Shanghai has many travel sites. If you like animals, the best place to see them is at Shanghai Wild Animal Park (上海野生动物园). It’s big, there are plenty of exotic animals, and many are not in cages, so you can even feed and pet them. And of course, there is a safari park, where you enter dangerous habitats with lions and bears while sitting in a comfortable safari bus.

What to expect in Shanghai Wild Animal Park

The park is big, so be ready to spend one day there, and they close at 17.00. The park consists of six major areas: a panda area (pandas, kangaroos, alpacas), a lake area (swans, ducks, geese), a safari area (tigers, bears, lions ), a predator area (lions, tigers, ligers), a monkey area (monkeys, chimps, baboons), and a big mammal area (elephants, rhinos, giraffes). On your way, you will also see some random wild park inhabitants, like hippos, peacocks, penguins, etc.

Things to do & animals to see in Wild Animal Park

Boat trip

You can get on the boat, its price is included in the entrance ticket. The boat trip is about 30 minutes, you will see many birds like ducks, geese and swans, and animals like lemurs, alpaca, monkeys, and even white kangaroos. 

Rides

There is also a Ferris wheel and some other rides for kids. From the Ferris wheel, you can see coming subway trains and observe the vast Pudong New Area.

And there are many souvenir shops on the way where you can buy toys, panda hats, and many more.

Feeding animals in the Wild Animal Park

You can also feed some animals, for example, kangaroos. For 20 RMB you can buy some food for them, for example, pieces of carrots, apples or leaves of salad. You can also feed zebras, ducks, alpacas, etc.

… and the safari ride!

The most thrilling part of the park is the Beast area. You get on a small bus and ride through the areas with dangerous beasts like tigers, lions, and bears. The animals often come close to the bus, so you can observe them. 

The ride takes about 40 minutes, and it’s a thrilling experience: you can feel like prey in a cage.

Unfortunately, there was an unfortunate accident in October 2020. Bears attacked a zookeeper to death, so the safari area of the park was temporarily closed when I was visiting it. However, after improving some safety measures, they will open it to the general public again.

How to get to the Wild Animal Park

The park is located in Pudong New Area, which is quite far from the city center. You can get there by subway, the closest station is called Wild Animal Park (野生动物园地铁站) on line 16, and then go by bus or a taxi to get to the park entrance. 

How much to pay

Entrance tickets cost 130 yuan. Inside the park you can buy a bus ticket, it costs 35 per person. There are about five bus stops in different areas of the park, so when you finish exploring one of them, you can go to the closest bus stop, wait for the bus, get on it, and head to the next stop. In the cold weather, there are not so many tourists inside the park, so you can call the bus to the closest stop, the number will be written on your bus ticket.  Ferris wheel costs 40 per person, other rides will be a bit cheaper.

So to make your Shanghai experience more interesting, you definitely need to visit Shanghai Wild Animal Park. You and your kids will love it!