Reserve Africaine de Sigean, Sigean

The visit started out with a very long 40 minutes car queue to enter. We had already purchased our tickets, as requested in their website, but we noticed most cars hadn't. Hence the wait. The first part of the tour is through the outer spaces were animals are free in the environment and visitors must be in their cars, with windows closed. To our astonishment, people lowered the car windows, offered food to animals, screamed at the animals and some even got out of their cars to photograph them. NO ONE FROM THE PARK DID ANYTHING. We were amazed. Besides, the bears area had 3 bears only; we could only see 2 rhinoceros and lions were lying down in a space limited by an electric wire (over 10 meters away from the road) Afterwards, we did the walking tour. We expected many more species and animals, larger spaces for them, but no. Animals are caged in spaces that evidently don't allow them to run or exercise as they would in the wild (so it feels more like a zoo than to a reservation). The Vivarium doesn't have many species either. It is a nice experience for kids, but we expected a lot more for the entrance fee. Restaurants and snack bars are available in the walking area of the park, but food IS EXPENSIVE! And quality is not great. But I must say that fries were awesome!

Very nice place, cool idea! You can have a "Safari" with your own car / camping car, driving around (queueing in August) among exotic animals wandering free! After that, there is a walking only area with many others animals and attractions for children. The whole route takes 4-5 hours -ish. Water available inside the park. The only con is related to the safari part, if you go in August (or during high season) you will probably queue a lot waiting for people to take pictures of the animals.