donald bale

baby rhino

baby rhino

I found more pictures to add to my album but i wanted to tell you a story about some of them before I added to this page. during the off season Gary and I had the same routine day in and day out just about every day. Well it was quite a surprise to enter the barn one morning and have a baby rhino run out through the bars and come to us. We got our work done but spent most of the day playing with the new baby. My memory isn't as good as it used to be so I had to ask Gary their names. He said the first one, a female, was called Quannza or Kidogo and the second born was a male named Dino. The pictures I have are one or both of the babies I cant remember so I refer to the pictures as baby rhino.

i believe the log fences in the pictures were already in place when gary and i got to great adventure. their job was to keep the elephants and rhinos contained in their areas. they held up well considering these large animals used them as scratchers and did not give in to their weight. when you make the long turn around the pond, about halfway in the turn, look right and uphill you'll see two gates up there. those lead to the elephant- rhino barn. the one on the left is the rhino side and the other is the elephant side. up that hill is two seperate paddocks for the animals to wander in while in the off season so the barn can be cleaned out. with nearly 30 elephants and 16 rhinos they can really make a mess. some of the animals did pick on others of their own species, that's why there is two paddocks, didn't want the large rhinos picking on the small elephants. i'm assuming those fences came down when all the animals grew to full size and that type fence wouldn't contain them anymore. back in the early, early 70's at a park in mesquite texas called world of animals the rhino section had a cable fence that the rhinos used as rubbing posts and ended up with notches worn into their horns. these rhinos were the 6 largest at great adventure at the time the park opened in 74 and could be identified by their horns from a pretty good distance. i hope that answers your question.

This is bongo, he was one of the few elephants that really stuck out. he loved playing around, he would stick his ears out throw up his trunk and charge at you for a few feet just to let you know he was in charge, never really serious about it.

Gary hill and butch dring freeing a stuck water buffalo 1974.

Me and squeaker #2 and #3. You can tell by these pictures that squeaker is pretty gentle, he loved being rubbed behind the ears just like a dog but most of the rhino's loved being rubbed there too.

Me and squeaker #1 1974

Elephants in the pen by the barn 1974.

More elephants at the barn.

Rhino's in in the pen by the barn 1974.

This picture is in the pad next to the barn.

i just read the story- going on winter safari- and clicked on the picture slideshow, in it was a picture of a rhino called squeak. when gary and i worked there he was called squeaker. he was the gentlest rhino there. he loved being rubbed behind the ears like most of them did. i walked many a day in the the elephant and rhino section with him or near him. there were times when i would put my safari hat on his short horn and let him walk around with it on. it always amazed me that he would leave it on there. as for the post card of the elephants, it looks like the pond and elephants, but gary hill could tell for sure. he probably has one of them, he was a lot smarter than i was about keeping memorabilia like that. all i have is pictures i took and a couple of patches from back then.

The article was great, I hadn't seen that in a long time, thanks.

Yes on the names, Gary already had them named by the time he got back. I don't remember most of them but a few of them I'll never forget. the smallest one was named Boss, he thought he was king of the hill and as gentle as he could be, he loved being petted and was very playful. One a little bigger was Bongo, he was a lot of fun too, he thought he was in charge. He always threw up his trunk, ears out, and charge towards you for a few feet. You could find him pretty easily in the pack because when he ate he would hum and pretty loudly. Panya I won't forget about,she was only about 4 feet tall but very skiddish. Once while cleaning her pen with her still in it I crossed through by the door and she charged and pinned me with her trunk. I only had enough breath to get out half of Gary's name and he came a running and scared her away. I never made that mistake again.

I don't know if the pond is still in the section but when the elephants were first let into the section from the barn area they headed strait for the pond and trees around it. Starting out you could hardly see the pond from the road, after a week all small trees and vegetation were gone, only the large trees remained and those had no bark left on them for as far as they could reach. From this point and through the first season the park was open most of my job was to walk around with the elephants in the section and keep the rhinos away so they could eat their own food. They usually stayed between the lake and the feeder you can see in the photo you posted. Will add more later.

Thanks for asking, I'll tell you as much as I can, first off I worked there for around two years, but it is two of the best years of my life. I worked with so many good people there I didn't realize how much I would miss them and the animals I worked with. I wouldn't change my life but I do miss that part of it. Gary and I moved there from working with Ringling bros. circus world, this was about 3 to 4 months before the park opened. Gary went to Africa and helped capture the elephants and bring them back.

On their return Butch, Charlie, Karen and I drove to Kennedy airport to meet Gary and the elephants. The animals were in individual crates that were loaded onto flatbed trailers and covered up with tarps. Now getting these animals to the safari park was priceless, just imagine tarp covered semi's going down the road and seeing 2 to 3 feet of an elephant's trunk sticking out of the flaps of the tarps and just swinging about and sniffing around. after we arrived at the elephant barn the pain staking process began, unloading the crates, unbolting the doors an herding the elephants into their pens. we had 27 elephants in 4 large pens and soon we had 16 rhinos for the other half of the barn. I was 19 years old at the time and had a job that few people knew was great.

I do have pictures of my time there ( somewhere boxed up in this house) if I can scan them or put them on a disc I will. The next time i write I'll tell a few more things about the animals.

i am donald bale and i worked in the safari park from early 74 to early 76. i started before the park opened even before some of the animals arrived. i'm looking for some old friends i worked with. i worked with the elephant and rhinos which was a trip all by themselves. butch, david, ronnie, jake, wolfe? any of you guys out there anywhere? any of you reply and i'll give you my e-mail and let gary know.