Last year we had a marvelous day at the Rio Safari Park near to Elche, one of the best attractions in Alicante, Spain. We found it very easily by driving most of the way on the N332 from Alicante (southwards) then turning off at Santa Pola. From there it was just a few miles, and was well sign posted.

Just before you get to the entrance there was a restaurant, water flume, and swimming pool, play area, and camel rides. Wonderful I thought, I haven’t seen camel rides for many years, this is definitely going to be a fun day!

It was a very hot day and attempting to keep walking clothes on, in the dusty heat was difficult, even to the more acclimatised family members. I would advise you to pick your clothing very carefully, as on a blistering summers day you really do need to keep as cool as is possible, but it did look strange when some other visitors stripped off to their costumes and bikinis at a safari park! Take loads of sun cream too, it can be a long day in the sun without much shade.
We found that there was plenty of freedom at the Elche Safari Park, that we used to have back in the UK, but not nowdays. This was a positive thing in my mind, for example you were allowed to feed some of the animals peanuts and carrots. The children very much enjoyed feeding the camels and giraffes.

The Rio Safari Park near Elche had most of the animals 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 did appear to have enough space in their enclosures and appeared well looked after. It is certainly worth while wearing comfy shoes as you will do loads of walking throughout your visit.

We went to most of the displays in the safari park, all of which were very enjoyable. The Parrots were particularly memorable, in fact our 2 year old son was in fits of laughter. The parrots did many stunts including riding a bike, rolling over, playing dead, and even playing basketball. This show is so good that when writing this feature I saw that there is even a clip of it on youtube! The elephant show was also amusing, blowing water out of his trunk at the audience, so remember to sit near the back of the stand if do not want to get wet!

The food was a bit basic, but it was cheap enough and we stopped for plenty of ice creams and refreshments as temperature rose into the thirties. But quite frankly, I think we only had a bag of fries there and then stopped on the journey back to Alicante for a McDonalds in Santa Pola!

Towards the end of the day we took the Safari train ride around the zoo, it was most enjoyable driving in and out of the animal enclosures and getting a much needed cooloing breeze!

All in all it was a great, fun day out from Alicante and very much recommended from our entire family, old and young alike.

For more advice, information on Rio Safari Park and other attractions around Alicante, please see Alicante Safari Parks