Description of the attraction
Safari Park in Gelendzhik on the slope of the Markotsky ridge opened in 2004 and immediately became one of the main attractions of the city. This whole entertainment complex: cable car, huge zoo, museum, playgrounds, attractions, cafes - here you can spend the whole day and not get tired.
Cable car
The Safari Park cable car is the longest and highest on the entire Black Sea coast. Her in height - 640 meters, length - 1600 meters … The entire journey over the mountainside and the zoo takes twenty minutes. It offers a magnificent view of the semicircular sea bay, mountains and herds of various ungulates grazing below, presented in the zoo.
The journey is absolutely safe, but it is carried out not in the usual closed and glazed cabins, but in open ones, designed for two passengers. This allows you to take colorful shots without interference, but also delivers a thrill. In bad weather conditions, traffic stops. It is worth dressing warmer - it can be cool in open cabins.
Upper Park
The park is divided into Upper and Lower, on either side of the lower cable car station. At the very top of the mountain, at the upper station, there is an observation deck from which you can enjoy the view of the surroundings. From here you can see the sea, mountain ranges and the park below.
One way from the station through the playground leads Alley of fairy tales with images of fairy-tale characters: Ruslan and Lyudmila, the Scientist Cat, Baba Yaga, Nightingale the Robber and others. At the end of the alley there is a stone dolmen … Dolmens or "stone tables" are called ancient megalithic structures. Many mysteries are associated with them - until now no one knows, for what they were used, or how they were created. For example, the famous Stonehenge consists of similar dolmens. In the Caucasus, dolmens were built 4-5 thousand years ago. They were stone burial chambers with a round hole - this is exactly what you can see here. This dolmen is genuine, although it was originally located in a different place - it was specially brought here from the coast.
On the other side of the upper station are Jurassic Park with colorful sculptures of dinosaurs in full growth.
Here is arranged Terrarium … Several types of snakes can be seen in it. These are mainly non-venomous pythons of various species, but there is also a real king cobra. There are lizards here: iguanas, basilisks, monitor lizards, skinks, as well as chameleons, frogs and toads and turtles. In addition, scorpions and tarantulas live here, and the main exhibit is the Nile crocodile family.
Zoo
Extensive aviaries occupy most of the territory of the Upper and Lower Parks. Its total area is 160 hectares, so the animal enclosures are large enough for them to feel almost free.
Safari Park positions itself as "Rehabilitation center" for animals … Rare animals listed in the Red Book live here: Himalayan and brown bears, foxes, wolves, leopards, Ussuri tigers, wild boars, lemurs, etc.
Almost every animal has its own story. For example two Amur tiger, Homer and Jedi, when they were very young, were subjected to illegal and merciless exploitation - they were photographed with them, but they were not fed or treated. Before placing them here, the animals had to literally be saved from death. Likewise, they were rescued from photographers from the Gelendzhik embankment cougars … There is a lion, who in his youth performed in the circus, and when he stopped obeying, he ended up in the zoo. Now he is bouncing with tigers from neighboring enclosures. They got here from the circus six brown bears - they are too old for a circus arena. Local chimpanzee John once served as a real croupier in a real casino - a monkey intellect is enough for this. He knew how to spin the roulette, and also smoked, drank and earned diabetes mellitus on his difficult job - no one cared about his health. When the institution closed, he found himself on the street, and then, after a long treatment, in Safari Park. In addition to John's chimpanzee, the "City of the Apes" is also home to orangutans, monkeys, gibbons, eastern colobus and Madagascar lemurs.
Himalayan bears live in a huge aviary with a bridge over it - visitors can watch their lives from above. The Lower Park is home to an Indian elephant, polar bear, black panther, porcupine, mongooses, meerkats, lynxes and caracals.
Ungulates in the zoo graze African oryx antelopes, European fallow deer, red deer, roe deer, yaks, bison and maned rams.
In the Lower Park there is bird yard … Owls, bald eagles, parrots, pheasants, peacocks, geese and decorative chickens live here. And in the Upper Park there are already other birds - ostriches, pelicans and flamingos.
For the youngest visitors in Lower Park there is “ Ranch With goats, ponies, donkeys and domestic rabbits.
Varied flora of the park … It is located on the slope of the Markoth Mountain. In translation, the word means "blackberry bracelet." Initially, the mountain was literally covered with thickets of blackberries and raspberries. Other shrubs that are resistant to dry climates also grow here: hawthorn, blackthorn, wild rose and Pitsunda pine. Once there were oak forests, but they were destroyed in the 19th century. Nowadays, more resistant pine trees have been planted - so the air in Safari Pak is fragrant and healing. The remains of the relict juniper, hornbeams and beeches are preserved here, and the central areas of the park are decorated with flower beds with southern flowers.
Bear cave
One of the most interesting objects in the park - Bear cave … During the war, there was a bunker in an inconspicuous place on the slope. Now it has been turned into a karst cave. Despite the fact that it is made of concrete, the cave is indistinguishable from the real one. Its length is two hundred meters: there are several tunnels with branches and grottoes, in a word, a real cave labyrinth. There are stalactites and stalagmites - though they are made of concrete, and the multi-colored streaks on the walls, typical for karst caves, are a dye. It is always cold and humid here, the temperature never rises above twelve degrees, and a key spring feeds a small underground lake. So it is worth bringing warm clothes with you.
The cave is densely populated: there are underground fish, one of the grottoes is busy butterflies - in the season here you can see the process of their hatching from the cocoon. In another grotto live the Nile bats - bats, which are most often called "bats", are so big. Here it is exhibition of minerals and minerals from the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea coast, and in one of the most secluded corners, a real pirate treasure is hidden. The largest grotto is called the "Seventh Heaven". Steps lead up to its ceiling, so you can climb up to this sky.
Maritime museum
The "Maritime Museum" presents models of various ships since antiquity, nautical navigational instruments, pirate maps, a collection of coins and much more. Here is the real cabin of the "Nautilus", in the windows of which you can see the fish swimming by and even find the sunken "Titanic".
The museum presents archaeological collection from finds of different times from the coast. There were Greek colonies, Scythians and Sarmatians lived - and they all left behind ceramics, weapons, jewelry and household items. The museum is designed in such a way that it will be interesting even for the smallest visitors. Here you can take unique shots against the background of the exhibits, in a real diving suit, etc. One of the most photogenic exhibits is a model of a coral reef that takes up almost an entire hall. There is another observation deck on the roof, an exhibition of cannons and anchors, as well as giant sculptures of great travelers - Columbus, Magellan and others.
On a note
- Location: Gelendzhik, 1511 km of the M-4 “Don” highway.
- How to get there: Free (when buying a ticket to Safari Park) by express from the stop "Central" (st. Kirov, 62) or by bus 118 to the stop "Lavrovaya", then on foot
- Official website:
- Opening hours: 09: 00-20: 00, cable car and "Maritime Museum" until 19:00.
- Ticket prices. A single ticket to the park and the cable car is 1800 rubles, if you pay by card - 1530 rubles. Individual tickets: 1200 rubles. to Safari Park and 600 rubles (510 when paying by card). cable car. Free for children under 5 years old, veterans of the Great Patriotic War and wheelchair users.
