Zoo Park “Pairi Daiza” in Belgium

An online magazine of Lithuanian children living in Brussels – Travelers – share their impressions from the “Pairi Daiza” zoo.

Pairi Daiza Zoo in Belgium has been around for 29 years! Its first name was “Paradiso”, which was changed to “Pairi Daiza” in 2006. Pairi Daiza means walled garden or walled garden. The zoo is located on the grounds of the former Cistercian Cambron monastery.

A Huge Garden with Many Animals

This park stands out from other zoos because of its enormous size. The animals really have a lot of space here, and you will find more than 7000 species of animals in the park! Its area is equal to 90 football stadiums!

In order to be able to see everything, we arrived at the zoo very early, before it even opened. First of all, on the advice of Linas and Mantas, the hunters, we rushed to the pandas. I learned that China for Belgium in 2014 lent two pandas, which in 2019 two daughters were born. They made a really big impression! We managed to see two little ones playing, who were probably waiting for their mother and father to wake up.

They looked like small, cute, fluffy, round, funny balls. We watched them hum happily and climb on the reeds. The enclosure for these pandas was in the Chinese garden, which is the largest Chinese garden in all of Europe. Those wonderful buildings the variety of flowering plants really impressed me a lot! You can’t look away while walking! We had to beat a real giant gong, tie a ribbon on a branch of a wish tree, and splash in a gurgling stream.

We continued on our heels to a large greenhouse where various birds ran and chirped freely, including pink flamingos. The zoo has a long hanging bridge. I had to test its strength and view the zoo from above. It was a lot of fun on the bridge, but also a little scary because the more people get on the bridge, the more it moves. Since the bridge was also hanging over the water, more than once there was a desire to turn around and go back, but we all overcame it!

Elephants

I really enjoyed seeing the elephants. Although they looked very tired, they were somehow merrily swaying and really looked like they were dancing! After getting stronger and resting, we went to the monkeys. It was possible to enter the monkey enclosure, but at the entrance there was a sign: “Close your backpacks and do not hold things in your hands, because the monkeys can take them.” At first I thought this sign was very funny, because the monkeys were no bigger than the size of a child’s palm. But later I saw that those monkeys are very brave and come close to people, so I quickly changed my mind. I also got to see Rudolph the reindeer of Santa Claus, who came so close that I even managed to pet him. And how interesting it was to watch the walruses swimming in the water! It seemed that they are performing some kind of show, because they were doing laps in a huge pool very nicely.

The Uniqueness of the Zoo

This zoo also differs from others in that you can rent a cabin with a window directly into the enclosure of animals (bears, seals, penguins, tigers, walruses). The biggest impression on me was, of course, the pandas, who played so happily… Their heads kept getting stuck in the trunks and they were turning around to get out! I also liked the greenhouse, where various tropical plants grow, among which parrots chirped and turtles climbed.

We saw a lot of animals, watched them up close, admired unseen species, I won’t even list them all in this story. If there is a chance, I invite you to visit there! I promise you won’t be disappointed!

The impressions and discoveries of the anglers were described by Eglė.

Wanderers wandered in Belgium and visited more interesting places – the Brussels Comic Strip, and explored the Secrets of Belgian cuisine.

This article is author’s work and was prepared by “Travelling with Children ®”. Copying and use without the permission of the author or “Travelling with Children ®” is strictly prohibited.

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