Safaripark Beekse Bergen Safaripark Beekse Bergen

ShonenJake13 said:
Several hoofstock species are only visible from the actual safari (addax, forest buffalo, banteng, Przewalski's wild horses, dromedaries etc.). There is an option of taking a safari bus for those who aren't able to do the drive themselves, but it only runs from October to March...so you might want to look into the car option. If you look on the map available on the website https://d33b12c77av9bg.cloudfront.net/originals/safaripark_beekse_bergen_plattegrond_2024_nl.pdf you can see for yourself what you might miss. The orange route is the drivethrough safari.
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You can see the forest buffalo from the walking safari (although some luck is needed as they prefer to hang out at a spot near their stables that's only visible from the car safari) as well as the wild horse (from the lemur enclosure/ bird arena) and the addax/dromedary (behind the okapis, but only if they are in that part of the enclosure)

Some animals that you can see on the car safari can also be seen by boat, but you'll need some luck and the views won't always be good. Those are red deer, axis deer, Pere David's deer and banteng. The only animal you will defenitely 100% miss out on if you skip the car safari is the sika deer.

To sum it up: If you skip the car safari you will miss sika deer and have less chance to see red forest buffalo, ostrich, addax, dromedary, red deer, axis deer, Pere David's deer and banteng. (note its also possible to see dromedary in one of the savannahs of the resort, in the background when you are looking at the giraffe enclosure from the walking safari)
Everything else should be good.

Source : I work there ;)
 
Thanks! Out of those animals listed, we've seen them all elsewhere, so it's not like we haven't seen them before
ralph said:
You can see the forest buffalo from the walking safari (although some luck is needed as they prefer to hang out at a spot near their stables that's only visible from the car safari) as well as the wild horse (from the lemur enclosure/ bird arena) and the addax/dromedary (behind the okapis, but only if they are in that part of the enclosure)

Some animals that you can see on the car safari can also be seen by boat, but you'll need some luck and the views won't always be good. Those are red deer, axis deer, Pere David's deer and banteng. The only animal you will defenitely 100% miss out on if you skip the car safari is the sika deer.

To sum it up: If you skip the car safari you will miss sika deer and have less chance to see red forest buffalo, ostrich, addax, dromedary, red deer, axis deer, Pere David's deer and banteng. (note its also possible to see dromedary in one of the savannahs of the resort, in the background when you are looking at the giraffe enclosure from the walking safari)
Everything else should be good.

Source : I work there ;)
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Thanks!
Looks like the ones we would really miss out on, we've seen elsewhere too.
But we've never been, and I'm only going from 1 visit to Belgium once per year, so we try to squeeze in things since it's only 1,5 hours drive up there.
 
The first introduction of Limpopo and the rhino ladies after his (and Zahra's) return to Beekse Bergen 1,5 years ago.
After a somewhat more difficult start between Zahra and Limpopo, things are now going well as expected. So there is a chance of square-lipped rhinocalves in the future.
Both Zahra and Sofie could have a calf. This is no longer expected of the three older ladies...


 
JvG said:
The first introduction of Limpopo and the rhino ladies after his (and Zahra's) return to Beekse Bergen 1,5 years ago.
After a somewhat more difficult start between Zahra and Limpopo, things are now going well as expected. So there is a chance of square-lipped rhinocalves in the future.
Both Zahra and Sofie could have a calf. This is no longer expected of the three older ladies...
Click to expand...
Fingers crossed.... Would be nice if the make up of the group in Safaripark Beekse Bergen would be changed a little more, so the older non-reproductive rhino get their own patch on the hotel safari area and the breeding group in the safari park part.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Fingers crossed.... Would be nice if the make up of the group in Safaripark Beekse Bergen would be changed a little more, so the older non-reproductive rhino get their own patch on the hotel safari area and the breeding group in the safari park part.
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All savannahs on the resort/hotel part of Beekse Bergen already have a bachelor group of rhinos.
 
67 nests of (wild) White Storks have been counted this year within the park.
Beekse Bergen on Instagram: "Een geboortegolf bij de wilde ooievaars! In samenwerking met Sovon Vogelonderzoek Nederland hebben wij het aantal ooievaarsnesten en jongen in Beekse Bergen in kaart gebracht. Er zijn 67 nesten gespot, verspreid over het hele park. Van 45 paartjes hebben we het aantal jongen geteld en daarbij kwamen we uit op gemiddeld drie jongen per nest. In totaal worden er dus ongeveer 200 jongen verwacht! De ooievaars bieden hun jongen een gevarieerd dieet aan, totdat ze klaar zijn om hun eerste vlucht te wagen. De voorbereidingen beginnen al vanaf week drie. De jongen proberen te staan op hun nog wiebelige poten en slaan met de vleugels om de spieren te trainen. Vanaf de zevende week beginnen de jongen daadwerkelijk met het oefenen van vliegen. Dit leren ze snel. Na ruim twee maanden zijn ze volwassen en vliegen ze uit. Fred & Mariska Vermij (@mariska_vermij_van_dijk) #ooievaars #geboorte #nesten #sovon #inheemsenatuur #safaripark #beeksebergen #safariparkbeeksebergen"
 
 
I discovered 2 weeks ago the Safari Park over the course of a weekend (I did not stay at the resort). I wanted to discover this zoo for a long time and 3 elephant babies sound like a good opportunity to make it happen.

While very good overall, I didn't fall in love for it. Very solid in general with no eyesore but what didn't make of for me are :
- the collection which is very homogeneous. I know it's a safari park and therefore heavily invested on hoof stock, which I appreciate but there is very little else, especially birds or smaller mammals. Even amongst larger mammals, there is limited surprise or endangered species (only addax and goitered gazelles amongst antelopes). Where are the white-tailed wildebeest, oryxs, other gazelles or Hartmann's zebra the zoo could house ?
- the season and a particularly rainy year must have not helped with flooded grounds but the immersion didn't play very well for me this day. The lack of organisation in the park might play as well, I would have liked a southern African community, sahel ect... No effort seem to be made around that.
Once you have seen Sigean during the summer, it is hard to match.
- I never really liked safaris and I'm always frustrated by this type of visit. None of the safari-only enclosures is very nice even though they're adapted for their inhabitants and offer space for breeding endangered species. To the benefit of Beekse Bergen, I appreciate that most species can be seen from pedestrian area, something too rare in other safaris.

Something I found remarkable on the contrary, is the art of designing nice perspectives. It is common to have the impression that different enclosures are one and only and you can have in the same frame, gorillas, antelopes and lions or baboons, elephants and giraffes, the flamingo aviary with rhinos in the background ect... This is well done through modelling of the sandy floor that allows to hide barriers and moats behind sand piles. Unfortunately, those perspectives are too often spoiled by a queue of vehicles or lodges. So much care wasted...

I appreciated very much the new elephant and black rhino complex as well as the breeding center for cheetah. Both hyaena enclosures, wild dogs and the new aviary are also top notch!
Okapis, hippos and tigers have fairly new enclosures that are adequate but lacks ambition to reach a better level.
Apes islands are green but with very little climbing opportunities and shade while leopards have a very average aviary without much separation opportunity (something Beekse Bergen usually plan very well for other species).

Overall it was still a good experience, I'm happy I know Beekse Bergen but I do not feel the need to come back soon like in other large zoos.
 
Visiting for the first time (and most likely last time) this summer. Is there anything I should know?
 
Olek said:
Visiting for the first time (and most likely last time) this summer. Is there anything I should know?
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It can get very crowded in summer, so be there early. The car safari usually opens 10-15 minutes before opening time. The morning is also usually the best moment if you want to see active cheetahs.

I think most of it is pretty straightforward. There are not really any 'hidden' or hard to find enclosures/species. Just follow the map and you should see everything, this is not a zoo that usually has a lot of 'no-shows', although obviously in summer heat you'll see a lot of sleeping carnivores. Also there shouldn't be any species off-display right now.
 
We visited on 28/06 with friends who are from The Netherlands who have a car (it was about a 1h30 drive from where we were in Belgium), so we met at the parking lot, hopped into their car and did the safari first thing.
Looking at pictures, we spend about 1h20 doing the drive.
It was open until 5pm due to some festivities going on in the evening.
Normally we are fine for that amount of time, we entered the safari at opening time, and sometimes we even leave about an hour before closing time because we've seen it all even with going back and forth to certain animals, but we didn't had any time left to do the boat safari, and even missed the Painted Dogs and Lions to the right.
We tried going to that bit on our way out, and go via there to the exit but the path we had to take was closed off at 4.30pm.

So we didn't miss a lot, we saw the Lions in the other enclosure during the ride, and same with the Painted Dogs we saw them during the ride, but just a little bit annoyed we missed that bit of the walking route and the boat.

It was still a very nice day out, we managed to spot all the animals.
The baby Okapi was vieuwable from a screen, I was over the moon to even be able to see it like that.
What we did miss, I didn't feel like I would want to return for that because I wouldn't see myself going around the entire place again.

I was more upset there was a coin machine at the entrance that had a different coin then the one I got at the top of the park that had an Elephant on it. The entrance one had a Tiger on it.
I already got an Elephant coin few days earlier elsewhere, so I would have preferred a different one, lol.
(sidenote: I got 3 coins, 2 in The Netherlands and 1 in Germany, that had the same back image, I really liked that actually, more united kind of thing)
 
Tiger update:

Male Siberian Tiger 'Saïan' arrived from Kolmarden zoo in Sweden. He will form a new breeding pair with female 'Malinka' from Zoo Duisburg.

Yarko will leave soon to Eindhoven Zoo (formerly DierenRijk), his mate Angara is already there getting used to her new enclosure.
 
 
Birth of 0.0.3 Meerkats.
Beekse Bergen on Instagram: "Verrassing! Drie pasgeboren stokstaartjes staken afgelopen maand hun kopjes boven de grond. Hieronder zie je het nestje toen het nog geen week oud was. Het is heel zeldzaam om de pups op deze leeftijd al buiten hun hol te zien. De jonge dieren zijn op dat moment namelijk heel kwetsbaar: de oogjes zitten nog dicht en de diertjes wegen nog geen 40 gram. Normaliter leven pasgeboren stokstaartjes de eerste 3 à 5 weken onder de grond. Gelukkig is het bij deze ene keer gebleven dat de jongen buiten te zien waren in de eerste fase van hun leven. Inmiddels zijn de pups groot en sterk genoeg om de buitenwereld te verkennen. @mariska_vermij_van_dijk #stokstaartje #jongedieren#pasgeboren #nieuws #geboorte #geboren #geboortenieuws #nestje #safaripark #beeksebergen #safariparkbeeksebergen"
 
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