Akiyoshidai Natural Animal Park Safari Land

Akiyoshidai Natural Animal Park Safari Land, located in a very rural part of Yamaguchi Prefecture, is a drive-through type of zoo where visitors are promised the excitement of seeing animals in a “natural” environment, all while staying in the comfort of their own car.  The concept of the “driving safari” is the same as at Himeji Central Park Safari in Hyogo, and in fact there are a number of similarities between the two operations. 

Entrance

Vehicles line up to enter Akiyoshidai.  I went in a group of four people during the busy Golden Week holidays.  As expected, there was a long line of vehicles waiting to get in.  Visitors are told that it usually takes about 35 minutes to complete the drive-through circuit, and that they cannot exit the car while in the zone with the animals.  Luckily, there is a toilet located near the entrance gates.

Admission was 2400 yen per adult.  For a car of four people, that becomes quite a sum.  In addition, each car must rent a computer tablet for 600 yen which gives a running narration of each section of the park.

Elephant Sanctuary

The first area encountered after driving through the security gates was a wide open field with two African Elephants.  Please note the long queue of cars driving past the elephants.

It may be difficult to see in this photograph, but there were wires between the roadway and the spot where the elephants were standing. These were probably electrified wires used to train the elephants to not enter the road.

Immediately after the elephants was an Indian Rhinoceros.  After that, there was a pond with water buffalos.

I was impressed at how much open area was available to the grazing animals.  There was a mix of herbivores such as elands, camels and zebras.

The photo below depicts the “Esa-yari Bus” surrounded by zebras and a camel.

“Esa-yari” means feeding.  Visitors who ride this bus are given the opportunity to feed certain animals.  (Visitors who drive their own cars are not allowed to even open their car windows.)  In addition to the 2400 yen entrance fee, the Esa-yari experience requires an additional 1100 yen for the cost of the food to be given to the animals.  On busy days, reservations for this bus apparently fill up quickly.  For visitors who do not drive their own cars to Akiyoshidai, this is the only option to enjoy the park, and since seats are limited, anyone entertaining the idea of using this option should make early reservations.

The next area was named the:

Malaika Savannah

The name of the area is apparently intended to evoke images of Africa, and the two types of animals in this section are native to Africa.

Since the road through the safari area made many snaking turns, visitors experience this “savannah” in two parts.  First they drive through the “savannah”, then proceed into the neighboring “Rocky Wetland” area, complete a long looping course, and then return uphill to again pass through another part of the “savannah”.  The first part of the “savannah” was home for two hyenas.  Note the wires used to keep the hyenas from entering the line of traffic.  I suspect the wires were electrified.

Rocky Wetland

This area featured a number of American Black Bears.  This first fellow was sitting in a tree.

This bear sat next to a large pond.

A pair of bears used these concrete culvert tubes as a place to nap.

Malaika Savannah Part 2

Driving back uphill, we came upon the second part of the “savannah” where two Cheetahs were kept.  It appeared that the layout of wire fences insured that visitors would have relatively close-up views of the animals.

Hatari Valley

The next section was exclusively for the Lions.  As can be seen in the photographs, the line of cars pass the animals at close distance.

In one section of this area was a cluster of fenced enclosures, probably the lions’ night quarters.

There were also a few “white” lions.

Last of all, in the last section of the Hatari Valley, there was an enclosure with juvenile lions.

Dulga Lake

Immediately after the area with lions was the area with Amur tigers.  This particular tiger was napping on a rock just adjacent to the roadway.  Some cars came within 2 meters of the tiger.

Because of the long queue of cars, we didn’t want to hold up traffic, and I only had seconds to try to photograph the tiger.  Not a very satisfactory result.

Similar to the lion section, there were additional fenced areas housing a few other tigers.

Walk-through area

After exiting the drive-through section, visitors usually park their cars and walk through what is described on the facility home page as an “Animal contact open space”.  In this area they have white tigers, red pandas, capybaras, meerkats, kangaroos, and domesticated animals.

White Tiger enclosure

As can be seen in this photo, vehicular traffic passes only a few meters in front of the exhibit.

This space seems rather small, especially in comparison to the areas in the drive-through zones.  Each white tiger had a cell that was only a few meters wide and a few meters deep.

The inclusion of white tigers in collections has sparked a debate among zoos world-wide about whether the inclusion of a color-morph animal might teach visitors the wrong lessons regarding wildlife conservation.  Because of health risks associated with intentionally inbreeding animals to achieve rare color-morphs like white tigers, many zoos choose to not keep or breed white tigers.

Red Panda House

Petting Zoo

In this area, for 200 yen, visitors can buy pellets to feed some of the animals.

Goat pen

 

 

Kangaroo pen

Food and Souvenirs

After completing the circuit through the drive-through safari and the walk-through areas, visitors can enjoy lunch at the restaurant/souvenir shop.  There was a large selection of branded-goods with the Akiyoshidai name.

There was a Red Panda enclosure that could be viewed from some of the restaurant windows.

Getting There

Akiyoshidai Natural Animal Park Safari Land is located in a very rural area, about a 40-minute drive from Yamaguchi City.  With no nearby train stations or bus lines, the most realistic way to reach the park is by private car.  Because of the distance, using a taxi from Yamaguchi City would undoubtedly be very, very expensive. Admission was 2400 yen for adults (including students from intermediate school and up), children from 4 years old through elementary school got in for 1400 yen, and senior citizens 65 years and older got in for 2100 yen.  (And don’t forget the 600 yen per car for the guided tour computer tablet rental.)

(Note: All photos in this post were taken during a visit made on May 2, 2019.  The comments in this post are based on observations made at that time.  Conditions may have since changed.  Please check it out for yourself!)