The Pombia Safari Park, which also includes a zoo and an amusement park, is located in the town of Pombia (Lake Maggiore), an hour’s drive from Milan.
It was created in 1976 by Angelo Lombardi and covers an area of 400,000 square metres.
In 1999 the park was acquired by Orfeo Triberti and the buildings, which had begun to deteriorate, were restored.
Today the park consists of two large areas – the safari park itself and the entertainment area.
There are about 600 animals in the safari park, including hippos, lions, tigers, cheetahs, zebras, giraffes and more.
Two more albino lions, Vegas and Wolf, and two lovely giraffes have recently arrived.
There’s also an aquarium and a reptile area with venomous snakes and reptiles from all over the world – they don’t roam the grounds, of course, but live in enclosures.
And children especially love the Lemur Journey area and the new home for colourful parrots.
The park’s entertainment area has more than 30 rides, including a carousel for toddlers, a caterpillar, a children’s steam train, water slides, a real pirate ship, a 5D cinema and a Ferris wheel.
A specially designed arena features theatre productions on a variety of themes and shows with talking parrots.
And the Falcon Fortress offers falconry demonstrations.
Other attractions worth mentioning include Jurassic Park with life-size dinosaurs, a botanical garden with giant plants, an educational trail in the forest, a Wild West area with bison, and a pony arena for the little ones.
In 2011, a non-profit organisation called SOS Elephants was set up at the safari park to help conserve the pygmy elephants on the island of Borneo. Part of the proceeds from tickets sold to the park go towards creating a protected area in Borneo where the elephant population can breed in comfort.
SOS Elephants also provides technical, financial and administrative support for wildlife rehabilitation programmes.
The park is open from April to October and some days on other days (check with our managers)
