A safari park is a zoo-like commercial tourist attraction where visitors can drive in their own vehicles and observe the wildlife, rather than viewing animals in cages or small enclosures. The main attraction is large animals from Sub-Saharan Africa such as giraffes, lions, rhinoceros, elephants, zebras, and antelope. A safari park, while larger than a zoo, is usually a very small area compared to game reserves in Africa. For example, African Lion Safari near Cambridge, Ontario, Canada is 750 acres, or 3 square kilometers. For comparison, Lake Nakuru in the Rift Valley, is 168 square kilometers, and a typical large game reserve is Tsavo East, also in Kenya, which encompasses 11,747 square kilometers.
Safari parks often have other associated tourist attractions: golf courses, carnival rides, miniature trains, and gift shops.
The predecessor of safari parks is Africa U.S.A. Park (1953-1961) located in Florida.
The first drive-through safari park outside of Africa opened in 1966 at Longleat in Wiltshire, England. The former Windsor Safari Park was located in Berkshire, England, but closed in 1992 and has since been made into a Legoland.
Most safari parks were established in a short period of ten years, between 1966 and 1975.
