The Making of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park Float

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance participated in the 134th Rose Parade with a float celebrating the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s 50th anniversary. The float’s theme, “Celebrating 50 Years of Conservation,” depicted rhinos, giraffes and the Safari Park’s iconic Wildlife Safari experience.  

The Safari Park’s 1,800 acres are home to vital conservation efforts, with more than 3,600 individual animals from more than 300 species, and a botanical collection of more than 1.75 million plants. 

The Safari Park was originally built to be the “Zoo of the Future” and forever changed what zoos could look like. Today—50 years since it opened its gates—the Safari Park brings visitors up close to wildlife, with the hope of instilling a desire in them to make a difference for endangered species and their habitats. 

The Safari Park’s float won the Animation Award for most outstanding use of animation. The giraffes and rhinos on the float were animated, with the rhinos seemingly coming to life as they turned their heads and the giraffes moving their long necks and bending down for a cool drink of water from a flowing waterfall.

The “Celebrating 50 Years of Conservation” float featured 4-month-old Neville and his mother Livia, two southern white rhinos who bring enormous hope to the cutting-edge efforts to save the distantly related northern white rhino. Also featured was Msituni (pronounced see tune neee), an 11-month-old giraffe born at the Safari Park. Born unable to walk, a condition in which she would not have survived in her native habitat, she required months of critical around-the-clock care, along with several pairs of custom giraffe-sized orthotic leg braces, to support her while she gained the necessary strength to walk. Today, after making a full recovery, Msituni runs alongside dozens of giraffes, wildebeest, impalas, rhinos and Cape buffalo in the Safari Park’s African savannas. 

On the float, a pair of African crowned cranes meandered through lush landscape, as Msituni’s parents peeked with curiosity into an open-air safari truck filled with guests. The riders were wildlife care specialists, veterinarians and conservation scientists from the Safari Park, who have dedicated their lives to caring for Neville, Msituni and hundreds of wildlife species in San Diego and around the globe.