Safari West Wildlife Preserve

Safari West Wildlife Preserve is the four-hundred-acre AZA-accredited African wildlife preserve hidden in the Mayacamas Mountains east of Santa Rosa, a category-of-one operation founded in 1993 by Peter Lang and his wife Dr. Nancy Lang, a veterinarian whose conservation work brought 900-plus animals from 90 species to a property that's been called "the Sonoma Serengeti" by every major travel publication that's visited. Cheetahs, giraffes, zebras, rhinos, kudu, and dozens of bird species range across managed habitats designed to mirror the African savannah.

The signature offering is the three-hour Classic Safari: a guided tour aboard restored Vietnam-era M37 Power Wagons, the open-top military vehicles that bounce through the property's trails carrying guests within feet of free-ranging animals. The naturalist guides are exceptional: most have biology backgrounds and personal histories with the animals on the property. Beyond the day tour, Safari West runs thirty luxury tent-cabins imported from Botswana for overnight stays: a sleeping experience where the morning soundtrack is giraffe calls and the breakfast porch overlooks the savannah. The 2017 Tubbs Fire spared the wildlife in part because Peter Lang stayed on the property with a garden hose. The story is now Sonoma County folk legend, and the operation that survived it is one of the most singular wildlife experiences in the United States.