Even if you don't speak French, you ought to be able to figure out that this stands for Feline Park. So if you are a cat lover like me, read on, but if you don't particularly like cats, you should probably find another thread.
Getting there. Unless you have a car (which would make getting here much easier), you will take train RER line E from Paris to Tournan-En-Brie, which is the last stop on that line. Trains run every half hour. From here you have to take a taxi, but Tournan is such a small town there are no taxis waiting at the station (which I found out the hard way). You are best to arrange one ahead of time, but the taxi company recommended on the park's website has a non-functioning email. There is apparently a regional bus service (there is a bus stop right in front of the train station and a new bus stop on the road outside the park). Buses do not run on Sunday when I arrived, though, but it might be worth checking into.
Staying over. Closest hotels are in Fontenay-Tresigny, from there you have to take a taxi or perhaps the bus (I saw bus stops, but no actual buses my whole time there). I stayed at the only hotel I found online, a very budget Premiere Class (and I do mean budget), but saw there is a nicer looking Hotel Companile right across the parking lot. You can have dinner there no matter which of the two hotels you stay at and staff there speaks English.
The Park. Entry fee I think was around 13 Euros and admission staff speak English (although I did learn a LITTLE French before my trip). Park is only about three years old, having moved here from a smaller plot in Auneau. They bought land with existing forest and some clearings and basically just put up fences around large tracts of it. The enlcosures are 100% natural thanks to the pre-existing foliage. A fantastic way to create a large, naturalistic zoo on a reasonable budget.
Enclosures are large to massive. Lion, tiger, cheetah exhibits (and there are several of each) are all one to two acres in size. Ocelot, fishing cat and jungle cat have enlcosures the size of a leopard or jaguar enlcosure at another zoo. Puma, jaguar, leopard exhibits are as big or bigger than most zoo's lion or tiger enclosures. Surprisingly, most enlcosures have multiple numbers of cats, which as we all know are usually solitary. There were 5 jungle cats together, 5 pumas (I think a mom and four juvenile cubs), 3 black leopards, etc, etc.
They are arranged in four geographic loops trails - Africa, Asia, Americas, and Europe (which is not really a loop, just a short path with european wildcat and european lynx). I was there from open (10am) until close (5pm) and was pleasantly surprised to be able to photograph active cats throughout the day. We all know how much cats sleep, but even mid-day I found some cats awake and active.
There are also two free-ranging lemur islands, a new addition, which is totally out of place in a cat park. Nice exhibit from what I saw (I didn't go in), but why? Also some new tram ride that I did not go on.
If you are a hardcore cat fan, as I am, this place is just heaven on earth. Every cat lover should do whatever they can to make it here. I would love to go back and spend two or three days. There are over 20 distinct species of cats, plus multiple subspecies of some. For example, tigers are siberian and sumatran and malayan and white indian. Leopards are sri lanka and persian and amur and black. Lynx are siberian and european. Lions (although I don't think these distinctions are valid) are angolan and east african and white south african.
I won't bother to list all the cats, but here are some that are less common in captivity: rusty-spotted cat, asian golden cat, oncilla, jaguarundi, geoffroy's cat, jungle cat. Watch for lots of photos coming soon.
Getting there. Unless you have a car (which would make getting here much easier), you will take train RER line E from Paris to Tournan-En-Brie, which is the last stop on that line. Trains run every half hour. From here you have to take a taxi, but Tournan is such a small town there are no taxis waiting at the station (which I found out the hard way). You are best to arrange one ahead of time, but the taxi company recommended on the park's website has a non-functioning email. There is apparently a regional bus service (there is a bus stop right in front of the train station and a new bus stop on the road outside the park). Buses do not run on Sunday when I arrived, though, but it might be worth checking into.
Staying over. Closest hotels are in Fontenay-Tresigny, from there you have to take a taxi or perhaps the bus (I saw bus stops, but no actual buses my whole time there). I stayed at the only hotel I found online, a very budget Premiere Class (and I do mean budget), but saw there is a nicer looking Hotel Companile right across the parking lot. You can have dinner there no matter which of the two hotels you stay at and staff there speaks English.
The Park. Entry fee I think was around 13 Euros and admission staff speak English (although I did learn a LITTLE French before my trip). Park is only about three years old, having moved here from a smaller plot in Auneau. They bought land with existing forest and some clearings and basically just put up fences around large tracts of it. The enlcosures are 100% natural thanks to the pre-existing foliage. A fantastic way to create a large, naturalistic zoo on a reasonable budget.
Enclosures are large to massive. Lion, tiger, cheetah exhibits (and there are several of each) are all one to two acres in size. Ocelot, fishing cat and jungle cat have enlcosures the size of a leopard or jaguar enlcosure at another zoo. Puma, jaguar, leopard exhibits are as big or bigger than most zoo's lion or tiger enclosures. Surprisingly, most enlcosures have multiple numbers of cats, which as we all know are usually solitary. There were 5 jungle cats together, 5 pumas (I think a mom and four juvenile cubs), 3 black leopards, etc, etc.
They are arranged in four geographic loops trails - Africa, Asia, Americas, and Europe (which is not really a loop, just a short path with european wildcat and european lynx). I was there from open (10am) until close (5pm) and was pleasantly surprised to be able to photograph active cats throughout the day. We all know how much cats sleep, but even mid-day I found some cats awake and active.
There are also two free-ranging lemur islands, a new addition, which is totally out of place in a cat park. Nice exhibit from what I saw (I didn't go in), but why? Also some new tram ride that I did not go on.
If you are a hardcore cat fan, as I am, this place is just heaven on earth. Every cat lover should do whatever they can to make it here. I would love to go back and spend two or three days. There are over 20 distinct species of cats, plus multiple subspecies of some. For example, tigers are siberian and sumatran and malayan and white indian. Leopards are sri lanka and persian and amur and black. Lynx are siberian and european. Lions (although I don't think these distinctions are valid) are angolan and east african and white south african.
I won't bother to list all the cats, but here are some that are less common in captivity: rusty-spotted cat, asian golden cat, oncilla, jaguarundi, geoffroy's cat, jungle cat. Watch for lots of photos coming soon.
