Marine World Africa USA
Orca show at Marine World in 1970
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| Date opened | 1962 |
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| Location | Redwood Shores, California, United States |
| Coordinates | 37°31.9′N 122°15.9′W / 37.5317°N 122.2650°WCoordinates: 37°31.9′N 122°15.9′W / 37.5317°N 122.2650°W |
Marine World/Africa USA was a tourist attraction located in Redwood Shores, California. The park was named Marine World when it first opened.
There were two successive Africa U.S.A. parks in California, both associated with animal trainer Ralph Helfer. The first Africa U.S.A. in California was created in 1962 as a 600-acre (2.4 km2) affection training compound by Ralph and Toni Helfer. It was located in Soledad Canyon near Palmdale, north of Los Angeles.
Ivan Tors first discovered Clarence, the cross-eyed lion, at Africa, U.S.A. and it inspired him to create the film Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion (1965) and the spin-off television series Daktari, which was partly shot on location there. Judy the chimp, another star of the show, was also owned by Ralph Helfer.
A few other shows such as Cowboy in Africa, Gentle Ben, as well as an episode of Star Trek ("Shore Leave") were also shot there. Helfer was providing both the location and the animals.
In January 1969, Africa U.S.A. was struck by a powerful rainstorm over Soledad Canyon. The resulting severe flooding and mudslides in the canyons destroyed the compound, but only nine of Helfer's 1,500 animals had drowned.
Although up the same canyon, the property (8237 Soledad Canyon Road) is not the same ranch as that purchased and restored by actress Tippi Hedren, now called Shambala Preserve (6867 Soledad Canyon Road).
The Marine World/Africa U.S.A. site occupied approximately 66 acres (270,000 m2) of reclaimed tidelands of San Francisco Bay within the confines of Redwood City. Numerous shallow sloughs, which have long been filled in, are known to have meandered across the property in its natural state. The general area of the site was diked off from the bay about 1910 and was used for pasture until about 1946 when it was converted to salt evaporation ponds.(Earth Metrics, 1969) The site was then cleaned and leveled, and between 1964 and 1965, received about two feet of fill.
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