As big a legend as AFRICAM

Inaugurated in 1972, Africam Safari is well worth the visit to the Mexican state of Puebla, a three-hour drive from Mexico City. Today this safari park is home to more than 2,500 animals, employs more than 300 people and is considered the biggest zoo in Latin America. 

Be ready to spend close to three hours visiting Africam and taking wonderful pictures of the King of the Jungle, elephants, giraffes, orangutans, buffalos, aardvarks, ostriches, flamingos, australian parakeets, turtles, snakes, camels, hippopotami, lemurs, llamas, deer, elks, lynxes, panthers, and many more. 

There are lots of souvenirs you can buy for family and friends. And if you collect t-shirts of the places you visit, my favorite is the fluorescent t-shirt with the legend “Night Tours”.

If you wonder where the name Africam comes from, I´ll answer your question, it is the combination of two words- Africa and the first three letters of the founder's last name “Camacho”, and believe me, the story behind Carlos Camacho Espiritú is quite as fascinating as that of Africam. 

Here are 5 fascinating facts of Carlos Camacho Espiritú legend:

1. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS TO SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR- He was born into a humble family with 14 siblings in Puebla, Mexico. His father had a very modest job repairing shoes and Carlos never finished grade school. But this never stopped him and decades later, he would become an extremely successful entrepreneur owning radio stations, a helicopter and a tech company, pharmacies in the U.S.A. and Mexico and, of course, Africam.
2. ILLEGAL ALIEN TO U.S. FORCES AIRCRAFT CAPTAIN- At 16-years old, he migrated to L.A. as an illegal alien pursuing the American Dream. He was deported back to Mexico and a few years later returned to the U.S., completed his military service, earned the rank of Captain, becoming an American citizen and eventually marrying a native Californian, Louise Wardle, with whom he had six daughters and two sons. 
3. RADIO ANNOUNCER TO LABORATORY FOUNDER- In L.A., he leased the 2 to 6 a.m. slot of a radio station directed to listeners of Mexican origin. He capitalized on this platform to create “Laboratorios Mayo” specializing in selling medicaments to latin americans. This entrepreneurship would make him wealthy and provide the resources to launch his other businesses.
4. SURVIVE! (Sobrevivientes de los Andes)- He produced 9 films, among them the 1976 thriller, Survive!- “the story of a Uruguayan rugby team that crashes in the Andes Mountains and has to survive the extremely cold temperatures and rough climate. As some of the people die, the survivors are forced to make a terrible decision between starvation and cannibalism” (Wikipedia).
5. FATAL TIGER ATTACK- On the 28th of october of 1976, Captain Carlos Camacho died as a result of injuries sustained by the attack of a tiger, while protecting a family which foolishly got out of the car in Africam. He was 47 years old.