Kolmården Wildlife Park, Scandinavias largest zoo is located south of Stockholm, on the Swedish eastcost. The park is situated on a mountain on the north side of the Bråviken bay. (Map) Attractions One of the biggest attractions is Safari , a cable car gondola that runs from between 2,5 - 20 meters above lions, bears, wolfs, giraffes, mooses, zebras and many more. Safari will open in the spring of 2011. It has cost Kolmården 132 million SEK to build. Another big attraction is Marine World with two daily shows: Dolphin show and Seal show. In Marine World there is also Restaurants , Shops, Cafeterias and two rides: The dolphin express roller coaster and th pirate. If you want you can pre-book meetings with the dolphins. In Marine World you can watch dolphins, seals (three different species!) and penguines from two under water view sections. Showpool Tiger World is the big area with siberian tigers and dholes. You can see them through windows or from the walkpath. You can also pre-book a visit in the tiger bus, where you can come even closer to the big animals. The Birds of Pray show is the only one of it´s kind in Sweden. Here you can experience falcons, owls, vultures and rheas. A very well done show! In the area there are also a big Snowleopard mountain ( the old polarbear enclosure 1968) where you can meet the animals face to face through windows. Or, you can watch them from the walking path. Around here there are also the Southamerican exhibit, a big green area with rheas, tapirs, vicunjas, maras and capybaras. The bushdog enclosure is also located in this part of the zoo. Snowleopard enclosure Desert, Savanah and Kolloseum is home to these animals: Camel, Kulan, Yak, Asian elephant, white rhino, meercat, grevy zebra, addax, lechwe, eland , wildbeest... The four main enclosures are from 1965 but they are still very good. It´s the Savanha, the Desert, the elephant valley and the savanha / desert small outdoor space. Savanah Scandinavia is a very good looking and natrual part of the zoo. It has lynx, wolf, muskox, wolwerin, petting-zoo, bear and prairedog in some simple enclosures. TheApariumarea consists of two houses: The Aparium and the gibbon house. The gibbon house has two rooms and two outdoor islands. The aparium has two enclosures: Chimp and Gorilla. Both have two big mountains in the middle and the chimp mountain is Kolmårdens highest point. Outdoor the chimps have one simple island and the gorillas one. Hopefully this area will be renovated soon. Chimp area Facts The zoo was opend in 1965. In 1967 the parks first cableway was opend. 1968 The worlds largest polar bear enclosure was built. 1969 The first dolphins arrived to the new dolphinarium. 1972 The new Safaripark were you could drive with your own car was opend. 1973 was the year when the Aparium Ape house was opend. 1977 The first dolphin was born. 1982 The Kolmården rescue centre was built 1984 The Vildmarkshotellet Hotel was built 1990 A new lynx enclosure was built 1993 The Swedish king opens the Dolphin Laguna 1995 Nelson the rhino was born. The first rhino ever born in a Swedish zoo. Everybody follows Nelsons struggle against death. Sadly he passes away. 1997 The park gets private owners 1998 The wellknown Swedish cartoon Bamse gets his own themepark, Bamses Värld. 2003 Flip, the dolphin superstar dies, 41 years old. 2003 Al elephants, giraffes, buffalos and rhinos dies in tubercolosis. 2004 One of the new rhinos from Africa get a baby on January 1th. 2004 Two asian elephant moved in to Kolloseum, a gift from the Thai king to the Swedish king. 2005 The Wild Camp theme park was opend. 2006 Enzo, the first gorilla ever born in a Swedish zoo. Mother Naomi can´t feed him and he was later handfed by his keepers. 2007 Tiger World with Tigers and Dholes was opend 2008 Marine World was opend. The whole marine part of the zoo get a different style. 2009 Delfinexpressen roller coaster was opend in Marine World. 2009 A new gorilla was born, Echo. This time Naomi did a great job! 2010 A new entrance was opend. 2010 From fall the possebility to ride the cable way or go by car in the Safaripark is no more. 2011 The biggest invest in Kolmården history, the Safari cableway was opend on 30th April. 2011 Sjörövarskeppet was opend in the Marine World amusment section. 2011 A new adventure park for kids was opend. I hope you find this zoo as interesting as I do. Please check out the gallery for more pics. Questions is more than welcome!
Thanks very much for posting such an informative review of Sweden's Kolmarden Zoo, a place that I have studied from far away. I have an American friend that is visiting that zoo within the next month and he'll be sure to be interested in this thread.
Whole thing looks fantastic, with some areas for every time of year. Savannah, desert, apes would be good in summer. Snow leopard, siberian tiger, scandanavia would be good in winter. As a cat fanatic, the great snow leopard exhibit would be reason enough for me to visit. And of course the new cable safari ride is very intriguing.
Zoo Savanha: grevy zebra, addax, lechwe, eland , wildbeest, sableantilope and white rhino. And I think it´s called Blesbuk? Or some related. Before there have been different kinds of cranes, storks, buffalos and antilopes. Before the tuberculocis also giraffes. Even earlier asian elephants. Safari Savanha: Giraffe, Watussi, Ostrich, sableantilope, axisdeer, nilgau, grevyzebra, eland, wildbeest
Tiger World is also great in summer, the Tigers is bathing in the big river. The river even has three waterfalls! Now, I have to go, the official opening of Safari starts soon!
Can all the animals in the new overhead Safari now only be viewed from above, or can they be seen from ground level walkways etc as well?
That is a huge negative from me then; looking at animals from an overhead view only wouldn't interest me.
I wholeheartedly agree! Seeing animals only from a cable car would make for some interesting but swift viewing opportunities, and I've always been fairly negative towards safari rides, monorails, tram tours, etc, because sometimes an individual can see animals for literally seconds and then be forced to move on.
Well, it´s correct but this ride goes very slowely, and you pass the same enclosures several times. After you have payed the ticket in the zoo entrance Safari is free, wich means you can go many times.
Hello ZooChatters! I am working on a video that will show al animal enclosures, and it will give you a tour around the zoo. If the weather improves (it snowed this morning) I hope the filming will be completed in late May and that the video is available on YouTube in early June.
Kolmarden.com says they have (Giraffa camelopardalis) But I know they have hybrids and I think the Reticulated Giraffes came from Borås before they got Rothschild giraffe? I am a bit confused and I can´t really see the differents either. I will ask the Safari staff.
Well, it´s the first time I have experienced snow in may. This is close to Kolmården when I looked out through my window this morning. I just went "WTF"!?
Thanks for this review . I am planning on visiting a number of zoos in Sweden next year, and I have a couple of questions: -At Kolmarden, is there much diversity of smaller mammals, birds and reptiles? -Can you see all of Kolmarden in one day, or is two days better? -Is the park open year-round or not? Do the opening hours change much?
- No. Not any more. Al animals at Kolmården is in the first post. There is a Tropicarium outside the zoo (not owned by the zoo) wich have some different species. Here you can see a video with the rainforest enclosures: - If you go there in the middle of the summer there is many people and it takes two days. But, if you are going there in May or early June one day is enough. - 30 April – 1 July 10am-5pm daily 2 July – 14 August 10am-7pm daily 15 August – 28 August 10am-5pm daily 3 September – 2 October 10am-5pm Saturday-Sunday They are also open in fallholiday, easterholiday and winterholiday.
