Animal parks and adventure parks in Mauritius

Beyond its beaches, Mauritius offers a wide range of leisure parks, perfect for a half-day or full-day outing. These are especially good options when the weather turns bad on the coast, or when you need to keep children entertained who are starting to find the lagoon nice, but lacking in excitement.

What you'll find there

Wildlife parks these sites offer the opportunity to get close to a diverse range of wildlife in specially designed and educational settings: safari animals observed from a vehicle or on foot, giant Aldabra tortoises that can often be fed, crocodiles, and insectariums. The common thread among these sites is that they feature animals not native to the island: Mauritius has never had a large native terrestrial fauna, and what can be seen there has been imported, sometimes for a long time.

Adventure parks they focus on activity rather than observation: zip lines over the gorges, treetop adventure courses, suspension bridges, quad biking, guided canyoning, and encounters with animals in enclosures accompanied by a guide. Many of these activities are sold separately from the entrance fee, and several have minimum height or age requirements.

Unusual attractions complement the offering, notably with the optical illusion galleries, which amuse adults as much as children and offer a fallback solution on rainy days.

Why are some parks also listed among the natural parks?

Several sites on this page also appear in another category on the site, and this is intentional. The same domain may offer attractions and animals on one side, and a genuine walk in nature on the other: these are two different visits to the same place, which do not interest the same people on the same day.

If nature appeals to you more than activities—walking in the forest, seeing the endemic flora, observing the birds that Mauritius has saved from extinction—then go and see our natural parks and nature reserves of MauritiusThese include conservation reserves, public forests open for walking, and national parks. Classifying them into a single category would be like hiding half of them from half of the visitors.

Organize your visit

Allow at least half a day. These parks are designed to make you stay: arriving two hours before closing time means paying full price to see a third of the site.

Check the conditions before you leave. Most of these parks charge an entrance fee, many require reservations, and adventure activities often have minimum height or age requirements. This is the biggest drawback that can ruin family outings: a child too small for the zipline when the entire trip was planned around it.

Bring good shoes, water and sun protection. These sites are mostly inland, where it quickly becomes humid, and the journeys are made on foot.

Come by car. None of these parks are well served by public transport, and the bus schedules are not conducive to a day trip. Our complete guide to car rental in Mauritius it covers the steps and pitfalls to be aware of.

With children

These parks are among the few places on the island designed from the outset with families in mind, featuring suitable trails, food areas, and restrooms. Two of our pages delve deeper into this topic and cover the entire site, not just the parks: places suitable for toddlers with or without a stroller and things to visit with children aged 5 and up.

Where to find them

These parks are spread out across the island, with a concentration in the west and south. None are more than two hours' drive from another, but their lengthy visits mean that it's rare to visit two in the same day.

To locate them, plan a route, or find out what to visit near your accommodation, use our interactive map of tourist sites in Mauritius It provides a detailed information sheet and driving directions for each site. Our page on excursions and paid activities expands the selection beyond parks.