Today, inhabitants of Eastern European countries do not have to go to Africa to see the Lions of Africa. In the Crimean mountains near a town called Belogorsk a beautiful and wild safari park has been created by a man called Oleg Zubkov, who is also the current owner. He designed the Park with tree top walks that allow the visitor to see Lions in their natural surroundings. Well over 2 km of walks at a height of 6 meters have been established over very large areas housing more than 58 Lions.
From these specially arranged walkways you can witness Lion prides segregated by family groups, divide their territories, observe their various games and watch them play and enjoy their particular habits, with most visitors rushing to photograph them when their feeding times are announced over the specially positioned loud speakers.
This great Lion Park named “Taigan” after a huge reservoir nearby, houses a multitude of animals, apart from the African Lions there are lots of areas with over 2000 other animals, like zebras, camels, and giraffes, naturally some of them have been housed in cages to stop them escaping from the Park, such as birds of pray, bears, wolves and smaller mammals.
The park also contains a really modern Hotel for visitors who wish to have a prolonged stay in the park, apart from a very large cafe decorated with a multitude of fossilised trees and photographs of famous visitors, the grounds have been embellished with beautiful temples and a central fountain where most people gather.
The surrounding area is filled with artificial lakes housing many beautiful birds and lots of large lawns with peacocks roaming around freely, long avenues lined with tall trees and flower beds adorn areas where you can find many stone sculptures of animals and various other artifacts.
Finally, we have many small stalls selling various local produce, fancy crafts, a few stands selling ice cream or fruit and the almost inevitable unique souvenir shop.
This Park is conveniently situated just a few kilometers from the Capital “Simferopol”.
