Lemurs Archives • Themeparkblogger

Animal Park:	Mundomar (since 1996)

Address:	Sierra Helada
	03503 Benidorm
	https://www.mundomar.es/en/

Operated by:	Aqualandia-Mundomar

Animal Park:

Mundomar (since 1996)

Address:

Sierra Helada

03503 Benidorm

https://www.mundomar.es/en/

Operated by:

Aqualandia-Mundomar

Mundomar

Just above the Aqualandia water park is the Mundomar animal park. Together, the parks are the main flagship of the Aqualandia-Mundomar Group, which also includes the Terra Mítica theme park.

The zoo extends over several levels, whereby the large pool for the dolphin show is interestingly located at the highest point of the park, which certainly not only gives us as visitors a great view over the city of Benidorm, but also allows the local dolphins interesting insights.

Entering the park, one immediately encounters several species of parrots. Following the path we pass a larger enclosure with flamingos, pools for sea lions and otters, and an enclosure with giant tortoises. Passing the sea lion arena, the path leads us further up, passing lemurs, coatis and marmosets.

On the middle level of the park is the large restaurant, as well as the entrance to the parrot show The Journey of our Lifetime. Interestingly, this takes place in an enclosed theater, which on the one hand allows for more effects, but on the other dulls the immersion a bit. Personally, I would much rather see birds flying outside than in a small, dark theater.

Passing squirrel monkeys, a large free flight aviary and a penguin enclosure, the way now leads us to the dolphin arena, where we watch the show Emotions with the best view. This is, without exaggerating, probably the most spectacular dolphin show worldwide. Here the visitor is offered a lot and the edutainment aspect moves into a subordinate role.

Conclusion Mundomar

The Mundomar zoo convinces with its thoroughly immersive design, which unfortunately only slightly distracts from the rather small offer. The enclosures are all seen in just a few minutes, the majority of the visit is spent with the animal shows. Whether this is worth the not exactly small entrance fee, everyone must decide in the end for itself; likewise whether one would like to support such shows. In combination with a visit to the Aqualandia water park, however, the result is a very rounded overall experience.

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Badoca Safari Park

The Badoca Safari Park is one of the parks I know mainly through Parkscout.de, because a few years ago there was a report about a new Hafema Rafting ride. A few years later, I missed the entrance to the Safari Park; but who would have thought that the area was not properly developed and that the sandy path at the side of the road is the entrance to the park? For kilometres there was no exit and my navigation system wanted to send me on non-existent roads. Eventually I was able to turn around and a short time later I was standing in the car park of Badoca Safari Park.

At the cash desks I was then confronted with the opening and show times of the zoo and actually I would have had to turn back immediately, because both rafting and the safari tour would not have been feasible according to my schedule. Nevertheless I wanted to have a closer look at the Badoca Safari Park, and interestingly enough I had already explored half of the park before the official opening of the park.

It is really not a good omen when you can hardly show any animals as a safari park. The situation is even worse if you simply don’t use any of your spacious enclores. The two small aviaries should be seen as the highlight of the animal park, as birds are generally interesting and macaws are great to watch. You can also kill some time watching lemurs and wallabies.

Safari

The way over the bridge to the safari only makes sense if you really want to start the safari within a few minutes. It has a length of 45 minutes and is therefore about twice as long as Chessington Worlds of Adventures Zufari; however, due to the wooded area it is not as densely populated. If you can see animals at all is a question I cannot answer. Of course the safari is the most important part of a visit to Badoca Safari Park – there is not much more to do around here anyway.

Ilha dos grandes primatas

Despite this fact, the park still manages to create very long paths. The Ilha dos grandes primatas, for example, was placed not far from the high street and thus at the end of the world. There, two of the three large enclosures were equipped with animals and only in very small populations. Also, the gardener had apparently not been out and about for a long time, because somehow everything was growing wildly around here.

Rafting Africano

Rafting Africano is now advertising Coca Cola and apparently doesn’t do much else. The two Euros you have to pay for the trip can certainly be understood, but an opening time of 14h00 – 15h00 is not really understandable. Unfortunately the layout of the ride is hardly visible from the outside. However, the rafting offers the whirlpool well-known from this manufacturer and therefore a promising ride.

Bird of Prey

Last but not least I watched the first few minutes of the birds of prey show, where a few birds were presented under a lot of Portuguese blah-blah. Annoyed about the bad sound quality of the show and because of my lack of language skills I left the show early and made my way back to Porto Airport.

Pictures Badoca Safari Park

Conclusion Badoca Safari Park

The Badoca Safari Park certainly had its best times far behind. Lack of advertising, even just outside the park, missing animals and stupid opening hours of the attractions do not speak for the park. The relatively high entrance fee and the numerous up-charge offers leave an extremely bland aftertaste. Sure, a Segway safari is certainly fun, but why not include it in the entrance fee? At least the park had some potential at some point.

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Tag: Lemurs

Seeing Dolphins high above Benidorm