The Siberia Tiger Park Harbin
Seriously – I had no idea that tigers were so beautiful. During our recent trip to the north-eastern Chinese city of Harbin we visited the Siberia Tiger Park. An reported average of one tiger a day is killed in order to source the skin and bones which are mistakenly believed in India to have medicinal purposes. The Siberia Tiger Park is home to over five hundred tigers and plays an important role in this endangered species’ protection and proliferation. Entrance to the park entails a bus ride through open range enclosures amidst the tiger population. What was spectacular about the park was the incredible number of tigers.
A white tiger at the Siberia Tiger Park in Harbin China
The tiger population included a number of white tigers, which are the result of recessive breeding in the tiger population. As well there were African lions, panthers, a cheetah and a leopard. I also had my first encounter with a liger – a cross between a lion and a tiger. Inter-breeding between a lion and a tiger is possible if they are raised together in an artificial situation – but is rare. The plaque at the park told us there are only 10 ligers in the world, a lonely existence I am sure.
One feature of the park that I preferred to miss was the feeding of live animals to the tigers by park guests. After exiting the bus we were led to a walk through section where we were encouraged to buy live chickens to throw to the tigers. I know that tigers are carnivorous, and they must eat, but I just didn’t fancy the idea of sacrificing a chicken to tigers on a family outing. Needless to say we bypassed this section promptly.
We had been informed that a visit to the tiger park is better in summer as visitors are encouraged to pat or hold a tiger cub during the warmer months. Awesome as this sounds we were more than happy with our own visit to the tiger park in winter.
I understand why the tiger cubs didn’t want to come out in winter – it was freezing!
Entry to the park was 90 RMB (about 18 Australian dollars) for adults and my pre-school aged children were free. No English was spoken by staff of the park however placards in English facilitate the learning experience of the park.
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That is an enormous amount of tigers and the bus ride sounds a good way to get amongst them. Thank goodness these ones are protected from a needless death. I would have skipped the live feeding as well!
Hi Jan, The bus ride was the perfect way to experience the park. Since posting this I have heard though that 2 years ago one of the bus drivers was killed by tigers when he got out to check on the bus as it was stuck in snow! As we drove through I was thinking “please don’t let this bus break down.” without knowing that dreadful story.
500 tigers in an open range area … wow! I think I’d enjoy visiting in winter too even if it was ludicrously cold. Snow for the kids to play in afterwards and the colder temperatures keeping visitor numbers down … sounds like a fantastic day out to me!
It was an amazing day. They had all sorts of tiger figures for the kids to play on outside too.
What an interesting spot to visit. Were the conditions fairly good for the tigers? We had several depressing visits to various zoos and wildlife parks in Asia which made us stop trying, but perhaps this is one worth visiting. Thanks for sharing.
Lucia, I think the conditions for the tigers and lions were good – they were living in a number of large open range enclosures. I was not so happy about the conditions for the few other species as they were kept in smaller cages.
What a great park to visit – even if it’s a bit chilly out! We just saw a white tiger at the Secret Garden of Siegfried & Roy in Las Vegas – gorgeous animal! I would definitely not have wanted to see the animals being fed and I’m pretty sure that my daughter would be traumatized by watching.
I’m so glad they’re taking conservation to heart over there. The tigers are beautiful.
Yes. I wish I had the language skills to have discovered a little more of the history of the park – who started it etc.