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Naturwildpark Granat (Haltern am See, Germany)

Naturwildpark Granat

5 EUR
4.5

Rating

4.5/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Amazing large animal park
  • A lot of interaction with the animals in the huge habitats
  • Very relaxed atmosphere

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Remote location
  • Toilets at the entrance only

As the reviews of the park were pretty good, my wife and I headed to a deer park / wildlife park North of the Ruhrgebiet region in spring 2021. It is called Naturwildpark Granat (which means “Nature Wildpark Granat”). Here are our impressions of the visit.

 

Naturwildpark Granat – Location and Admission

Naturwildpark Granat is geographically located in the city Haltern am See North of the Ruhrgebiet region. It is however in the countryside. Practically, you should go there by car. You may either connect to the park via two autobahns / highways, A31 and A43. There is sufficient free parking in front of the park.

The park opens from 10:00 from 18:00 daily. Adult admission is 5 Euro. Naturwildpark Granat is accepting the RUHR.TOPCARD. A quite large box of feed for the animals is one Euro.

 

Naturwildpark Granat – The Visit

Despite there was mandatory registration due to Covid-19, entering the park was very efficient and friendly. You first pass a couple of caged and non-accessible habitats, like the home of the boars and the wolves. We could not spot the latter, which is likely not too uncommon. After a playground, you enter the first accessible habitat, which hosts a large group of pot-bellied pigs.

There are some free-running peacocks and chicken, but other birds can be found in the next section. The park is home to emus and rheas, but also for some species of birds which are typically owned as pets. The same area also hosts some wallabies / kangaroos. Before you enter the huge habitat, you can also watch lynx and wildcats.

Huge accessible habitat

The park has an amazing size of 600,000 square meters. The majority of that is taken by the last section you are visiting, which is a huge space in which different kind of deer, moufflon, sheep and other animals are living. You stay on the given paths, so that the animals either approach you or can relax. The first guy who said hello to us was a guanaco and her kid.

I compared walking through this massive area with social media: there is the population (the animals), you can grow a community (by creating a hope for food on the animals side) – and if you are good to your followers, they share quite some time with you. Some sheep and later a nice mixture of species followed us for really a longer time, a couple of hundred meters each.

We took an average route, which on the one hand brought us into the forest and away from most of the visitors – but on the other hand still was not the longest route you can take. Overall, we spent about an hour in this large habitat only. We had a lot of fun. You have to say that you cannot pet most of the animals, but apart from that, they are really tame. The animals are not aggressive, but of course, you need to take care of the antlers of the deer, for example. The first pictures below show you how massive that area is.

 

Naturwildpark Granat – Services

All major services are located close to the entrance: a kiosk is selling snacks, there are two playgrounds and there are also the sanitary facilities. There are no more toilets in the park – which can be a bit of bothering, as the largest path around the park is about two hours hiking distance. The park shop also sells rhea eggs (for 8 Euro).

 

Naturwildpark Granat – My View

Naturwildpark Granat is a lovely place. We had a sunny day and a community of munching furry new friends – what else do you need. If you are in the area, I definitely recommend a visit – one of the best animal park experiences I ever had. Of course, the park is also perfect with kids.

 

Flyctory.com about Animal Parks & Zoos

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RUHR.TOPCARD

Here are all places which accepted the RUHR.TOPCARD at my time of visit:

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