Hand-Feeding Giraffes at The Living Desert Zoo & the Free Thousand Palms Oasis (San Andreas Fault)

Two extraordinary sites just 20 minutes east of Palm Springs prove that the desert is one of the richest ecosystems on Earth: the 1,200-acre Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert (consistently ranked by USA Today among the Top 5 Zoos in the United States), and the free Thousand Palms Oasis growing directly out of the crack of the San Andreas Fault.

1. The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (47900 Portola Ave, Palm Desert)

Spanning 1,200 acres of the Sonoran Desert at the foot of the Santa Rosa Mountains (1,000 acres are preserved as raw wilderness with 3 nature hiking loops open from autumn through May; check the official website for opening hours and tickets), this combined zoo and botanical garden specialises exclusively in the deserts of North America, Africa and Australia:

• Hand-Feed the 'Giraffes' on the African Savanna: walk onto the elevated wooden platform overlooking a multi-species savanna (shared by giraffes, ostriches, greater kudu and springbok) and purchase a bundle of crisp romaine lettuce leaves while 5-metre-tall Reticulated Giraffes wrap their 45-centimetre purple tongues around the leaves right from your fingers.
• 'Rhino Savanna', 'Australian Adventures' (Walk-In Wallabies) & The 3,300-Foot Model Train: see two-tonne Black Rhinos, watch Cheetahs, walk among free-roaming wallabies, and admire one of the world's largest outdoor G-Scale Model Train layouts, with 3,300 feet of track running through miniature replicas of the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore.

2. Free Valley Oasis: 'Thousand Palms Oasis' (Coachella Valley Preserve)

Twenty minutes northeast of Downtown Palm Springs (4 miles north of I-10 on Thousand Palms Canyon Rd), the 20,000-acre Coachella Valley Preserve sits directly on top of the Mission Creek Strand of the San Andreas Fault. Where tectonic plates grind underground rocks into an impermeable clay barrier, water is forced up to the surface into clear pools surrounded by nearly 1,000 native California Fan Palms. Stop at the rustic 1928 Palm House (built out of fallen palm logs by pioneer Paul Wilhelm, with free entry) and walk the flat 1.6-kilometre (1-mile) McCallum Trail & Wooden Boardwalk over emerald fault-line ponds teeming with endangered Desert Pupfish.