Parkscout

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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Preface

When I planned my Something with Portugal tour I knew from the start that it would not be dominated by theme parks or even roller coasters. A little bit of culture and the one or other water park was allowed. As so often in Portugal, the number of such destinations is manageable, but a look at Parkscout helped to find out at least the names of these parks. A little research later the water park Slide & Splash near Lagoa turned out to be especially interesting to start the day there.

Slide & Splash

Banzai

Shortly after the opening I went into the park, changed my clothes and together with some English people I searched for an already opened waterslide. Whilst the other slides were being prepared, I grabbed a mat and climbed up the rather impressive hill for the first time, only to slide down the rather steep section of the Banzai slide on my belly and then hop over the water surface of the landing pool.

Rio Rapido

Right next to the mat slide Banzai is the relatively inconspicuous tube slide Rio Rapido. On this slide you race down the mountain in a straight line. But Rio Rapido wouldn’t be Rio Rapido if the slide wouldn’t have a hill on which – thanks to the pronounced airtime – you are almost thrown out of your tube. Shortly afterwards and after a small jump you reach the landing pool of the slide.

Escorregas Grandes

The Escorregas Grandes start from the highest point of the Slide & Splash water park, seven slides, each with creative names, all of which are characterised by a multitude of curves and jumps. Unfortunately, these body slides are all a bit older, so you can unfortunately feel the joints a bit. Furthermore, the speed of the slides is not high enough to take off during the jumps. Nevertheless, the Escorregas Grandes offer an extremely solid sliding pleasure for the whole family.

Rio Turbulento

The Rio Turbulento is another tube slide that starts at a similar altitude. The beginning of the slide is a credit to its name. Unfortunately, before the final and quite steep shot, there is no speed at all, so that one struggles a little through the channel.

Kamikaze and Tornado

The starting point for the kamikaze slide and the Tornado funnel slide are located on an annex. While Kamikaze precisely reflects what is to be expected, the Tornado turns out to be a rather boring slide. The speed is just enough to make one lap in the funnel and let yourself drift in the direction of the exit by the water jets.

Black Hole

At the back of the mountain, next to the show arena, where a parrot, reptile and bird of prey show takes place, there are also the black hole slides, which I could not test. Two persons are required to ride in the mandatory double rings. Too bad that nobody ever gets around this part of the Slide & Splash water park. In addition, the park was generally very empty.

Pistas Brandas

Next to a spacious restaurant, you will find the small and large wide slide Pistas Brandas. As I have already ridden a similar ride in the Danish Djurs Sommerland, I was very curious to see how quickly one loses one’s footing here and was surprised to find the wettest slide in the park due to the spray coming up during the slide.

Saltos

Nearby are the small Saltos slides, which you should not underestimate. The speed here is relatively high, the jumps accordingly pronounced and at the end the fall into the cool water is waiting. With the right technique, a rollover is possible at least on the left slide, which initiates the fall during a turn.

Pictures Slide & Splash

Conclusion Slide & Splash

Slide & Splash is a really good water park, which is not only nicely designed, but also has a lot of good slides. Due to the emptiness of the park I could slide everything interesting several times, so that the slightly higher entrance fee was definitely worth it. On the way to the next destination of the day, the zoo and amusement park Zoomarine, I also passed Aqualand Algarve, but I skipped this one because of budget and time reasons.

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A safari park without anything