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Gaziantep Natural Life Park, Türkiye's largest wildlife park by area and number of species, hosted 4.75 million visitors in the first nine months of the year.
Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality established the park in 2001 in Burc Forest, on an area of about 1 million square meters. It is home to about 8,000 animals from 380 species. Gaziantep is a city in southeastern Türkiye.
The park draws visitors mainly from surrounding provinces and from many other cities across Türkiye. It also hosts guests from abroad.
Celal Ozsoyler, head of the municipality’s Department of Wildlife Protection, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the park is Türkiye's largest, the third largest in Europe, and the fourth largest in the world. He said the park attracts more interest every year.
According to Ozsoyler, visitors are particularly interested in lions, tigers and Cinar, the first giraffe calf born in Türkiye. He said the Tropical Butterfly Center and the Safari Park are also among the park's most visited attractions.
Ozsoyler said the management has developed new projects to increase visitor numbers. The park recently brought in an armored rhinoceros and created a new predator area.
On the predator island, visitors can see lions and tigers up close from behind glass partitions.
“We closed last year with 5 million visitors. We estimate we will head toward 6 million this year, because we think the predator island will attract great interest,” Ozsoyler said.
He said new habitats encourage visitors to return and that the management tries to open different living areas every three or six months.
Alongside the existing aquarium, the park plans a tunnel aquarium project intended to offer visitors a new experience once completed.
Ozsoyler said the park contributes to tourism and the Gaziantep economy.
According to him, visitors tour the city’s gastronomy venues and other tourist sites after visiting the park, which benefits local tradespeople. He added that the constant creation of new areas keeps visitor interest alive.
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