Author: By Ellen Klugman and Paul Lance. Globe Correspondents

Date: SUNDAY, January 31, 1999

Page: M18

Section: Travel

SAN DIEGO -- Norm Wigginton, a Los Angeles-area-based plumbing contractor and his fiancee and business partner Rebecca Gold fed giraffes in South Africa, patted a one-horned rhino in the Asian Plains, took a zillion snapshots of endangered species, and made it home by dinnertime.

It's easier -- and a lot cheaper -- than it sounds, thanks to the 1,800-acre San Diego Wild Animal Park's Photo Caravan Tours, a series of in-your-face safari-style adventures through the zoo's famous natural wildlife habitats.

Although the tours are conducted year round, spring and summer represent especially good times to go.

``From April through June, it's almost like a baby boom throughout the park, so there are a lot of `youngsters' around during the summer months,'' says Debra Dunbar, a San Diego Wild Animal Park spokeswoman. Unlike the San Diego Wild Animal Park's monorail ride, which skirts the perimeter of its sprawling natural habitats, the park's photo caravans enter the very heart of these large animal enclosures. Ironically, in certain ways, the photo caravan experience is superior to going on a real safari in the wild.

Randy Rieches, curator of mammals for the San Diego Wild Animal Park, has conducted several tours of Africa on behalf of the Zoological Society of San Diego. ``When we're leading a photo safari in Africa, almost all the animals are viewed through binoculars,'' Rieches observes. ``Here the animals have become far more acclimated to being around people than they are out in the wild, so we can get really close.''

Another advantage of the San Diego Wild Animal Park's photo caravan tours over the real thing is that they enable you to see animals from two continents (Africa and Asia) instead of just one.

On the other hand, there are limitations to what one can experience in a man-made setting like the Wild Animal Park. ``If you visit the Serengeti in Africa, you see wildebeests and Grant's zebras migrating in numbers of 1- to 2-million strong,'' concedes Rieches. ``There's nothing like it on earth. What you see out here, however, will give you a taste of what you can see in the wild.''

San Diego Wild Animal Park's photo caravan tours are not cheap, but neither is a trip to Africa. Irrespective of your age, a photo caravan ticket costs $70 to $94 per person, depending on which of the three tours you choose. This price includes general admission to the park, which otherwise costs $19.95 per adult and $12.95 per child ages 3-11. According to Rieches, although there are a smattering of do-it-yourself drive-through ``safaris'' across the nation, only two other facilities in the United States offer guided caravan tours of wild animal parks.

The Wilds in Cumberland, Ohio, is a 9,000-acre animal preserve with 25 species. The park conducts guided tours between May and October each year. Its North American, African, and Asian animal population includes antelope, bison, zebra, giraffe, and rhinos, among others.

Disney's Animal Kingdom near Orlando, Fla., opened last spring. Guests can travel through the Animal Kingdom on open-sided lorry trucks with a roof overhead or along designated walking tours. The Animal Kingdom's population is limited primarily to African species, but a new Asia section will open soon. The San Diego Wild Animal Park's photo caravan tour features a larger number of animals from two continents and more endangered species than similar operations. In fact, Rieches estimates that almost half the animals living within the Wild Animal Park are categorized as endangered species. Photo caravan participants are urged to ask their guide to stop the truck any time they want to take pictures. We snapped seven rolls of film on our 3 1/2-hour tour, but only because we'd underestimated the amount of film we'd need. Video cameras are allowed, too. You need not be a photographer to enjoy these tours, however. You just need a pulse.

Each Wild Animal Park photo caravan spans two continents.

Photo Caravan No.1 takes visitors on a journey amid the wild animals of East Africa and into an area the park calls ``Asian Plains.'' Photo Caravan No.2 escorts visitors through South Africa and up around a pond known as the ``Asian Swamps.'' Each of these photo safaris takes 1 3/4 hours. The 3 1/2-hour-long Photo Caravan No.3 combines both itineraries, and includes a 20-minute snack and beverage break. Not wanting to miss a thing, we opted for the longer tour.

Slathering on some sunscreen, we quickly piled into our vehicle, an open-air flatbed truck lined with two padded benches seating a maximum of 12 persons. The next thing we knew, our driver was heading down unpaved roads and through several sets of solar electric gates leading in and out of the animals' natural habitats.

Our first stop was the Asian Swamps.

Like the East African, Asian Plains, and South African enclosures, the Asian Swamps holds a mix of species. Natural behavior in the wild like maintaining herd-dominant hierarchies, power plays between males, courtships, and births take place here much as they would in these animals' homeland.

Domestic water buffalo hovering near the Asian Swamps waterhole eyed us placidly from a few feet away while our guide pointed out a Pere David's deer, a species of deer from China that has been extinct in the wild for some 1,500 years. Nearby, Turkomen markhor, a corkscrew-antlered endangered species of mountain goat from southern Russia and northern Afghanistan, fed contentedly not far from the deerlike Indian sambar, an animal whose number in the wild are limited to tropical forests and clearings on the island of Sri Lanka (Ceylon).

Unlike a real safari, where the animals are likely to flee the presence of a vehicle, most of the fauna at the park seem indifferent to the sight and sound of our slatted truck moving through the terrain. And aside from the occasional camouflaged water and feeding stations (which looked like something out of a Fred Flintstone movie), the terrain looked much as you might expect it to on an actual safari.

From the Asian Swamps, we drove down a bumpy trail into the greener, slightly hilly terrain of South Africa, where we watched eland (antelopes from southern Sudan through Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania) lock horns. A few feet away, a mountain zebra and her foal duly posed for the inevitable snapshots we couldn't get enough of.

A few feet away, a nine-month-old, 500-pound northern white rhino vacuumed the ground in search of an unscheduled snack. But the best was yet to come. You haven't lived until you've watched a 17 1/2-foot-high giraffe lumber across the plains to pluck a carrot from your hand. Ivan is a reticulated giraffe with no backoff on bobbing for carrots -- the apparent equivalent of a ``Twinkie'' cupcake for the longneck set. It didn't take long to be surrounded by Ivan's offspring and cronies, all of whom surrounded the truck in an effort to snag more goodies. Several participants got ``slimed'' by Ivan's footlong tongue, which rolled out and in like a New Year's party favor, carrot in tow.

Our next treat was a feeding spree with a pair of Indian rhinos in the Asian Plains. Distinguished by their armorlike plates of skin, Indian rhinos are often hunted by poachers for their horns. Since the rhinos' horns were stubby instead of curved and sharp, we felt no danger in tossing apples into their dungeon-sized mouths.

We may never get the time or money to go to Africa, but we can always return to the comfort and familiarity of San Diego's Wild Animal Park. And next time, we'll bring more film.

Photo Caravan Tour participants must be at least 8 years old. Children up to age 15 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Special provisions are made for persons with disabilities. Quoted admission prices apply irrespective of age.

Photo Caravan Tour No.1 through East Africa and the Asian Plains includes feeding Baringo giraffe and Indian rhinos. Photo Caravan No.2 through South Africa and the Asian Swamps includes feeding reticulated giraffe and viewing of animals like rhinos and an endangered species of zebra. Each of these 1 3/4-hour tours costs $70 per person and includes park admission.

Tour No.3, lasting 3 1/2 hours, includes feedings of rhinos and giraffe, and costs $94 per person. Photo Caravan Tour admission includes general admission to exhibits and shows throughout the park. Parking costs $3 extra.

The San Diego Wild Animal Park's Photo Caravan Tours are offered daily. Advance reservations are highly recommended.

Between October and the end of March, Photo Caravan tour No.1 goes out at noon and 2:30 p.m. Tour No.3 departs at noon. Tour No.2 leaves at 2 p.m.

Between April and the end of September, tours No.1 and No.3 depart at 2:30 p.m. Tour No.2 departs at 4:30 p.m.

Photo Caravans are subject to cancellation during Southern California's rainy season (November through February).

For more information, call 760-738-5049.