African safari with 150 animals opens

An amphibious vehicle at Lost Valley, a new feature at the Everland amusement park, drives though the ‘safari facility’ surrounded by elands and giraffes. Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, launched the attraction at the end of April to celebrate the park’s 50th anniversary. It houses 150 animals including rare white lions. / Courtesy of Everland

Everland marks 50th anniversary with Lost Valley

By Park Ji-won

Koreans can now experience an African safari but don’t have to leave the country to do so. The Korean amusement park, Everland, just opened Lost Valley. The 50 billion won ($46 million) addition is now home to exotic animals and a ride through water in an amphibious vehicle.

The new facility, which commemorates the park’s 50th anniversary, opened at the end of April to a line of eager visitors. The facility has 150 animals, some of which are rare, such as white lions.

Aside from checking out animal exhibits, visitors can also experience a 13-minute tour on an amphibious vehicle. A tour guide tells visitors about the facility while traveling around.

“My children loved it. They even wrote a letter to the crew to thank them for their service,” said an office worker, 36, who visited the facility last week.

“It was a good opportunity to experience nature that wasn’t forcefully modified by humans. The amphibious truck was new to us as well,” she added.

The amphibious truck isn’t the only new thing at the site. The facility also has a companion grazing system, which places herbivores such as white rhinoceroses, in the same area as carnivores. It’s the first of its kind in Asia.

A German company designed the park to be a safe environment for both animals and visitors. While Everland’s Safari World encourages feeding the animals, it’s not allowed at Lost Valley.

“Lost Valley has animal-friendly surroundings, which is why we put distance between visitors and animals,” said an official of Lost Valley.

“While Safari World allows people to toss food to animals, Lost Valley is more about watching the animals, which is best for both animals and humans. We put a lot of effort into making nature-friendly landscaping,” he added.

Officials from Lost Valley and Safari World said it is a good time to introduce its facility as consumer’s attitudes have changed since Safari World opened. Officials say customers used to ask staff to do things to make animals fight, such as tossing raw meat into the enclosures, but this attitude has diminished in recent years.

An Everland entrance ticket allows visitors access to Lost Valley for free. Visitors can also request an audio guide, which is available in English and Chinese.

“We are putting more effort on reinforcing good services for foreign customers,” Public Relations Director Ryu Jeong-hun said.

While the company is working to attract more foreign customers, so far, attendance has hit about 10,000 visitors each day, which is about a fifth of Everland’s total visitors per day.