Safari Beekse Bergen Inside View Impression

Safaripark Beekse Bergen is the largest wildlife zoo of the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a Political union, politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in ...

region and provides a home to approximately 1,250 animals from over 150 species, varying from small mammals to large birds. It is located between the cities of

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-lar ...

and

Hilvarenbeek Hilvarenbeek () is a municipality and a town in the south of the Netherlands, along the border with Belgium. The biggest tourist attraction is called Beekse Bergen, consisting of a safari park, amusement park/playground, holiday bungalow park, an ...

in the south of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The visitors can for instance watch zebras and giraffes on the spacious savannahs. Safaripark Beekse Bergen offers the possibility to explore the park on numerous safaris: walksafari, carsafari, bussafari and boatsafari. The park is owned by the company Libéma Exploitatie BV, which is one of the largest leisure-related companies in the Netherlands. What makes the park so special is that visitors can explore the park with their own car, without a fence in between the visitor and the animals. While driving through the park people can for instance encounter leopards and zebras or get their car 'washed' by a giraffe. In this way the visitor can imagine that they are really taking a safari in Africa. Visitors can also choose to follow the same route per bus. In this way they will get to know more information about the animals, since they will be joined by a Ranger. Besides these two ways of exploring the park, the visitor can also choose to take a boat, that plies between two piers in the park. The visitors can also watch the animals by foot on the approximately 5 kilometres of roads throughout the park. All of the above-mentioned safari possibilities can be combined. All the safaris start at the front of the park and come together at a parking side at the backside of the park, close to the Kongorestaurant. Another feature of the park for which it is very well known is its bird show. In this show full of humour and interesting facts all sorts of birds are shown to the audience. All

animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

receive a strict

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

, as a result of which feeding the

is prohibited.

History

In 1968 the “Lion Park Beekse Bergen” was opened, in which visitors could observe

lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

from their car. Because this idea was new for the

it became a major success. Two years later two extra terrains were opened, in which

leopards The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus ''Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

and

baboons Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma ...

could be seen. In the next four years seven more types of

were added to the park, for instance

zebras Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zeb ...

giraffes The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, '' Giraffa camelopardali ...

and an

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

. Because the park did now not only concern lions anymore, the name was changed in 1974 into Safaripark Beekse Bergen. In 1980 the total size of the park had grown to 120 hectares and six more types of

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

had been added. Until that point there had only been a car safari, but in 1982 a walking safari was opened. This was only at a small part of the park, but it gave the visitors a chance to observe various sorts of animals which were too small to be shown in the open car safari areas. Furthermore, a bird show was opened in 1984, which was another unique experience for the

. In the years that followed the park became less popular and it looked like the Safaripark would go bankrupt. However, in 1987 the organization Libéma bought the park and with this new owner the park started evolving again. The walking safari was enhanced and a bus safari and boat safari were added. Today Libéma is still the owner and the Safaripark Beekse Bergen has become the fourth zoo of the

. Since a few years Libéma is also the owner of Speelland Beekse Bergen, which is an amusement park for families with children. This park is located adjacent to the Safaripark Beekse Bergen and therefore these two parks are working together more and more. For instance, the park manager of the Safaripark is also the park manager of Speelland and also the shops are working as one. The idea is to let the two parks become in line with each other more, so that a day-trip to the Beekse Bergen really becomes a day-trip to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Objectives

Safaripark Beekse Bergen has a few idealistic objectives. The park wants to contribute to the conservation of nature in de broadest way of the word. They do this by means of: * conservation of threatened species * education * scientific research * active participation in worldwide conservation programmes. To support these objectives, Safaripark Beekse Bergen participates in a number of organisations: * NVD = Dutch Association of Zoos * SDH = Foundation Zoos Help, the nature conversation programme of the NVD * EAZA = European Association of Zoos and Aquaria Furthermore, Safaripark Beekse Bergen participate in the following conservation programmes: *

African wild dogs The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lyc ...

in Zimbabwe *

Siberian tigers The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies ''Panthera tigris tigris'' native to the Russian Far East, Northeast China and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korean Peninsula, but currently inhabi ...

and Amur leopards in Siberia * Sloth bears in India

Breeding programmes

As a member of

EAZA The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), is an organisation for the European zoo and aquarium community that links over 340 member organisations in 41 countries. EAZA membership is open to all zoos and aquaria across Europe that compl ...

, Safaripark Beekse Bergen cooperates with European management programmes for threatened species such as the

European Endangered Species Programme The EAZA Ex-situ Programme (EEP) is a population management and conservation programme by European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) for wild animals living in European zoos. The programme was formerly known as the European Endangered Species ...

(EEP) and European Studbooks (ESB). The threatened species in the collection of the safari park are: red ruffed lemur, ring-tailed lemur, African wild dog,

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia ...

, African elephant, black and white rhinoceros, Grévy zebra, Rothschild giraffe, African penguin, white-cheeked gibbon, red panda, Siberian tiger, Przewalski horse, Mesopotamic deer, Vietnamese sika deer and Chilean flamingo. Besides EEP Safaripark Beekse Bergen also participates in European Studbooks (ESB). These are animals that are being observed intensively and have a chance to become a threatened species in the future. Safari Beekse Bergen participates in this programme for: spotted hyena, warthog, sitatunga, markhor, sable antelope, blesbok, white-handed gibbon,

sun bear The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'') occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly at the shoulder and weighin ...

and squirrel monkey.

Animals

The word '

safari A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an importa ...

' for many people is a reference to Africa. The park's name is an indicator that it focuses on conserving and observing African animals. Although the park's history and the weather in the Netherlands make a 'realistic African experience' nearly impossible. During the 1990s, the park attempted to provide visitors 'a journey around the world in one day', and has sections devoted to the fauna of the American, Asian, European and Australian continents. The Australian and American sections have since then been removed and all animals from those continents have left the collection, with the European collection now being limited to red deer and domestic cattle. These days, the zoo's main focus is Africa, but Asia is still represented as well.

References

External links