Bioparc Valencia: 'The Coolest Zoo' You'll Ever Visit?

Where: Apartado de Correos 15005, Valencia, Spain, 46015

April 23, 2008 at 4:30 PM | by juliana | 0 Comments

Valencia, the third largest city in Spain, has just opened the first phase of a $94 million, state-of-the-art zoo called Bioparc Valencia.

The zoo spans 25 acres and is home to 4,000 animals from 250 species including the old zoo favorites and stand-bys: antelope, zebras, gorillas and leopards.

Yet it's not your grandparents zoo where you walk around and point at animals in cages. The Bioparc reproduces the vegetation, terrain and sounds of the animals' ecosystem while hiding all the man-made stuff like barriers so you can feel a little less guilty about observing animals taken from their natural habitats.

And it's an adventure for you as well. Here is how some of the layout is described:

Guests start their voyage through the African realm of Bioparc Valencia by traveling deep into the savanna, among herds of antelope, giraffe and rhinoceros, while lions overlook the great plain from rocky heights.
The vast wonders of life underground, in and around a termite mound, in the nests of naked mole rats and hyena and warthog burrows.
Guests venture into dense equatorial forest in search of gorillas, surrounded by red forest buffalos and leopards.

The just-opened first phase features animals and habitats of Africa. The planned second and third phases will feature Southeast Asia and the tropics.

Mike Powell of the Hola Valencia blog has a first-hand experience of visiting the zoo and called it "without doubt, the coolest zoo I�ve ever been to."

For this kind of experience, the entry fee is priced high at �20.

Related Stories:
· Bioparc Valencia [Official Site]
· Zoos coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Hola Valencia]

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