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Knuthenborg Safaripark

Coordinates: 54°49′25″N 11°30′21″E / 54.82361°N 11.50583°E / 54.82361; 11.50583
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Knuthenborg Safaripark
Knuthenborg Safaripark entrance
Map
54°49′25″N 11°30′21″E / 54.82361°N 11.50583°E / 54.82361; 11.50583
Date opened1950 (1950) (deer park)
1969 (1969) (exotic animals)
Locationnear Bandholm, Lolland, Denmark
Land area660 hectares (1,600 acres)[1]
No. of animals1000[2]
No. of species40+[2]
Annual visitors310,000 (2019)[3]
MembershipsEAZA,[4] WAZA[5]
Websiteknuthenborg.dk/en/

Knuthenborg Safaripark is a safari park on the island of Lolland in the southeast of Denmark. It is located 5 km (3.1 mi) to the north of Maribo, near Bandholm. It is one of Lolland's major tourist attractions with over 300,000 visitors annually, and is the largest safari park in northern Europe. Among others, it houses a drive-through safari park, a monkey forest, large enclosures for Siberian tigers and African elephants, a dinosaur forest with full-scale models, the Museum of Evolution with fossils of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, an arboretum, and the largest nature playground in Denmark.[6][7][8][9] Knuthenborg covers a total of 660 hectares (1,600 acres), including the 400-hectare (990-acre) Safaripark.[1] The park is viewable on Google Street View.

History

The park is set in Knuthenborg, previously known as the medieval manor of Årsmarke, which was Denmark's largest private estate.[10] In 1714, it became part of the new county of Knuthenborg. The park has its origins in 1867 when Eggert Christoffer Knuth (1838-1874) built a sturdy 7.4 km (4.6 mi) wall around his property with stones fished out of the Smålandsfarvandet.[2] He then hired English landscape architect Edward Milner who, on the basis of plans completed in 1870, laid out a park for his world collection of rare botanical plants as well as the many rhododendrons which are also a great attraction to tourists. There are several hundred species of exotic shrubs and trees.[6][11] In 1926, the park became protected under a preservation order. An enclosed zoological garden was established in 1950 adjacent to Swan Lake (Svanesøen) with 70 deer.[11] In 1969, Count Adam W. Knuth added the first exotic animals to the park;[11] antelopes, plains zebras and ostriches were the first to be acquired from Kenya followed by white rhinos.[12]

Features

White rhinoceroses at the Knuthenborg Safaripark
Siberian tiger in Knuthenborg Safaripark
Rothschild's giraffes at the Knuthenborg Safaripark

Over the past 40 years, the number of animals in the park has grown to about a thousand of more than fourty different species, with a primary focus on mammals.[2] Bactrian camels, antelopes, Rothschild's giraffes, white rhinoceroses, Chapman's zebras, blue wildebeest, moose, American bison and ostriches are some of the animals on view in the safari sections of Knuthenborg. The park also includes enclosures for African elephants (the largest exhibit for the species in northern Europe[13]) and tigers (the largest exhibit for the species in Europe[14]), walk-through enclosures with lemurs and red-necked wallabies, an arboretum, a forest with full-scale models of dinosaurs, and the Museum of Evolution with fossils of prehistoric animals, such as Allosaurus, Torosaurus (including the largest known dinosaur skull), Dimetrodon, the giant ground sloth Eremotherium and one of only twelve known specimens of Archaeopteryx.[9][15] In recent years, a number of animals from places no longer able to house them have been moved to the Safaripark, including African elephants in 2019 (after wild animals were banned from circuses in Denmark) and lions in 2022 (moved from an Ukrainian zoo due to the war with Russia).[13][16] Prior to this, neither species was kept at Knuthenborg.

Much of the Safaripark is bicycle or walk-friendly (although some distances can be large), but the African savannah, and sections housing moose, American bison and Arctic wolf are accessible only by those in a vehicle (own car or a safari bus). In the areas with domestic animals, visitors can touch the animals if they allow it.[6]

An amusement park section houses Denmark's largest nature playground, a water playground, trampolines, a family roller coaster (height requirement minimum 1 m [3 ft 3 in]) and a water coaster (height requirement minimum 1.2 m [3 ft 11 in]).[10][17]

Visitors

In 2012, there were some 223,000 visitors to Knuthenborg Safaripark representing a 10% increase over the previous year. The increase has been ascribed to new attractions and facilities for children.[18] In 2019, there were 310,000 visitors, making it the 29th most visited tourist attraction in Denmark.[3]

The park is open to visitors every day during the spring, summer and fall, but closed in winter.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b Knuthenborg: Oplevelser til en hel dag...og meget mere! Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d Heidi Pfeffer and Ove H. Nielsen (ed.), Lolland-Falster: historier in landskabet. 2012, Lolland-Falsters Historiske Samfund, pages 122–123. ISBN 978-87-91059-12-4. (in Danish).
  3. ^ a b "Attraktionslisten 2019" (PDF). VisitDenmark. 1 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  4. ^ "EAZA Member Zoos & Aquariums". eaza.net. EAZA. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  5. ^ "Zoos and Aquariums of the World". waza.org. WAZA. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  6. ^ a b c "The best day out of the year!". Knuthenborg Safari Park. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  7. ^ Elliott, Mark (2007). Lonely Planet Scandinavian Europe. Lonely Planet. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-74104-553-6. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  8. ^ "Lonely Planet review for Knuthenborg Safari Park". Lonely Planet.com. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  9. ^ a b "Knuthenborg Safaripark åbner sin største satsning nogensinde" (in Danish). Ritzau. 15 November 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  10. ^ a b Bain, Carolyn; Booth, Michael; Parnell, Fran (2008). Denmark 5. Lonely Planet. pp. 180–. ISBN 978-1-74104-669-4.
  11. ^ a b c "History of Knuthenborg". Knuthenborg Safari Park. Archived from the original on 18 March 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  12. ^ "Knuthenborg Safari Park". Good Zoos.com. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  13. ^ a b "Det sidste punktum er sat for Danmarks elefanter: I dag rykker Ramboline, Lara, Djungla og Jenny til Knuthenborg" (in Danish). DR. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  14. ^ "Europas største tigeranlæg er åbnet i Knuthenborg Safaripark" (in Danish). Reuters. 1 June 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  15. ^ "Museum of Evolution". Knuthenborg Safaripark. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  16. ^ "Tre løver evakueret fra Ukraine til Knuthenborg Safaripark" (in Danish). Ritzau. 2 January 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  17. ^ "Limpopoland" (in Danish). Ritzau. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  18. ^ "Stadig flere besøger Knuthenborg", TV2 Øst, 30 October 2012. (in Danish) Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  19. ^ "Opening times and prices", Knuthenborg.dk. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
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