Knuthenborg Safaripark is a safari park on the island of

Lolland Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of Region Sjælland (Region Zealand). As of 1 January 2022, it has 57,618 inhabitant ...

in the southeast of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. It is located 7 km (on Rte 289) to the north of Maribo, near

Bandholm Bandholm is a small port town and parish on the coast of northern Lolland, Region Zealand, Denmark. On 1 January 2022 it had a population of 476, and is located to the northwest of Knuthenborg Safari Park and Maribo. From Bandholm there is ferry s ...

. It is one of Lolland's major tourist attractions with over 250,000 visitors annually, and is the largest safari park in northern Europe. It is also the largest natural playground for both children and adults in Denmark. Among others, it houses an

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

, aviaries, a drive-through safari park, a monkey forest (with baboons, tamarins and lemurs) and a

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

enclosure. Knuthenborg covers a total of , including the Safaripark.Knuthenborg:
Oplevelser til en hel dag...og meget mere!
' Retrieved 10 April 2015. The park is viewable on Google Street View.

History

The park is set in Knuthenborg, previously known as the medieval manor of Årsmarke, which was Denmark's largest private estate. In 1714, it became part of the new

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

of Knuthenborg. The park has its origins in 1867 when Eggert Christoffer Knuth (1838-1874) built a sturdy wall around his property with stones fished out of the Smålandsfarvandet.Heidi Pfeffer and Ove H. Nielsen (ed.), ''Lolland-Falster: historier in landskabet''. 2012, Lolland-Falsters Historiske Samfund, pages 122–123. . . He then hired English landscape architect

Edward Milner Edward Milner (20 January 1819 – 26 March 1884) was an English landscape architect. Early life and career Edward Milner was born in Darley, Derbyshire, the eldest child of Henry Milner and Mary née Scales. Henry Milner was employed at C ...

who, on the basis of plans completed in 1870, laid out a park for his world collection of rare botanical plants as well as the many

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

s which are also a great attraction to tourists. There are several hundred species of exotic shrubs and trees. In 1926, the park became protected under a preservation order. An enclosed zoological garden was established in 1950 adjacent to Swan Lake (Svanesøen) with 70 deer. In 1969, Count Adam W. Knuth added the first exotic animals to the park;

antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mammals ...

s, plains zebras and

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There are ...

es were the first to be acquired from

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followed by

white rhino The white rhinoceros, white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum'') is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The white rhinoceros consists ...

s. It is now a famous zoo of Denmark.

Features

Over the past 40 years, the number of animals in the park has grown to about a thousand of more than 40 different species. Antelopes, Bactrian camels,

giraffe The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, ''Giraffa camelopardalis ...

s, white rhinoceroses, and plains zebras are some of the animals on view in the Safaripark. The park features include an

, aviaries (21 of them), and tiger enclosure. Most of the Safaripark is

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

-friendly, though the

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

is accessible only by those in a vehicle (own car or a safari bus). An adventure playground affords a play area for children. A railway line operates in summer between the entrance of the park to Maribo. In the areas with domestic animals, visitors can touch the animals if they allow it. The threatened Arctic wolf, also known as the polar or white wolf, is housed in the park where it breeds regularly.

Tourism

In 2012, there were some 223,000 visitors to Knuthenborg Safari Park representing a 10% increase over the previous year. The increase has been ascribed to new attractions and facilities for children."Stadig flere besøger Knuthenborg"
''TV2 Øst'', 30 October 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2013. The Safari Park was placed 29 in the official list of Danish Tourist Attractions in 2011. The park is open to visitors every day during the spring, summer and fall, but closed in winter.
Knuthenborg.dk. Retrieved 10 May 2015.

References

External links

Official site
{{authority control Safari parks Tourist attractions in Denmark Parks in Denmark Zoos in Denmark Tourist attractions in Region Zealand Buildings and structures associated with the Knuth family