Domain of the Caves of Han Wildlife Park Caves of Han - sur Lesse

A Wolverine-male came from the Zoo Boras - Sweden and a female is expected soon from Siberia. Han is the only zoological collection in Belgium with this species.

 

Belgium first-breeding at the Caves of Han : about 2 months ago a wolverine was born and now the young starts to show itself to the public .

 

The cub died from meningitis.

 

At the beginning of May 4 Hudson Bay wolves have been born .

 

The animal parc has build a complete new exhibit for the brown bears in 2019. There are two exhibits for bears at this time. A complete new one, and and older (that also has been expaned with a large green zone within the last years) more classic bear-pit.


(from 8.20 you can see the older exhibit)

 

Big and very good news came out into the media from the Domain of the Caves of Han wildlife park today: two European wolverine (Gulo gulo gulo) cubs were born on February 7th and have recently begun to leave their den. During a check-up on April 17th they were found to be a male and a female.

In 2017 they had the first wolverine birth happened at Han, but that female (Grahma) sadly died of meningitis not long after becoming independent from the mother.

Wolverine births are rare and according to one of the articles the pair at Han is quite important genetically for the breeding program, so hopefully things continue to go well this time.

Sources (in French):
Nouvelle naissance de gloutons au Domaine des Grottes de Han! - Zoonaute.net
Un glouton, naissance historique au domaine des Grottes de Han !
Le glouton, disparu de Belgique depuis la Préhistoire, s'est à nouveau reproduit au Domaine des Grottes de Han !
https://soirmag.lesoir.be/296092/ar...histoire-le-glouton-sest-nouveau-reproduit-au

 

The Artic wolves had 6 cubs, the group has expanded to 14 indivudals now.

Due to the COVID-19 precautions the entrance has been moved to the 'Dry Hampton square' (250m further). You can visit this park by foot, or by Safari-car. When you go on foot, you can choose how you enter the park, on foot or historic train. Before the COVID-19 measurements this was always with the historic train. After your visit you can not go through the caves, so you will asked to use the historic train back to the village.

New hiking trails (less steep) are build at this moment, but not finished yet. The expand the park on a regulary basis the last years.

 

I visited the Domain of the Caves of Han on Sunday and am now reporting on my experiences. I only visited the wildlife park on foot as I did not have an interest in the wildlife park by Safari Car (and you have to chose between those two anyway, you cannot do both with a standard ticket), the Caves or the museum spaces PrehistoHan and Han 1900. I took the long hiking trail (5.5 kilometers) through the wildlife park.

I previously visited the Domain of the Caves of Han in August of 2008 (when I did also visit the caves). At that time the hiking trail through the wildlife park had not yet been developed (or only partially) and at that time I visited the park by Safari Car. Since 2008 the park has gone through quite a few attractive developments, both in terms of the development of the hiking trail and in terms of new and updated animal habitats.

There were quite a few people hiking through the wildlife park but due to the size of the domain that was not really an issue, unless in some viewing areas and in the area around the brown bear exhibits , where the Safari Car passengers de-board for a short time to view the bears, and in this zone face masks were recommended, though only worn by a minority of visitors including myself.

In my opinion the park did quite well with the Covid-19 safety measures. As Gorilla Gust already said above the entrance area was moved from the Domain's building in the Han-sur-Lesse village center to the Dry Hamptay zone (according to the domain's website it is Dry Hamptay, not Dry Hampton as above in Gorilla Gust's post) just outside of the Han-sur-Lesse village center, and this is a large enough open area to allowing separation and channeling of visitor movements, although it was quite busy and had long queues for the caves when we returned from the wildlife park. There were also quite a few hand disinfection stations and small but clear signage on the safety measures throughout the wildlife park, and most staff we saw wore face masks.

Most viewing areas that were closed at the time the park reopened after the lockdown have since reopened with safety measures such as single file traffic and only one family or group being allowed in at a time and asked not to linger to allow others to get a view also. Unfortunately those measures were not followed well by all visitors. Two areas in the park had young women wearing a shirt from the domain (possibly students during a holiday job) keeping an eye on things and trying to enforce the safety guidelines.

Since Gorilla Gust's post a new trail has been opened for wildlife park walking visitors to return to the Han-sur-Lesse village, however it is a difficult trail with very steep slopes so after the wildlife park trail we did not want to take it and returned by tram. In the tram face masks are mandatory, only one family or group is allowed to sit in a booth in the tram and plexi panels have been put up between the booths. The tram ride wasn't very pleasant though, to be honest, as the old trams provide for a shaky ride and their brakes make a very loud and highly unpleasant grinding sound.

The 5.5 kilometer long wildlife park trail is not a very easy trail as the terrain in Han-sur-Lesse is quite rugged with some areas with rocky ground and quite a few upward and downward slopes, some of them quite steep. The trail however does take you through a beautiful area with a lot of forests and some impressive landscape views. I enjoyed the trail very much. It is however not easy and not really recommended for those who are not at least a little bit fit and/or used to somewhat longer walks on somewhat difficult terrain.

We ate in the restaurant Tivoli in the forest zone, 2.3 kilometers into the trail, and the food was rather enjoyable. One of the only downsides I can think of is that all restrooms in the wildlife park were either small dark cabins or port-a-potties.

With regards to seeing animals a wildlife park is always a little bit of a gamble, but we saw most species. In the meadow area in the valley zone we did not see any Heck cattle, mouflon or roe deer, and we also could not find any of the Alpine chamois in the ravine forest area. That perhaps was the biggest miss, as I cannot remember having seen chamois before. We did however see a wolverine (but not the cubs born this winter) and the Alpine marmots quite well.

On the grounds of the wildlife park I also saw a wild common wall lizard (I think, have yet to check), my very first ever wild reptile (at least as far as I can remember).

One of the three owl aviaries was being renovated so we only saw the Eurasian eagle owls and Eurasian great grey owls, and not the snowy owls.

I am planning to post an extensive photographic overview of the wildlife park and its surroundings, and I have already had a gallery for the Domain of the Caves of Han added here on ZooChat. I am probably also going to post some of my pictures from 2008 as I have recently watched them again, and some of there are quite nice.

To ZooChat members in, near or visiting Belgium or looking for different places to visit in Belgium I would definitely recommend a visit to the wildlife park in Han-sur-Lesse.

 

When you walk by foot the trail is seperated into two parts.

In the second part the park is planning (in 2 to 3 years) to build an area with small ponds (nearby the Tree-tents). This will create some additional value to the long (if you don't see any animals it is just a walk in the forest, and boring for some visitors) path between the storks and the wolverines.

 

On our 4th visit this season we finaly saw the chamois. 6 of them!

Not on the usual exibit near the Tivoli (restpoint and horeca) in the ravine area, but on the big open green grassplain (with the heck cattle, deers and mouflons).

 

The zookeepers found an egg (first time) in the enclose from the griffon vultures (the have rescued vultures in the park). Unfortunately it was an abandoned egg. They will place it into a incubator to see what happens.

 

A young (nearly a year old) male forest reindeer, named Tikari, has arrived at the Han wildlife park from GaiaZoo, where he will join a bachelor herd. Another male, Villi, recently moved from Han to GaiaZoo to become the breeding male.

Domaine des Grottes de Han

On another note: a recent post on their Facebook page also suggests their Alpine marmots have come out of hibernation.

 

Correct, they are already outside.

 

The walking route (second part) has been changed again (between the tree-tents and the wolverines), the steepest parts are now avoided.

There are also cubs with the Artic wolves, two cubs are spotted by vistors.

 

A male Przewalski's horse foal was born a few days ago at the Han wildlife park.

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The entire Domain of the Caves of Han is currently forcibly closed due to heavy rainfall and flooding of the Lesse river. The Domain expects this will last for a few days.

Domaine des Grottes de Han

I was planning to go the Han wildlife park again this weekend, but have already scrapped those plans. Hopefully by next week the situation will have improved enough to allow a visit.

 

Update:

The wildlife park at Han will re-open tomorrow, July 19th.

The Caves of Han and the restaurant Le Pavillon near the exit of the cave, which also got flooded, will however remain closed for the time being.

Domaine des Grottes de Han

 

Three wolverines, two females and a male, Greya (2,3 kg) et Grif (1,8 kg) et 1 mâle, Grimir (2,4 kg), were born in the Caves of Han wildlife park. This is the third birth for the pair Valle and Skally at Han, after a single female born in 2017 who sadly died of encephalitis within months and twins in 2020.

Naissances au Domaine des Grottes de Han : des triplés chez les gloutons !
Han-sur-Lesse: naissance exceptionnelle de triplés chez un couple de gloutons

 

Arrival of an Ural Owl pair, in the purpose of breeding for a reintroduction program in Germany.
(seen on Instagram account of the park)

 

Arrival of a female Carpathian Lynx called BOGUSIA.
She will be paired with the male already present there.
Domaine des Grottes de Han on Instagram: " Et bienvenue à... ! Notre nouvelle pensionnaire se porte à merveille Elle symbolise un beau signe d'espoir pour l'espèce, car nous faisons maintenant partie du ́ du EEP (le Programme européen pour les espèces menacées) ! Notre souhait le plus cher est qu'elle s'entende bien avec le mâle Wald, avec qui elle partage son nouveau lieu de vie. Et que tous les deux mettent au monde des petits qui pourront être relâchés en pleine nature en Allemagne ! ✨ Félicitations à @green_geekette et à @dulivrealane e! Vous remportez chacun-e un ticket PassHan (Grotte + Parc), vous serez bientôt recontacté-es ~ En het was... ! Deze nieuwe bewoonster van het Wildpark heet Een hoopvolle stap voor deze diersoort, want we zijn nu deel van het herinvoeringsprogramma voor Karpaten lynxen van het EEP (Europees programma voor bedreigde diersoorten)! We hopen dat ze zich goed zal voelen bij het mannetje Wald, met wie ze haar nieuwe leefruimte deelt. En dat er op een dag kleintjes zullen komen, die in de wilde natuur in Duitsland vrijgelaten zullen kunnen worden! Proficiat aan @green_geekette et à @dulivrealane ! Jullie winnen elk een PassHan ticket (Grot + Wildpark)! We nemen snel contact met jullie op "