More than 500,000 years ago, the Lesse, a river flowing along the borders of the Ardennes, leaves its natural valley to penetrate into the limestone massif known as Massif de Boine. It leaves 2 km away, after crossing the massif through and through. Crossing the massif, it contributes to the formation of an extraordinary network of subterranean caves, the Caves of Han.
This phenomenon, of loss and resurgence of the river, is one of the few in Western Europe.
The network of caves that is discovered under the massif is of exceptional beauty. With their three Michelin stars, the Han Caves have been visited for 250 years and have already attracted more than 30 million visitors.
The site of the Massif de Boine and the chavée, former abandoned valley of the Lesse, has been converted into an Animal Park of our countries.
This site of 250 hectares of pure nature allows to contemplate these animals in freedom or semi-freedom in a natural setting of an exceptional beauty.
On foot or in Safari-car, venture into this haven of peace of 250 hectares. All these animals evolve in their natural environment.
The Park is the only one in Belgium to welcome European « Big Five »: the wolf, the bear, the lynx, the European bison and the wolverine.
But the Park is also breathtaking panoramas and a very special flora.
The Animal Park consists mainly of species of animals that live or have lived in our regions. These animals evolve in semi-freedom on a territory of 250 hectares. Among these extinct species or hunted from our regions, some have been reconstituted as tarpan or aurochs. Others, threatened, are the subject of great attention and participate in reintroduction programs.
The wolf
The lynx
The brown bear
The wolverine
The viverrin dog
The arctic wolf
The horse of przewalski
The european bison
The grand duke owl
The red deer
The sika deer
The wild boar
The owl harfang
The white stork
The griffon vulture
The chamois
The lapone owl
The forest cat
The ibex
The fallow deer
The reindeer
The tarpan
The deer
The aurochs of Heck
The donkey of Poitou
The mouflon
The highland
Sorry for the awful quality of pics, but they were made during the safari-car and the whether was not good this day.
Very interesting. It looks a fabulous place to visit and it is good that these species are being helped. The UK hunted most of these to extinction. The aurochs of Heck sound like they should be in « The Lord of the Rings »! 🙂
J'aimeAimé par 1 personne
We have really special species, It is a happiness that one tries to preserve of such treasures of the nature 🙂
J'aimeJ'aime
Very much so 🙂
J'aimeAimé par 1 personne