Living Desert

Living Desert Review

Come eyeball-to-eyeball with wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, cheetahs, bighorn sheep, golden eagles, warthogs, and owls at the 1,800-acre Living Desert. Easy-to-challenging scenic trails traverse desert terrain populated with plants of the Mojave, Colorado, and Sonoran deserts in numerous habitats. In recent years, the park has expanded its vision to include Africa. At the 3-acre African WaTuTu village, you'll find a traditional marketplace as well as camels, leopards, hyenas, and other African animals. Children can pet African domesticated animals, including goats and guinea fowl, in a "petting kraal." Gecko Gulch is a children's playground with crawl-through underground tunnels, climb-on snake sculptures, a carousel, and a Discovery Center that holds ancient Pleistocene animal bones. Elsewhere, a small enclosure contains butterflies and hummingbirds, and a cool model train travels through miniatures of historic California towns. A garden center sells native desert flora, much of which is unavailable elsewhere.