Tenerife & Loro Parque

 

I'm a "professional tourist" in my spare time so when I went to tenerife for a few days, I managed to see everything recommended to me by my trusted friend, the internet. We drove around the entire island's coastline (we is me and another friend, not me and the internet) and through its center from east to west, then north to south and whilst there's a lot to do if you're on holiday there for a week or two, the thing that impressed me the most was Loro Parque and can be experienced as a day trip from Gran Canaria. If you can spare two days, then hire a car, drive through the island's forests to its volcanic center and Teide, the highest point in Spain. From there head south for an overnight stay so you can go whale watching the next morning.

We drove from Puerto Rico to the port of Agaete in the north west of the island. I found it quicker shooting up the motorway on the east & north coast (less than an hour and a half) than coping with the narrow, windy, mountain roads on the west coast. The first ferry from Agaete leaves at 08:30 but that means getting out of bed before 6.00am and I have to get paid lots of money for that so we cought the second departure at 11:30am (the others being 14:30, 17:30 & 20:30). The ferry is a jet-foil so the journey time from Agaete to Santa Cruz de Tenerife (its capital) is just one hour, just enough time for breakfast on board, in the restaurant.

Once in Santa Cruz, follow the blue, motorway signs for the airport that will eventually get you onto the T5 motorway. Stay on the T5 to its end, Puerto de la Cruz, approx. 30 mins driving. It doesn't matter which road you take into Puerto de la Cruz, the directions to "Loro Parque" zoo are so well sign-posted you can't miss them and won't have any problems getting to the park without getting lost.

 

LORO PARQUE

I really need to get a digital camera (I will, soon) as I am still impressed/amazed at how picturesque the park is and can't show you, I'll have to tell you instead. From the minute you walk in you find yourself surrounded by trees, grass lawns, lakes filled with carp and crossed by wooden bridges. It's so lush and well maintained, as is the whole park and its enclosures. I'm a big animal lover in general and not always impressed with the way zoos look after, or don't look after the animals they're supposed to be caring for. Granted, many help various species numbers to grow away from extinction so that has my support. Loro Parque is the best I've seen so far for keping the enclosures clean, the animals are all very well cared for and their enclosures spacious and their natural habitat being recreated throughout. First stop for example, the silverback gorilla and his missus. Huge enclosure with caves, forest area, waterfalls, a lake and more. In fact, I think there was another gorilla in there too but the place was so big it had found itself somewhere to hide from our view.

I'm still kicking myself for walking past "planet penguin" and the "bat cave" without noticing them but we arrived at the sea lions in time to see the show they have there. Highly entertaining! (and the sea lions are obviously happy around their human carers before anyone tells me it's cruel). Next was the monkeys and again, the chimps had a huge enclosure similar to the gorillas (these enclosures are worth going to have a look at even if the animals weren't in there!!!) and we arrived in time there to watch one going to the toilet in its hand then eat it, almost as entertaining as the sea lion show.


So, walking past the pelican lake and the orchid house we arrived at the Jaguar enclosure (the 2 pictured above). My personal favourate we were there for ages. Huge glass screens protect them from all us smelly tourists so they can pace back and forwards just inches from your face. The crocodile enclosure was closed for refurbishment when we were there so next we found the birds (with feathers). Hundreds of different species to see and even the baby bird center! I think the Parrot show (the park being named after the Loro species) is a goverment requirement here for anyone opening a park as this must be the 10th I've come accross since I arrived in the canaries.

Next, we saw the sign for the dolphins so we kind of rushed past everything else (Tiger island, another sea lion enclosure and giant tortoises) as a show had just started. I think they'd closed the pathway off and had a guard to tell people to wait for the next show but we were running so fast past him we couldn't hear what he was saying even if we'd been paying any attention to him.

The dolphin show was amazing! There were no seats when we arrived so we sat a foot away from the side of the pool. My dog would be so ashamed if she knew how friendly the dolphins were, how much they knew and the tricks they were capable of. Outstanding and worth visiting the park for that alone!!! After that we just had the aquarium left but that wasn't a disappointment after the dolphins, thanks to the shark tunnel. The sharks scared all the kiddies walking through but the weight of the water was more scarey than the sharks as the tank they were in was enormous. A shark could swim so far away from you it would disappear on the horizon. The other tanks were equally impressive due to their colour, variety of fish and general layout of the place.

What else can I say, oh yes, the food - very, very nice if a bit pricey but it always is in these kind of places. Actually, the food isn't always very nice so a big thumbs up to their main restaurant. Lots of places around for snacks, drinks and ice-creams, lots of souvenier shops, clean loos, I can't really find fault with the place in fact other than the penguins/bat cave weren't well sign-posted so don't miss them!

We then made our way over Teide and down to the south which you can read about here. You could certainly do a half day in Loro Parque and a half day travelling around Teide and back to the ferry for Gran Canaria all in one day too.

 

So, to remind you that as well as the ferry service/car hire option, most tour operators have their own day excursion to Loro Parque with a coach to get you to the ferry and then to Puerto de la Cruz. If you are going under your own steam, the services to come back leave Santa Cruz de Tenerife at 07:00 10:00 13:00 16:00 19:00. If you get the first ferry over there you have time in the afternoon to go down to the (black sand) beach not far from the park where the waves are pretty impressive when the tide's moving.

If you can spare 2 DAYS to see some of Tenerife?

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