It is 10.30 in the morning when we enter the "Bioparc in Fuengirola" and its big dimensions. The area is almost two hectares large and divided into different sections: Africa, Madagascar Island, Southeast Asia and Indo-Pacific. In each section you can see animals that are typical for the respective countries. "The animals that exist here were either born in the Bioparc or came from another zoo", says Marta Pérez. She is the director of marketing and sales at the Bioparc. "The animals are endangered species. As the parc participates in more than 50 conservation programmes, that ensure that the animals live in an environment that corresponds to their natural habitat, the whole area is also very naturally structured." Wide rivers with numerous fish separate the enclosures of large animals from the visitor's paths. In some enclosures, however, the animals come into close contact with the visitors, for example at the lemurs' section or at the park's regular animal show – a real highlight for the visitors.
Directly after the entrance, we turn left over the Flamingo and Crocodile Bridge and the enclosures of the red river hog and porcupines, meerkats, geckos, scorpions and hippos to the Roloway monkeys, gorillas, chimpanzees and leopards. On this tour we will pass through the sections Madagascar and Africa and turn into the western part of the park – Southeast Asia. There we admire a real Sumatran tiger couple and rhinoceros birds. The surrounding at this place is more and more like a jungle. Among numerous other bird species we pass a tapir in the dragon interpretation centre where we find a lot of reptiles. The last big station is the Orangutan enclosure, before we return to the entrance via some aquariums with exotic fish of different sizes. Normally, the visitor stays between one and two hours in the park. Hunger can be satisfied in a restaurant inside the park. An excursion to the Bioparc is suitable for the whole family. (Editor/Photos/Video: Michael Trampert)