African Lion Safari (Warragamba)

The African Lion Safari was a wildlife park that Stafford Bullen opened in 1968. It operated near Warragamba on the outskirts of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia until 1991.

African Lion Safari
33.8994868°S 150.6026459°E / -33.8994868; 150.6026459
Date opened	1968 [1]
Date closed	1991 [1]
Location	Warragamba, New South Wales, Australia
Annual visitors	200,000[1]
Website	No Web site available

There was also a dolphinarium in the African Lion Safari.

History

African Lion Safari was opened by Stafford Bullen (1925–2001) in 1968. At the time, Bullen was still operating a travelling circus, in 1969 he opened a second venture in neighbouring wallacia Bullen's Animal World. For the opening, a promotional single of The Tokens' "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was recorded by a band using the name "The Love Machine" (the band turned out to be Tymepiece). The safari was popular in its early years and attracted up to 200,000 visitors each year.^[1][2]

With the suburbs encroaching on the facility, and extensive work required to upgrade the park following legislative changes, it eventually closed in 1991 but continued to hold animals on site that were used in a circus but not displayed to the public.^[1]

African Lion Safari originally opened in Warragamba, where it had a drive through area full of wild animals i.e. lions, tigers and bears.

Incidents

On 7 August 1995, a lioness escaped from the park, roamed the nearby townships of Warragamba and Silverdale, and killed a dog. The lioness responsible for killing the dog was shot by a park employee.^[3] As a result of the escape, the park was required to upgrade facilities. A bear also escaped and was shot by residents, as reported by Michael Feeny.^[4]

Notes

1. Tabakoff, Jenny (12 January 2001). "Stafford Bullen". milesago.com. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
2. Ozzie Music Man (24 April 2009). "Post 93 – Love Machine – Keep Searchin'/May My Heart be Cast into Stone". ozziemusicman.com. Ozzie Music Man. Archived from the original on 1 September 2010. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
3. Nicastri, Timothy How a boy's adventure helped a lion escape from a defunct safari park in Warragamba ABC News, 20 September 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
4. "Leglislative Council Questions and Answers, #34" (PDF). parliament.nsw.gov.au. Parliament of New South Wales. 5 May 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2010.

References

• "Dynasties: The Bullen Family (summary of episode)". abc.net.au. ABC Australia. 4 December 2006. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2010.

External links

• 1980s Television Commercial on Youtube