Pearson Airport to African Lion Safari

How do I get from Pearson Airport to African Lion Safari?

There is no public transport to the park — it is on a country road between two cities, and the nearest bus is in Cambridge — and a taxi from Pearson is a metered gamble on the 401's length. The chauffeur is the version where the fare is known, the seats are in, and the car is at the gate when the children have had enough; the family page explains the seats and the vehicles, and the Kitchener-Waterloo route covers the 401's timing.

The safari-bus rule: why the chauffeur stops at the gate

African Lion Safari's game reserves are driven through — the lions, the cheetahs, the giraffes, the rhinos and the baboons in seven fenced reserves along a seven-kilometre road — and a visitor drives them in their own car or rides the park's safari bus. A chauffeured vehicle does not enter the reserves: the baboons take wipers, mirrors and trim as a matter of routine, and a luxury SUV in the monkey reserve is a claim waiting to happen. The chauffeur stops at the park's entrance drop-off, the family buys the safari-bus ticket with the admission at the gate, and the bus — with its guide and its windows the baboons cannot open — takes the family through the reserves in an hour; the chauffeur holds by the hour in the lot or returns at the booked time. The park sells timed admission in the busy season through African Lion Safari, and the chauffeur times the drop to it.

The day at the park

Beyond the reserves the park is a day: the elephant herd's afternoon swim in the lake, the birds-of-prey and the parrot shows, the Misumu Bay splash pad for the children, the boat cruise on the lake, the miniature railway, the pets' corner and the picnic grounds. A family landing at Pearson in the morning is at the gate by noon with the luggage in the boot, on the safari bus by one, at the elephant swim by three and at the hotel by dinner; a family at a Cambridge, Hamilton or Waterloo hotel books the park as a day by the hour with the chauffeur holding. The park runs from May to October, with the July and August weekends the busiest and the September weekdays the quietest, and the family page explains the stroller and the seats.

The day around the park: Cambridge, Hamilton and Waterloo

The park sits between three cities, and the day around it is any of them: Cambridge's Galt downtown on the Grand River twenty minutes north, with the mill district that films use for the nineteenth century; Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens and the escarpment waterfalls twenty-five minutes south, on the McMaster page; the St. Jacobs Mennonite market thirty minutes north-west; and the Waterloo campuses for a family visiting a student. The hotels for a night near the park are the Cambridge Hotel and Conference Centre and the Holiday Inn Cambridge on the 401, the Delta Burlington, and the Hamilton and Waterloo hotels; a chauffeured day from any of them covers the park and one city.

Groups, camps and the Sprinter

The park's group traffic is the school trip, the summer camp, the family reunion and the birthday party of ten: the Executive Sprinter from one or two addresses to the gate with the coolers in the boot, the return at the booked hour, one fare split however the group likes; a school from Toronto or Buffalo on the coach with a manifest and the seats for the youngest, invoiced to the school on a corporate account. A group arriving at Pearson for a Waterloo or Hamilton visit adds the park as the children's day on the same confirmation.

Accessible visits and the grandparents

The safari bus is accessible with a lift, the park's paths are paved and the shows have accessible seating, and a visit with a grandparent who uses a walker or a wheelchair is the SUV with the raised seat or the Sprinter with the step, the accessible bay at the drop-off, the chair folded in the boot and the pace at the curb the accessible page describes; three generations flying in for a fortnight are the Sprinter, and the park is the day the grandparents ride the bus and the parents ride the boat.

What the fare includes

The fare from Pearson to African Lion Safari is fixed by vehicle class and includes the chauffeur, the vehicle, fuel, tolls, taxes, the child seats, curbside pickup at the pre-arranged area, a stop on the way and the included waiting with the flight tracked; meet and greet is the paid add-on; gratuity is never added; a cancellation before dispatch is free; the park's admission and the safari-bus ticket are bought at the gate or from the park, not from us.

Cambridge, the Grand and the mill town

The park's nearest town is Cambridge, and its Galt district on the Grand River is the afternoon a family adds after the animals: the stone mills and the Main Street bridge that films use for the nineteenth century, the riverside walk, the Cambridge Mill's restaurant on the water, and the Gaslight District's summer patios. The Kitchener-Waterloo route covers the 401's timing through the city, and a family staying at the Cambridge Hotel or the Holiday Inn on the 401 is twenty minutes from the park's gate; the chauffeur's stop for lunch on the way in is the Galt district rather than the highway's service centre.

The elephants, the shows and the day's timing

The park's schedule sets the day: the elephant herd's swim in the lake at mid-afternoon is the thing the children talk about afterwards, the birds-of-prey show and the parrot show run at set times through the day, the safari bus loads on a schedule, and the boat cruise and the miniature railway run through the afternoon. A family that lands in the morning and wants the elephant swim books the drop for noon and the return for five; a family at a Waterloo or Hamilton hotel books the drop for opening and the shows in order; and the family page explains the stroller, the seats and the extra time at the curb that a family with a toddler and a picnic needs.

The Waterloo and Hamilton corporate family day

The park's group sales sell the corporate family day — a company's employees and their families from the Waterloo tech companies or the Hamilton industries, with the park's picnic pavilions for lunch — and the transport is a corporate account booking: the Sprinter and the coach from the office on one manifest, the drop at the group entrance, the safari bus booked as a group, and the return at the booked hour. A company with visitors from its offices in Montréal or Calgary adds the airport transfers on the same manifest, and the Waterloo page covers the region's hotels.

Winter tyres in May: the park's spring and the Highway 6 road

The park opens on the May long weekend, when the road between the 401 and Safari Road is still the country road it is all year — two lanes through the farmland north of Flamborough, the Beverly Swamp on one side, the Rockton fairgrounds on the other — and the chauffeur drives it at the country's pace. The spring is the babies' season at the park: the giraffe and the rhino calves, the cheetah cubs, the elephants' new arrivals, and the school groups on the weekdays that fill the safari buses by ten. A family with a May visit books the earliest drop and the Ontario 511 feed is read for the 401 before leaving; the September weekdays, when the schools are back and the animals are out in the cooler air, are the chauffeur's honest recommendation for the quietest day.

Book Pearson to African Lion Safari