TRAVEL TALES: GIRAFFIC PARK : STICK YOUR NECK OUT FOR AN ABUNDANCE OF SUMMER FUN.

Byline: Susanne Hopkins Daily News Travel Editor

OK, it's time to screw up your courage and dust off your sense of adventure as Raging Waters in San Dimas and the San Diego Wild Animal Park introduce their newest water and wildlife attractions just in time for summer.

Heart of Africa, a walking safari where you'll be able to feed giraffes and get up close and personal with an aardvark and an Abyssinian ground hornbill, among other exotic creatures, opens Saturday at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

High EXtreme, a head-first toboggan ride that plunges from a 100-foot tower through 600 feet of water-filled flumes, opens May 31 at Raging Waters.

They are the two newest additions to the growing list of attractions at Southern California theme parks. Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia made a splash May 17 with the opening of 11 new water slides, and Sea World of California in San Diego formally opens its big-chill attraction, Wild Arctic, on Saturday.

Here's what you're in for at the two newest attractions:

Heart of Africa: Forget the passport and the shots. All you need here are a camera, binoculars and good walking shoes. Armed with a safari journal that doubles as a map and informational guide, intrepid travelers meander along a three-quarter-mile loop that runs alongside shallow waterways, past dense forests, wetlands, savannahs, open plains, even waterfalls. On their trek, they may spot cheetahs, warthogs, okapi, rhinos, wildebeest and gazelles - some of the more than 260 animals, including 20 species of birds and 11 species of mammals, roaming the 30-acre preserve. Feeding the giraffes is another possibility.

``This gives (visitors) an experience of seeing the animals up close in as natural a habitat as possible,'' said Debra Dunbar, public relations coordinator for the park. There are no obvious barriers, Dunbar said; architects instead have employed streams, varying elevations and other more natural means to place subtle barriers between man and beast.

Centerpiece of the $7 million attraction is the research center situated on an island in the middle of a lagoon, accessible via a floating walkway. Want to see a cichlid fish, an aardvark or meet Charlie, the ground hornbill and camp mascot? This is the place. And visitors can inspect the equipment and methods used to study the animals, as well as quiz the researchers on hand about the flora and fauna.

High EXtreme: Hold on to your hat - or better yet, don't wear one - because this is designed to be one wild ride, said Kent Lemasters, president and general manager of the park who asked architects to build something to the extreme.

What they got was a $2 million-plus ride that ranks as both the world's highest water toboggan ride and the tallest head-first water toboggan ride, Lemasters said.

Geared to those between 12 and 24 and over 48 inches tall, the ride begins with a climb up a 300-foot staircase to a tower that looms 100 feet high on a hill overlooking the water park. Visitors position themselves on foam mats that curve up in front and have handles to grip as they cascade down 600 feet of open flumes that twist and turn, reaching 40 miles per hour.

Riders can increase some of the thrills by using the mat's handles to bank along the sides or veer one way or another. They hydroplane to a stop in a 60-foot splash pool.

``It's kind of like a magic carpet,'' said Lemasters.

A water-logged one.

Wet 'n' wild for summer

Raging Waters is located at 111 Raging Waters Drive, San Dimas.

The park is open 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Special hours for Memorial Day are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Admission is $21.99 for guests 48 inches and taller ($12.99 after 5 p.m.), $12.99 for those under 48 inches ($9.99 after 5 p.m.), $12.99 for seniors 55 and over. Children under 2 are free. Information: [phone].

San Diego Wild Animal Park is about 30 miles north of San Diego off Interstate 15. Take the Via Rancho Parkway exit and follow the signs to the park, six miles east. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily until June 20, when summer hours through Labor Day will be 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Admission is $18.95 for adults, $11.95 children 3 to 11, free for children 2 and under. Information: [phone].

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Photo, Box

Photo: Along the San Diego Wild Animal Park's Heart of Africa, a walking safari, you'll be able to feed giraffes and get up close and personal with other animals.

Box: Wet 'n' wild for summer (See Text)