HAUTE-TOUCHE ZOOLOGICAL RESERVE

France's largest animal park takes you on a journey to the five continents, in the heart of a 436-hectare forest estate. The reserve is home to over 1,500 animals belonging to 120 species from all five continents. Herbivores (cervids, antelopes, ibexes, mouflons, camelids), carnivores (wolves, tigers, lynxes and an exceptional species, the dhôles), primates (lemurs, baboons...) and birds (curly pelicans, ibises, flamingos...) enjoy vast shaded enclosures incorporating several ponds, offering visitors a natural, peaceful and authentic setting. The space available at the reserve is ideal for animals living in herds or packs. Most of the enclosures are two to three hectares in size, or even larger. A third of the reserve's animals are cervids (deer, fallow deer, elk). Some twenty species and subspecies are presented, and are housed in spacious enclosures, enabling the management of large groups, thus providing good conditions for reproduction, particularly of species that are rare or even extinct in the wild.
This reserve is a dependency of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. You can explore the 100 hectares of forest and moorland by car, on foot, by bicycle or in a horse-drawn carriage. As soon as you enter Haute-Touche, your vehicle will take you on a 4 km tour. You'll discover the European zone, with bison, wolves, ibex, fallow deer and stags roaming free. You then enter the area reserved for breeding species for research programs. Educational panels explain the European and international role of the Haute-Touche Conservatory in wildlife conservation and management. Use the free parking lot to explore the animal collections. Follow the 2 km signposted circuit, which can be extended by a further 2.5 km for the more sporty or naturalist. The animals evolve in an exceptional setting dotted with wide open spaces, a vast stretch of African water, various islands for Guinea baboons and lemurs, and a savannah area with hyenas, cheetahs, antelopes, small mammals and birds... The observation continues with Eld deer, Sumatran tigers, Mackenzie wolves and dholes (Asian canids unique in France). A must-see for the whole family.