Serengeti Park

The Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, Lower Saxony, is a zoo and leisure park in North Germany.

This article is about the leisure park in North Germany. For the African wildlife park, see Serengeti National Park.

Serengeti Park
Entrance
LocationHodenhagen, Germany
Coordinates52°44′44″N 9°37′0″E
OwnerSerengeti-Park Hodenhagen GmbH
Am Safaripark 1
29693 Hodenhagen
Opened1974
Area200 ha (490 acres)
Websitewww.Serengeti-Park.de

History

In 1972, the Duke of Bedford had the idea of building the largest safari park in Europe with partners from America. In 1974, this plan was realised and, since then, the Sepe family has run the park. When it opened the investors had spent about 20 million deutschmarks. In 1983, the park was extensively renovated. Over time, in addition to Animal World, it has created new zones known as Monkey World, Water World, and Leisure World. In 1996, Serengeti Park was the first to release white rhinos, bred in Europe, back into the wild.

In 1999, the first baby monkey jungle in the world was opened where children up to 8 years old enter a height-limited area directly to see different small species of monkey. Adults may only use the walkway running parallel to it. In 2003, Serengeti Park admitted its first white tiger.

In 2004, Serengeti Park received permanent recognition as a zoological garden in accordance with current EU guideline 99/22/EG and §45 of the north German nature reserve law and on the basis of a LANA inspection. 23 March 2006 saw the first African elephant calf to be born in north Germany for 30 years.

On 27 August 2019, a 30-year-old rhinoceros called Kusini attacked a zookeeper's car and flipped it over at least three times in an incident captured on video. The zookeeper suffered minor injuries. Kusini arrived at the zoo 18 months prior to the incident as part of a breeding program and was reportedly struggling to adjust.[1]

Zones

Serengeti Park is divided into four zones: Animal World (Tierland), Water World (Wasserland), Monkey World (Affenland), and Leisure World (Freizeitland).

Animal World

Animal World covers an area of 110 hectares (270 acres), has around 1,500 animals living in the open and can be visited by car. Alternatively visitors can use a Serengeti Bus; during feeding times the animals are enticed close to the bus. The zone is divided into 13 sections.

The Afrika section of Animal World
Elephant calf Bou Bou
Cottontop tamarin in Serengeti Park
  • Section 11, Australien: Emus and kangaroos
  • Section 12, Afrika 2: white rhino, Watusi cattle, zebra, lechwe and dromedaries.
  • Section 13 includes an enclosure with African elephants. The biggest attraction here is elephant calf Bou Bou born on 23 March 2006 at Serengeti Park.

Since early 2003, four white tigers have been added to Animal World in a new enclosure. The tigers were formerly part of Circus Barum and were given to Serengeti Park by Gerd Siemoneit-Barum on being retired. In December 2006, the first successful breeding of a tiger was achieved with the birth of tiger cub Paul.

Water World

Water World can be visited on foot (as can Monkey World and Leisure World). In Water World everything revolves around water. Here, in addition to animals like geese, swans, and ducks there are also attractions like a 600 m long log flume, a giant pirate ship, and the African village, Kongo.

Monkey World

Twenty different species of monkey live in Monkey World (for example: Barbary macaques, squirrel monkeys, mantled guereza, white-headed lemurs, tufted capuchins, ring-tailed lemurs, white-headed capuchins, green monkeys, patas monkeys, grey langurs, lar gibbons, cottontop tamarins, common marmosets, chimpanzees and gorillas), some in walk-through enclosures. The Jungle Safari Tour also begins in Monkey World. This open-top bus tour takes in part of Animal World in Safari style and also negotiates an off-road section with special effects.

Leisure World

In Leisure World there are over 40 different fairground rides suitable for children and adults, such as the roller coaster, Ferris wheel, and fitness trail. The Serengeti restaurant, Zanzibar, is also located in Leisure World.

Shows

Four shows take place daily in Serengeti Park:

  • Feeding of the monkeys in the Amboseli Reserve (Monkey World)
  • African Magic Show (magic and juggling in Water World)
  • Punch and Judy Show (Water World)
  • Zambesi Water Show (Leisure World)

Accommodation

Since 2007, it has been possible to stay at Serengeti Park. Eighty holiday homes with a total of 300 beds are available in the Serengeti Safari Lodge. In addition, there is a conference room with around 200 seats.

References
  1. "Angry rhino flips car at German safari park". Deutsche Welle. 27 August 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.