Beekse Bergen Safari Park

About 1/2 hour drive from Best outside of Tilburg is the Safari Park of Beekse Bergen. This was one of our funnest outings so far. I was very impressed with the set up of the park. So far when I took the kids to the zoo they didn't last long because the tiny playground they had was always overcrowded, and just walking around in the stroller wasn't too fun. The animals were usually a bit far away too. In this park you could see the animals either on a safari bus tour (which really is a normal bus painted with either a giraffe or zebra pattern), walk the whole park in 3 kilometers, take a boat ride, or drive through with your own car. On top of that they had a really big playground at the beginning of the zoo and then a smaller playground just about every 100 meters.
The kids lasted an unheard 4 hours, simply because they got to run, climb and slide. We first took the bus tour which wasn't a very good idea, because the bus stopped a lot and the tour guide prattled about the animals in dutch.
The kids were soon bored and only distracted by the sandwiches I brought. So I opted for walking back from the Northern point of the park where the bus had dropped us off. Finally I took the kids through the park in our car. We saw Chitas up close, right next to the car.
And of course the ever popular petting zoos. Dutch really have a fondness for petting zoos. Every little town has one.
The funnest part of it was feeding the giraffe right through my car window. I got such a kick out of giving it a cracker, that I couldn't stop laughing, and the kids were laughing at me in the back. Great fun, great park. Highly recommend it.
In case you wonder what a giraffe looks like when it sticks her head through your car window!

Beekse Bergen Safari Park