America's beast bet

“It's cheaper than going to Africa,'' Christine said, as she scanned a rolling savannah where giraffes, gazelles and elephants ambled within a few dozen yards of a tent she shared with her husband, Jim.

For the Claremont couple and more than 50 other safari wannabes like me who spent a chilly Saturday night at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, the aptly named Roar & Snore camp out was also enlightening, fun and a little eerie — but not necessarily restful.

Lessons in the wild

“Where did I put my earplugs?'' my partner Wesla asked soon after bedtime, as sonorous snoring erupted from nearby tents. “That's going to be louder than the animals.''

Not always, we would learn. More on that later, along with the truth about rhino flatulence, grisly lion treats and how to train an elephant.

But first: Why are we here? Like Christine and Jim, we didn't think we could make it to Africa.

Instead, for Christmas, Wesla had given me a night at the 1,800-acre park in Escondido, California, where countless beasts and birds fly, swim, roam and mate, many with only a moat to protect them from herds of camera-wielding bipeds.
Or vice versa.

Among our fellow campers were veteran parkgoers and newbies, such as Tammy and her daughter Tara of Virginia Beach.

“We have cruised in the past,'' Tammy said. “We thought we would do something different this time.''

"That it was. Wesla's verdict: “It was a really cool experience.''

After a two-hour drive from Los Angeles, Wesla and I pulled up to the park gates, checked in and by 4.45pm, spread our sleeping bags across the vinyl floor of our 9x14-foot canvas home near Kilima Point.

We had paid an extra $20 (Dh74) each for a so-called vista tent overlooking the nearly 70-acre east Africa habitat; less expensive sites are off the rim.

Below us grazed a dozen — what?

After searching in vain for signage, I collared Candace, one of several perky camp guides.

“We're a non-profit,'' she said. “We put up as many signs as we can afford.''

Then she clued me in: Those were Thomson's gazelles, sporting dark racing stripes. And over there were reticulated giraffes, a few fringe-eared oryx, a regal-looking defassa waterbuck, several African crowned cranes and, atop distant hills, African and Asian elephants.

Off for adventure

Closer, near the camp's dining patio, a couple of hulking white rhinos snuffled in the dirt.

“They're kind of gassy,'' Candace said, giggling. Something to do with inefficient digestive systems.

Above us, swirling turkey vultures I had mistaken for hawks cruised for roadkill. It was not the only time that night I would feel like prey.

Speaking of food: A buffet of grilled hot dogs, veggie burgers, barbecued beans and green beans, consumed at communal picnic tables, made for mostly happy campers.

We would need sharp senses and sure footing for our post-dinner forays: two brisk 90-minute hikes through the darkened park.

“Our adventure begins,'' camper Christine said, grinning like an excited 5-year-old as two dozen of us trooped behind Candace, down a dusky road towards predator habitats. I felt like a child sneaking into the zoo after closing.

And Candace fed our fantasies.

When we passed a pacing female cheetah that glared at us with shining eyes, Candace said: “You just finished dinner. You smell like food.''

Thanks to a moat and a swath of electricity-charged grass, we were spared. But not so some visitors.

“Every once in a while, a not-so-bright bunny gets into the enclosure and predictable carnage ensues,'' Candace said.

Lounging lions seemed less wild than mild, which they kind of were, having been trained, she said, to open their mouths for tooth inspections and tolerate sundry pokes and probes.

Their favourite summer snacks, though, were chilling: frozen rabbit's blood, which park employees dubbed “bloodsicles''.

Not all our guide's insights were as G-rated. Hoping to give other males a chance to mate, staff had shunted a Cape buffalo to a habitat by himself, we learnt.

“He's nicknamed Longfellow and it's not because he likes the poet,'' Candace said.

Tender trumpets

We paraded past African black rhinos, nyala antelope and more animals before returning to camp for a snack of cheesecake, cookies, hot cocoa and coffee, and then heading out on our second hike.

A highlight was the African elephant area, where we ogled a day-old calf and his mum while, nearby, two researchers sat with laptops, recording his every move.

The tender scene belied the power of the pachyderms, whose enclosure includes concrete-filled steel pillars. Keepers never share the same space, Candace said.

Not that elephants are untrainable.

“These guys would do almost anything for alfalfa pellets,'' Candace said.

As if on cue, one of the creatures bellowed.

“They heard the magic word,'' she said.

By 11pm, Wesla and I had turned in for a less-than-magical sleep, disrupted by the snores next door and several drowsy treks to the bathroom about 180 paces away.

No matter. What happened shortly after 6am banished weariness. That's when the lions started roaring.

Call of majesty

In the still pre-dawn, their majestic chorus hollowed out the misty air, obliterating every other sound. I flinched as my nerves recalled some forgotten prehistory when humans were the hunted.

It was thrilling, unsettling and unforgettable.

The rest of the morning brought an alfresco breakfast of scrambled eggs, pancakes, fresh fruit and, of course, Frosted Flakes with Tony the Tiger on the box.

There was another hike, where we saw Sumatran tiger cubs and their mum, endangered California condors, North American porcupines, bighorn sheep and other beasts.

We had a close encounter with a baby alligator and heard the tale of the negligent roadrunner, who had a way with the ladies but a habit of deserting the nest. For that, the bird suffered in solitary confinement, where he raced back and forth.

“He's looking for the female,'' said Cindi, our morning guide.

Unmatchable experience

The Roar & Snore ended about 9.30am after we packed up and the staff took our stuff to the parking lot.

Later, we rode the park's Journey Into Africa tram, which rolled past the same savannah we had traversed the night before and beyond to areas we hadn't seen.

After the wake-up call by the lions, it all seemed anticlimactic. How do you follow up that act?

Go There . . . San Diego . . . From the UAE

From Dubai

Delta flies daily via Atlanta. Fare from Dh4,755

United Airlines flies daily via Washington.

Fare from Dh4,825

— Information courtesy: The Holiday Lounge by Dnata. Ph: 04 4380454

What you pay?

For $129 (Dh474) each (and an additional $35, or Dh129, for park admission), Wesla and I got a tent, dinner, breakfast, three after-hours walking tours and plenty of face time with park staff during an adults-only edition of Roar & Snore, which is also offered for youth groups and families with children.