Back in March, I went with some of my coworkers on a day trip to the Beijing Wildlife Park. I know that zoos can be controversial, but after some research, this one looked promising. Located about an hour south of central Beijing, the Beijing Wildlife Park is a great option for a day trip from Beijing.
Housing thousands of animals from over 200 species, there is plenty to see and do while at the park. While there are more traditional zoo venues at the park, the stars of the show are the two drive through exhibits. Our first stop was the drive through safari. Our first animal encounter was actually in the line for the train ride. We saw these white birds and while I don’t know exactly what they are, they sure were beautiful to see.
The safari reminded me a lot of the Virginia Safari Park, but this one had a much larger range of animals. If you have a car, you can drive through this exhibit yourself. If not, you could ride on the “train” that would take you through. The open sides of the train really allow you to get up close and personal with the animals.
The next set of pictures show some of what we were able to see while on the safari ride. I took a lot of photos, and there was a lot more to see than you’ll see here, but these photos are some of my favorites! Due to the moving train and moving animals, some of the animals were more of a challenge to photograph.
Just a quick note here to add that this bear was my favorite! The worker you can see here was throwing meat to the bear, but it looked like he was waving as we passed by him!
After the safari ride was over, we walked through the petting zoo area where you could pet and feed some other animals. These guys were so cute and so fun to photograph! I definitely took the most photos of them during the entire day.
Check out the tooth on the guy below! 🙂
I wasn’t able to get a good photo of the trucks at the next attraction. But this was also a very fun experience! After leaving the petting zoo area, we went to the safari trucks. These trucks were full enclosed as the area that we would be traveling through brought us closer to some of the more dangerous animals. They were able to walk right up to the windows of the trucks and watch us through the windows!
Following the safari ride, we wandered through more of the park. We saw a lot of the animals, but we were not able to see everything. This park is huge!
Our next stop was the aviary!
And then the lemur habitat! These are so fun to watch!
These statues of animals taking photos are so fun!
All in all, the Beijing Wildlife Park is a great day trip destination for children and adults alike!
Important Information for Visiting the Beijing Wildlife Park
Address: China, Beijing, Daxing District, 榆垡镇
Hours: April – October (8:30 – 17:30) November – March (9:00 – 17:00)
Admission Fee: 130 CNY
Directions: Take one of the bus lines 828/849/943 and get off at the East Hulin Station. As this location is further out of the way for most people in Beijing, I recommend going with a tour group who will transport you to the park. This is how I visited the Wildlife Park.
