Psa Plans Exciting Tours For San Diego! - Photographic Society of America

PSA Journal, March, 2001 by Carole L. Hagaman

You will be delighted and amazed at the number of tours and choices offered this year by the PSA International Conference Committee. Six tours will offer versatility and excitement with many photographic opportunities.

TOUR #1 SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 WILD ANIMAL PARK PHOTO CARAVAN

It's only 30 miles north of San Diego, but you'll swear you're on another continent when you join PSA for a safari to the San Diego Wild Animal Park! Recognized the world over for its wildlife conservation efforts, this 1,800-acre sanctuary simulates the wild sweeping plains and savannas of Africa and Asia--habitats that are called home by over 2,200 untamed animals that roam freely throughout the preserve. You will go nose to nose with rhinos and look a sky-high giraffe in the eyes! Photo caravans are fun, educational and most of all a photographer's paradise. Open-air vehicles will take you inside the East African, Asian Plains, South Africa and Asian Waterhole enclosures for breathtaking close-ups of gazelles, impalas, zebras, gnus, onyxes and ostriches. The tour will take you to East Africa where you will see the Baringo giraffe, Kenya impalas and Cape buffalo. The park keeper-guides will accompany each 12-passenger, open-top safari truck caravan tour to help identify wildlife subjects and to point out interesting animals habits and natural behaviors. In addition to your special caravan tour, you will be free to roam the park on your own. Arrangements will be made for those not interested in the photo caravan, but still want to roam the park and ride the mono-rail. Wild Animal Park has restaurants, gift shops, camera shop, and stroller and wheel chair rentals. You can visit the aviaries and 3 shows: a bird show, an elephant show, and "Rare & Wild America." To see the main animal preserves, take the monorail, a 5-mile, 55-minute ride on an electric tram. There are lookout points and a picnic area on the 1 3/4 mile Kilimanjaro Safari Walk. You'll get close to the tigers, lions, rhinos, elephants and cheetahs. Come prepared with both a wide-angle lens (28-mm) and a long zoom (100-300).

There will be a choice of tours on Monday, August 27, 2001:

TOUR # 2 MONDAY, AUGUST 27 THE SAN DIEGO ZOO & BALBOA PARK

Journey to the world famous San Diego Zoo. Among its 100 acres and 5,000 species of exotic plants covering the expanse of the park, you will find the world's rarest collection of mammals, birds and reptiles. San Diego Zoo is number one of the top ten San Diego sights. Known for its pandas and koalas, the city's most famous attraction makes for a great day out and terrific photos. The pandas are shy and operate on their own feeding time. The best approach is to spend all day walking along the 5 miles of pathways. Wear comfortable walking shoes. A good introduction is the guided bus tour or the open sided double-decker bus, which allows you to hop on and off at designated stops. Also open-air gondolas give you a relaxing ride 180 feet above the ground but don't give you close up views of the animals. Located in Balboa Park, the zoo is one of the finest for photographing animals in their natural habitat. Included will be a tour of Balboa Park with 15 wonderful museums, all within steps of one another. Many of the museums along the park's celebrated El Prado walkway are housed in magnificent Spanish colonial buildings, originally built for the 1914-15 Panama-California Exposition. It was the first time that this richly ornamented architectural style had ever been used in this country. Balboa Park is also acclaimed for its horticultural treasures -- nine glorious gardens including an award-winning rose garden and a butterfly garden, rare plant species, 58 varieties of palm trees and an outstanding Botanical Building housing over 2,000 different tropical plants. Balboa Park's exotic Botanical Building is claimed to be the most photographed and painted subject in San Diego. On the outside there are 2 fountains; inside are more than 300 species of tropical and subtropical plants. The Lily Pond makes one of the prettiest shots. It reflects the elegant, castle-like towers of the Casa de Balboa and the House of Hospitality, joined by the Colonnade. This park has more museums, architecture, flora and fauna than any other city park in the world. All these botanical marvels are set among manicured lawns, shady groves of majestic trees or nestled within peaceful vistas.

TOUR # 3 MONDAY, AUGUST 27 A DAY IN HISTORIC SAN DIEGO

The first stop will be Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery -- the third largest cemetery honoring over 70,000 military veterans, spouses, and children. There are neat rows of white gravestones on a flowing grassy hill. A burial ground before 1847, this graveyard became an Army Post cemetery in the 1860s. It is the final resting place for most who fell at San Pasqual in 1846, and for the USS Bennington victims of 1905. At one time, it had become known as "Bennington National Cemetery." It became Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in 1934 and was placed under the Veterans Administration National Cemetery System in 1973.