Safari park

A safari park, sometimes known as a wildlife park, is a zoo-like commercial tourist attraction where visitors can drive in their own vehicles or ride in vehicles provided by the facility to observe freely roaming animals. The main attractions are frequently large animals from Sub-Saharan Africa such as giraffes, lions, rhinoceros, elephants, zebras, ostriches, and antelope.

A safari park is larger than a zoo and smaller than game reserves. For example, African Lion Safari in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada is 750 acres (3.0 km²). For comparison, Lake Nakuru in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, is 168 square kilometres (65 sq mi), and a typical large game reserve is Tsavo East, also in Kenya, which encompasses 11,747 square kilometres (4,536 sq mi).

Safari parks often have other associated tourist attractions: golf courses, carnival rides, cafes/restaurants, miniature trains, and gift shops.

History

The predecessor of safari parks is Africa U.S.A. Park (1953–1961) in Florida.

The first lion drive-through opened in 1963 in Tama Zoological Park in Tokyo. In double-glazed buses, visitors made a tour through a one-hectare enclosure with twelve African lions.

Karachi Safari Park

Karachi Safari Park (Urdu: کراچی سفاری باغ‎), opened in 1970, is a public funded 'family-only' safari park covering an area of 148 acres (0.60 km²), located in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It has a zoo, geared with viewing facilities like a chairlift and safari tracks, as well as two natural lakes. A privately funded amusement park, Go Aish, is located in the Safari Park's vicinity.

History

Karachi Safari Park was inaugurated in 1970 by Lieutenant General Atiq-ur-Rehman. It was an independent project of the then Karachi Municipal Corporation. The creation of an independent zoo, safari and aquarium department followed in 1995. Karachi Safari Park is now an independent wing of the Community Development Department of City District Government of Karachi and has been designated as a 'family park'.

Attractions