Just as we passed through the entrance there was a restaurant, water slide, and swimming pool, playground, and camel rides?great I thought, I haven't seen camel rides in years, this is going to be a fun day!
It was also a very hot day, trying to keep normal clothes on, in the dusty heat was hard, even to the acclimatised family members. I would advise to choose your clothing carefully, on a blistering summers day you really need to be a cool as possible clothing wise, but it did look odd when some people stripped off to their bikinis at a safari park! Take plenty of sun cream too it is a long day in the sun without shade.
We found there was al lot of freedom at the Elche Safari Park that we used to have back home but not anymore. This was a positive thing in my books. For example you were allowed to feed the animal's monkey nuts and carrots. We particularly enjoyed feeding the camels and giraffes.
The Rio Safari Park, Elche had every animal you could hope for, including:
?Antelope
?Buffalo
?Chimps
?Crocodiles
?Camels
?Deer
?Donkeys
?Elephants
?Emus
?Fish
?Giraffes
?Hippo
?Jaguars
?Lions
?Llamas
?Monkeys
?Ostriches
?Parrots
?Reptiles
?Tigers
The animals to me seem to have plenty of space, and were well looked after. It is worth while wearing flat shoes as there is a lot of walking involved throughout the day.
We went to several of the shows in the safari park, all of which were excellent. The Parrot was particularly memorable; our 2 year old son was in fits of giggles. The parrot did many tricks including riding a bike, rolling over, playing dead, and playing basketball. This show is so good that when writing this article I noticed that there is even a clip of it on you tube! The elephant show was also good, blowing water out of his trunk at the audience was funny (remember to sit at the back of the auditorium if you would not appreciate this)!
The food was not spectacular, but it was reasonably priced. We stopped for plenty of ice creams and drinks as temperature wise it was well into the thirties. But quite honestly I think we only had a plate of chips there and stopped on the way back to Alicante (for our sins) for a Burger King!
Towards the end of the day we took a train/jeep ride around the zoo (this was the ?Safari?), it was thoroughly enjoyable riding in and out of the enclosures and getting a much needed breeze!
All in all it was a fantastic day out from Alicante and very much recommended from our whole family, old and young.
