Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, Germany

We have visited the Serengeti-Park on June 25, 2011. I have always wanted to visit this park because many times when traveling in Germany I’ve seen big promotional signs and they looked very interesting. The Serengeti-Park is a safari park but it also has a big zoo where you can interact with monkeys and see white tigers. They also have a pretty decent sized amusement park.

We got coupons from our hotel which gave us 1 free admission per car. We were 4 persons so we came with 2 cars. On admission you will be asked if you want to take the bus tour or use your own car. The lady at the hotel advised us to take the bus tour because the guide will stop and tell us about the animals. They charged 3 euro per person extra for the bus tour. The regular admission was € 28,- per person but we only payed half because we got 2 free admission.

Driving through the entrance we wanted to park our car but it was very unclear where we were supposed to go. Before we realised where we needed to go to park our car we were already driving inside the actual safari park with wild animals. We turned around our car and drove to the exit of the park towards the parking lot. We parked our car and had no idea where the bus tour was leaving or where to find the entrance. We walked around for 20 minutes on the parking lot before we found the bus stop. They really need people there to guide guests where to go, or at least place signs.

Staff and signs are not the only thing they don’t invest in at the Serengeti-Park. The bus was old, worn and dirty. When we finally went on safari the bus driver drove very fast and we had no time at all to see the animals, When he stopped it was only for 1 or 2 minutes and he immediately drove on to the next part of the safari. We really regret taking this worthless bus tour and should have used our own car. So I can not really give an opinion on the safari park because the bus tour was so bad we hardly got to see any animals.

After the worst tour ever we were dropped off near the entrance of the zoo and amusement park. Which was great because we would not have found it ourselves. The amusement park was old and worn like the rest of the park. They have a couple of worn carnival rides and a few themed safari rides. The themes on those rides, the Aquasafari and the Dschungelsafari are just disturbing actually.

On the Aquasafari, a real airboat ride, they have a monkey swinging on a boat railing and pissing on the guests. After the pissing monkey they have a giant King Kong coming out of the water for no reason at all moving his hand and that’s it. Their themes really don’t make any sense at all. Just go an extra round with the airboat and skip the stupid monkeys please! Their Dschungelsafari is even worse. It’s such a pathetic rip off of the Jungle Cruise by Disney I don’t even know where to begin.

The zoo, Affenwelt (Monkey World), was actually the best part of the park. They have big cages with different species of monkeys which you can interact with. You really walk inside their habitats. Watch out for your belongings tho, they steal! They also have a few white tigers you can admire. The habitats are old and worn of course. Overgrown with weeds. But still it’s a cool experience.

The Serengeti-Park opened in 1974 and it still feels like 1974. All the rides are worn and the park is overgrown with weeds. This park clearly has seen better days and needs renovation bad. And remember if you go, do the safari with your own car. Do not take their worthless bus tour.