Vinpearl Safari Park

"If you are tired of lying on the beach I recommend to visit Safari park to diversify you vacation. You can get to the park by free shuttle bus, which runs on a schedule. It is better to come here in the early morning when it is not hot and animals are more active.
At 10 o'clock you can watch an animal feeding show with birds flying under your head and parrots playing football. It is a little bit simple but entertaining show especially for kids. After show you can visit the zoo on foot or on electric car and see a lot of different animal species. I'm sure it won't boring for you! "

The Entrance

          Phu Quoc Safari Park - is located in Bai Dai, at the Northwest coast of Phu Quoc Island. Vinpearl Safari Park is boasting to be Vietnam’s largest zoological park, conserve abundant indigenous and exotic flora and fauna. The sanctuary is home to 400 species of plants, and 2000 wild animals representing 140 different species, many of which are considered rare and endangered.
Phu Quoc is one of the 10 best beach destinations of Vietnam. The island has welcomed over 1 million visitors each year and there are direct international flights to China and Singapore.

Vinpearl owns here a beautiful hotel and it has begun already the construction of a casino. This will be the end of the charming Phu Quoc island, where it was so authentic with its fishing villages, nuoc mam factories and pepper plantations. It is likely to be the start of another global tourist destination. This will likely be aimed Vietnamese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Koreans, etc. The entry fee is 20 Euros (VND 500,000). This was the fee in 2017. The rate in hotels is at least 100 Euros per night. I selected hotels with a lower rate for the visitors of this site. The Vingroup is clearly not aimed at school children or Vietnamese middle class families.

the Safari

Upon entering the park you will be greeted in English by employees of the park. There is an African dance / music group that welcomes you here. A little further at the entrance is an elephant show. The park is be divided into 2 main areas:
1) Open Zoo area where guests can walk around and see various different animals and
2) Safari are where guests board a tram and visit animals wandering throughout the park.

We were told that we could wait for the shuttle bus that would take us to the safari bus, or we could take a stroll through the zoo and so walk to the safari bus. We decided to make the walk, which is about 1 km long and takes 2 hours.
The zoo is not innovative. Actually, the landscape is a bit boring. They have not tried to recreate the landscape of Phu Quock. Here and there is quite a rock, but that is all. You see pipes, containers and pumps on site. Some areas are so large that you can hardly see the animals or there is a fence between you and the animals.
After more than an hour's walk in the heat of the zoo we finally arrived at the departure point of the safari bus. There is a regular bus and real safari truck through the park. It was Sunday, and very busy. On weekdays it will probably be more quiet.
The drive through safari park takes about 30 minutes. The guide gave basic information in Vietnamese, Chinese and English. We saw tigers, lions, rhinos, ostriches, antelopes, a pair of young giraffes and many zebras.

Elephant Show

"We stumbled upon this on a tour to the north of the island. We thought we had taken the wrong road, but finally ended up at the entrance. It seems vastly over dimensioned for the island, and so we had the feeling of having the entire zoo to ourselves.
The area is huge, and the animals well displayed and in very spacious enclosures - while still offering very good opportunity to see them up close! They all seemed very well treated.
The park is part traditional zoo, part safari. The zoo has a wide range of animals in enclosures. The safari takes you on an air conditioned bus tour through tigers, lions, rhinos, ostriches, zebras, giraffes and plenty other. A lot of fun!
The volieres were actually a lot of fun, and very well thought through (I normally find them boring, but here it worked really well)
It has all the features and amenities of a modern and well equipped zoo, and was very clean everywhere."