Tenerife animal collections

N

Norwegian moose

Well-Known Member
I am planing an forthcomming visit to Tenerife, and I wonder what animal collections to visit there? I am going to stay in Los Christianos, in the south part of the island, therefore I am not aiming to visit Loro Parque, because that is located in the north. Although I have heard it is possible to take a coach there, but it is true that when you take a coach you will not have enough time at the park? To rent a car is not a viable option for me either. Anyway I have visited Loro Parque before.

So I think I will stick to the animal collections in the south. Therefore I am wondering, is Tenerife Monkey Park and Zoo worth a visit? The place have gotten good reviews on Tripadvisor, however when looking through the gallery the place looks less tempting, with ugly cages holding lone primates and so on. In addition, is the feeding of the primates a good thing? It sounds appealing to feed, and get close to a lemur, however less so to feed a disease bearing macaque, or a begging chimpanzee. Is this a serious business of good quality, that is worth visiting, or not? I dont want my mum that is joining me to get a negative view on zoos, just because of the impressions of one substandard facility! Can anyone give me a small general review of the place? And how long (aproximately) would it take to see the attraction?

I think I would manage to convince my mum to visit atleast two zoos on the trip, and I would also like to visit Aguilas Jungle Park. Judging by the information about that collection online, it looks like a nice place. However what are the biggest highligts there? Can you give me a small review of the place? And how long would it take to tour?

Also, what is the best waterpark to visit, Aqualand or Siam Park? Seeing dolphins in a smaller waterpark really tempts me more than seeing no dolphins in the largest waterpark in Europe. However I am not negative of water rides in general. So, if to choose one of them, what would be my best bet? Are the facilites for dolphins adequate in Aqualand? I have heard Siam Park also has a few animals, like sea lions though.

What to say about Parque Exoticos? Are there any other animal collections in the south part of Tenerife? What other things do you recomend me to do in the Los Christianos area? I have heard you can go on a glass bottom boat tour, submarine safari, dolphin safari, traveling by boat to La Gomera, Teide and so on. But what else to do there?

I guess the zoos in Tenerife and the other Canary Islands are mostly commerical entities, that are there to make some extra money from rich tourist pockets:) And that they are not very conserned with education, conservation and research at all, seeing that most Canary zoos offer multiple animal shows, with little education:) Anyway, thanks for the replies and recommendations in advance....
 
Hi NM, I've been to Tenerife a few times and excepting Parques Exoticos, I have visited each collection that you've mentioned at least once.

Without doubt, the best collection in Tenerife (and one of my favourite on the planet) is Loro Parque. Always worth another visit even if you've been before. If you have the money to spare, I would also recommend trying to get a tour of their breeding centre (see the thread I set up for visiting instructions). Taking a bus isn't too tough - even if it's late you can change in Santa Cruz bus station, so that would give you a longer day. For comfort, their shuttle bus/coach that you mention may be a better option but that does limit your day.

I've been to Monkey Park twice. A worthwhile visit with some very interesting animals. It doesn't take much more than an hour to go round and so can easily be squeezed into a beach day or a lazy hotel day as it's not far outside Los Cristianos. You're right that some cages are ugly and that some lone animals are tough to watch (the drill in particular bothers me). The obese lemurs and squirrel monkeys which you can feed will most likely ignore any food you give them, so don't worry much about that.

The highlight of Jungle Park is their bird show in the main amphitheatre. Don't leave without seeing it. A nice selection of birds and primates in a lush setting also makes this a very interesting visit. About 3 hours will be needed to see it properly.

Without question, Siam Park is the water park to visit. Forget Aqualand. Unfortunately Siam Park no longer boasts bull sharks but that used to be a highlight. The water park is one of my family's favourites (and we've been to many across the globe).
Dolphin facilities in Aqualand are limited and I felt the show was better in Loro Parque [I'm not a huge show fan though]. Rides are ok but nothing very special. I'm in no rush to return. Save your money and spend it on a joint Siam Park-Loro Parque ticket and a shuttle bus return ticket to Loro Parque (or better still, membership of Loro Parque's Fundacion).

There are plenty of smaller attractions in the area, mostly camel- or ostrich-based, but nothing too special. Everyone I asked last year told me that Parques Exoticos may have closed, and reviews sound like it was in poor shape anyway.

Your hotel will most likely have at least one animal-based show while you're there so try to see that. (I think it's still too cold for Teide).
 
I've come across a Loro Parque &Siam Park shuttle bus timetable from early 2014 (?). PM me if you think it might be helpful and I can send you a scanned image or photo.
 
So I have just returned from my Tenerife holiday. I ended up just visiting Jungle Park and Siam Park, because traveling with my mum limits the number of zoos I am allowed to visit. And zoo visiting is never the only major priority when traveling with non-zoo nerds:). Although I would perhaps not visit Monkey Park with my mum anyways, since some of their exhibits look less adequate. I would have visited Aqualand if we had the time for it, and if I were allowed to visit more than one waterpark:) The biggest regret is that I did not visit Loro Parque, but I have visited it before and I would most likely do it again, since we have experienced that Puerto De La Cruz in the north is much prettier than Los Christianos and the hotel spaghetti in the south.

Jungle Park was a mixed experience. Many of the exhibits there were much poorer than I had expected, many with solitary animals. There were lone primates spread throughout the grounds, a lone white tiger, too small sea lion pools and birds of prey chained on sticks. The sea lion show had little to no education, but what not to expect from a for profit, commercial zoo. I feel the higlights at Jungle Park were the two bird shows, where the birds of prey really could strech their wings and parrots and hornbills where fed by the audience. I also liked very much their walkthrough aviary, I took many good photos there.

Siam Park I felt was good. However it was the first waterpark I have visited so I dont have much to compare it too though. There was a good mix of atractions there for all age groups, and the Thai architecture looked a bit artificial, but certainly not out of place. However I had expected the park to be even larger and better, with many more atractions. Siam Park is good, but it is difficult with my limited experience to rank it as the best in the world (as it is ranked according to Tripadvisor), and according to the large numbers of advertising material on Tenerife. (This is true for Loro Parque as well, with ads and stickers on seemingly every surface ;)

In addition I attended a birds of prey show in my hotel, that I have pictures of. There were also a parrot and snake show, but as my mum was joining me we did not see these:). Family holidays are not the same thing as zoobetrotting by your self or with fellow zoonerds:). However my mother is nice, and we visited La Gomera and Santa Cruz also.
 
Glad you had a good trip.
I can't place the walkthrough aviary in Jungle Park - I'm trying to work out where it might be but I'm really struggling. Please remind me, where in the park is it?
 
devilfish said:
Glad you had a good trip.
I can't place the walkthrough aviary in Jungle Park - I'm trying to work out where it might be but I'm really struggling. Please remind me, where in the park is it?
Click to expand...

The walktrough aviary in Jungle Park is located next to the lake that has an island with capuchins and gibbons, not far from the sea lion and bird stadium.

I can also add to what I have said before, that the Hyacinth macaw aviary
in the zoo had some Brown rats (presumably wild) who feasted uninveted on the macaws dinner:eek:
 
I have just come back from a trip to Tenerife, so thought I would post some updated brief information on a couple of the collections I visited for anyone who may read this thread in the future.

Jungle Park
Jungle park in my personal opinion was fantastic, if you're on the south of the island it's worth a visit. The park is very immersive, at times I forgot I was in Tenerife. The bird of prey show and the walk through aviary were a highlight, would recommend catching them, the walkthrough closes about an hour before the zoo closes. The sea lion show was enjoyable, of course it was a big performance but there was still some education slipped in the display. Some visitors with limited mobility may struggle with some parts of the park as there are a lot of platforms and swinging bridges for alternative views of exhibits, however if I'm not mistaken everyone can still see each animal from a more accessible level. There are some brilliant species held here, it's done well and the themers had a field day with this place!

Monkey Park
I would say if you are someone who likes to visit many different collections then give it a go, but it is a tough one. As mentioned before in this thread the Drill is extremely distressing, would love to know how and why he is there. Also distressing is the sheer size of some of the overweight primates that visitors get to feed, as well as the ones in side exhibits munching on baguettes (which a poster at the entrances states are bad for the animals health!!). I personally advise any responsible visitor not to feed, by midday the animals ignore you and also it's questionable on the primates health regarding the diets they should be having. There are Guineapigs galore in the walkthroughs as well as iguanas. The chimps that have been mentioned before have been moved on to a new collection (AAP). They hold some nice species there, such as Talapoin monkeys in a nice enclosure, everything else is minimum and less!
Highlight of the day: a lady in a 'animal rights' t-shirt ramming grapes down a highly overweight ring tailed lemur for the perfect selfie!

Loro Parque
I won't write too much as I've seen there is an up to date thread on this zoo. But I highly recommend you go, you can see why it's been voted the best in Europe!
 
KeeperRox said:
I have just come back from a trip to Tenerife, so thought I would post some updated brief information on a couple of the collections I visited for anyone who may read this thread in the future.

Jungle Park
Jungle park in my personal opinion was fantastic, if you're on the south of the island it's worth a visit. The park is very immersive, at times I forgot I was in Tenerife. The bird of prey show and the walk through aviary were a highlight, would recommend catching them, the walkthrough closes about an hour before the zoo closes. The sea lion show was enjoyable, of course it was a big performance but there was still some education slipped in the display. Some visitors with limited mobility may struggle with some parts of the park as there are a lot of platforms and swinging bridges for alternative views of exhibits, however if I'm not mistaken everyone can still see each animal from a more accessible level. There are some brilliant species held here, it's done well and the themers had a field day with this place!

Monkey Park
I would say if you are someone who likes to visit many different collections then give it a go, but it is a tough one. As mentioned before in this thread the Drill is extremely distressing, would love to know how and why he is there. Also distressing is the sheer size of some of the overweight primates that visitors get to feed, as well as the ones in side exhibits munching on baguettes (which a poster at the entrances states are bad for the animals health!!). I personally advise any responsible visitor not to feed, by midday the animals ignore you and also it's questionable on the primates health regarding the diets they should be having. There are Guineapigs galore in the walkthroughs as well as iguanas. The chimps that have been mentioned before have been moved on to a new collection (AAP). They hold some nice species there, such as Talapoin monkeys in a nice enclosure, everything else is minimum and less!
Highlight of the day: a lady in a 'animal rights' t-shirt ramming grapes down a highly overweight ring tailed lemur for the perfect selfie!

Loro Parque
I won't write too much as I've seen there is an up to date thread on this zoo. But I highly recommend you go, you can see why it's been voted the best in Europe!
Click to expand...

Why was Loro Parque voted the best in Europe? it's not close to Europe at all.
 
drill said:
Why was Loro Parque voted the best in Europe? it's not close to Europe at all.
Click to expand...

Although the Canaries are geographically African, they are politically European - Spanish, to be precise. As such your complaint is akin to complaining about something in Hawaii being deemed the best of its kind in America :p
 
Visited Jungle park yesterday. Park is beautiful to walk around and lives up to name Jungle. But exhibits didn't live up to the scenery. The lion cage is absolutely tiny and leopard one wasn't much better. The porcupines have more space than the lions! As the jaguar was alone this exhibit was okay. The seals living area was shocking and one of the cages had three seals swimming in a tiny space not much bigger than a jacuzzi. Not sure if they get to use the stage pool at other times. The orangutan and gibbon moat was okay I thought. The penguin exhibit was also good. Anotther poor one was the Siamang gibbons who didn't have much climbing opportunities. Thd bird show was good but sad to see birds tied up when not in the show. The food was expensive and trouble with not enough buses at closing. Wouldn't recommend anyone visiting.
 
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