Location: Sderot Hatzvi 1, Tel Aviv
Phone: 03 630 5305
Website: www.safari.co.il Email:
Recommended by:
Yaffa Gluck Rosedale
‘We had an amazing time at the Ramat Gan Safari and Zoo. Although hot and crowded (we didn’t even feel the crowd) it was still one of the best trips we have done with our 7 year old and 5 year old boys. Lots of animals, very pretty place, lots of shade, lots of toilet stations and snack/drink stations. We rented a jeep for half an hour and drove around a little bit as well. It was a little relief from walking in the heat. Before you get into the zoo part is the safari part where you drive in your car and you see animals on the side of the road and that was also really enjoyable. On the way out of the zoo, you can go and visit the lions, . That was a little disappointing. There was a a lot of traffic and there were about 6 lions in the distance. All in all, a great day and if you go on a day that’s cooler, then you will have an even better time!’
Description:
The Zoological Center Tel Aviv – Ramat Gan or “Safari” occupies 250 acres of nature in the heart of a densely populated urban area in Israel: “Africa in the heart of Israel”. The word ‘Safari” is colloquial Swahili for ‘journey’. We invite you, our visitors, to embark on a fascinating journey into the lives of animals in the African savannah, without leaving Ramat Gan. As in their natural habitat on the continent of Africa, the animals wander freely in large herds. Like tourists in Africa, be guests of nature and watch the typical behaviour of the animals: their feeding habits, the social behaviour of the great herds, activities, and resting patterns. You will be able to see the differences between males and the females, and you may be lucky enough to witness mating rituals and power struggles, and see how females raise their offspring.
The Safari has the largest animal collection in the Middle East and is unique in the world because of the large herds of mixed species of African animals that roam the spacious African Park. The African Park and the zoo are home to 1,600 animals of different species, amongst them 68 species of mammals, 130 species of fowl, and 25 species of reptiles.
The zoo contains a variety of animals from around the world. Especially notable are its breeding herds of African and Asian elephants, the gorilla, chimpanzee, and orangutan families, the hippo herd, and the pride of lions.
The Safari participates in 25 international programs for endangered species. It is a partner in breeding and reproduction programs and in research projects. The Safari is a member of international zoological organizations and cooperates in research and knowledge transfer between zoos and nature preservation organizations worldwide.
The Safari’s educational purpose is to promote the conservation of nature – from the belief that we love what we know, and we preserve what we love. When you visit the park, look after yourselves and the animals by complying with the safety regulations.
Drive only on the roads. Do not leave your vehicle – the animals are dangerous! Drive carefully and remember that here, animals have the right of way – it is their home. In the lion enclosure, be especially cautious. Enter only in a closed vehicle and keep the windows closed.
Do not feed the animals. Our keepers make sure that the animals are fed appropriate diets. There have been cases where visitors have fed an animal and unintentionally did harm to it. Leave your pets at home. Transfer of disease between animals is very common and could harm both the Safari animals and your pet.
In the zoo, stay on the paths.
Respecting the safety regulations ensures you a safe visit and no harm to the animals. Thank you for coming. We wish you an enjoyable and exciting visit and a wonderful day at the Safari!
January 2014 – Photo credit – Tibor Jager
LoveLoveIsrael Review
We just came back from the most fun 4 hours at Ramat Gan Safari. We decided to give the children a morning off school on Friday (bit naughty but they weren’t missing much and deserved it!). Firstly – I highly recommend trying to go there off peak. It makes it much more value for money and so much more relaxing when you practically have the place to yourselves . The weather was perfect and the kids were so excited – it has been a while since we have seen animals and the first time for my youngest two. We took children age 2,4,6,8,10 and everyone enjoyed it. The older ones enjoyed reading about the animals and telling us about it.
The safari part is a drive on the way into the zoo, then you visit the zoo, and then drive back through another safari.
On the way in we were thrilled to see a whole procession of hippos getting out of the water to go and eat as well as rhinos and zebras right nearby.
We arrived at the zoo and were tempted to hire an electric kart but we didn’t. In fact the zoo is not too large and we found even the 4 year old was happy to walk around everywhere without it being too much (the two year old was in the stroller). Plus my older children loved taking the map (they have it in English) and running ahead onto the next animal which wouldn’t have been possible in the karts.
What we loved was that unlike London Zoo – the animals were all where they were meant to be – as in, no empty cages – there were actually loads of happy looking animals.
Highlights for us were the elephants – especially the babies, the giraffes, and the monkeys.
The giant turtles were also great and were having a sumo fight when we saw them. Lots of action! We also enjoyed the llamas in the petting zoo.
The safari ride back was great fun. The animals were all coming up to us in the car – zebras,
a rhino, ostriches (they were the funniest). Being off peak the wait for the lions wasn’t too bad, but basically only about 8 cars go through at a time so I can imagine this gets very long at peak times. The lions were all lazing about in the sun together – we had a good view of them and to be honest we were glad they weren’t moving around!
All in all we had a lovely few hours. The Zoo is well kept and the animals on the whole seemed happy and well looked after. We didn’t go by the clock, but you can watch feeding times and I know they have more things going on at busier times but for us it was so perfect just to walk around and have fun together.
The Safari also offers night and early morning safaris at certain times of the year.Click here for monthly opening times