were discovered first. We also learned that the pandas are on loan to the zoo by the Chinese government. It’s one of the few ways we deal directly with the government. Each panda costs $250,000 a year.
My favorite part of our private tour was feeding the animals. Usually, there are two feedings on this tour, but our guide arranged for us to have three. First, we fed a camel. Camels have really dry mouths, so it felt really strange to have it eating out of my hand.
Then, we fed an okapi. I had never heard of okapis before, but they are interesting animals that look like a mixture between a zebra and a giraffe. The guide told us that the adult okapi's butt looks like zebra stripes to make it easier for its young to follow it through the forest. The okapi we fed was young, and it loved running around in circles around the tree.
The neatest part of the tour was getting to feed a giraffe. It was crazy to hold out a piece of lettuce and have its long tongue swoop down to grab it from me.
The San Diego Inside Look Tour was the most fun I’ve ever had at a zoo, and I would love to do it again in the future with kids.

 Catch up on our California Road Trip: 

17 comments:

  1. I loved the San Diego Zoo so I can only imagine how great the private tour was! I had no idea they rented the pandas!!

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  2. Oh wow that is so great! I would love to do a private tour of that zoo. I had no idea that they even did them.

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  3. I love the SD zoo! I visited shortly after the baby okapi was born and we spent quite a while watching it run around playing.

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  4. Oh my gosh, that looks like so much fun!! The animals are so cute and how cool to get to feed them!

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  5. I went to school in San Diego and military get in for free so I've been a few times, I love that zoo. Its such a nice zoo and so easy to see the animals. You are so lucky you got to feed all those animals!

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  6. lol please explain what 'to pull two pins' means?
    the feeding of the animals looks super fun!

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  7. How awesome you guys got to go on a private tour of the zoo, how sweet of his parents to make up for the miscommunication back in the day. And loving that panda! So cute and squishy!

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  8. I want to go to the San Diego Zoo just for the pandas!!! I so want to feed the animals too! So fun! I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't know what "pull two pins" means hahaha!

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  9. That would've been so much fun to feed all of those animals, but especially the giraffe! And I had no idea that the pandas are on loan to us from the Chinese government! It sounds like y'all had a great time at the zoo!

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  10. That is so fun!! I love that you were able to get an inside look at the zoo - and feed the animals that is just such a fun experience! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston

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  11. Such cute animals! The panda is my favorite and I've never seen one in real life. 4,000 animals is impressive!

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  12. I had no idea they did private tours! Totally jealous, now I want to do it haha! And how cute is that panda?! Love!
    <3, Pamela
    Sequins & Sea Breezes

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  13. That is such a funny story! Glad he finally got to go. I loved the San Diego Zoo when I visited!

    ~Ashley @ A Cute Angle
    acutelifestyle.blogspot.com

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  14. That is so cool! Chris and I have been talking about taking his kids down to the Wild Animal Park, but I'm going to check into this zoo tour thing because I think they would really dig it.

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  15. that looked like SO much fun! What a treat!!!

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  16. I loved San Diego Zoo. A private tour sounds amazing! Love the pictures. Such adorable animals.

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