After many many years it was time to make a visit again to Safaripark Beekse Bergen. Nestled in the heart of North Brabant, near Hilvarenbeek, Safaripark Beekse Bergen offers an unparalleled safari experience in the Netherlands. As the largest wildlife zoo in the Benelux region, the park spans approximately 120 hectares and is home to around 1,250 animals representing over 150 species.
Visitors can explore the park through various safari modes: drive your own car amidst free-roaming animals, join a guided bus tour with informative rangers, enjoy a serene boat ride, or embark on a walking safari to get up close with diverse wildlife. Each safari offers a unique perspective, allowing guests to witness animals like lions, giraffes, elephants, and cheetahs in habitats that closely resemble their natural environments.
Car safari
We arrived on this Saturday in the morning around 10:00 and decided to start directly with the car safari. Which is normally included in the price of your ticket. With your own car you can drive through the habitats of the different animals.
When in the park it’s not allowed to open the windows or the roof of your car. This makes photographing the animals very difficult. It can maybe differ a bit per car, but the car we had with us the glass of the windows was too much in the way of getting some good photos.
For photography this was not the most successful driving around in your own car, while not allowed to open the windows. If you want to make the most of it maybe a Jeep safari is the better option. Here you will be in an open Jeep driving a different route through the park with a guide that drives the Jeep. Because this one is open it will be much easier to make so great photos. But this option will cost you extra.
Walking safari
After exiting the Car safari you end up at the parking lot, where we took our gear and walked to the main entrance to start the walking safari. For the walking safari I downloaded the Beekse Bergen app (iOS or Android) to have a view on the map and what would be the best route to take. We first had the idea to take the boat safari to the other side of the Zoo. So at the main entrance we headed right to the first animals the Gorilla’s.
Here it was much easier to take some photos of the Gorilla’s. There was no glass and the they were relatively close to take some good photos. After the that there was an enclosure which should have some Lion’s but they were not visible. So we continued to the boat, where we found a long line so we decided to leave the boat safari for at the end.
When continuing the walking safari you notice that most animals have quite large enclosures. This can make it difficult to make some beautiful close-ups when your lens is not long enough. I used 500mm on Full Frame but was not always enough to get close enough. I also rarely used the 100mm side of the lens, most was 300mm or more.
The walking safari was the best option for some great photos. Most enclosers where good for a not to Zoo like photo. Although it was not always possible to keep buildings or walls out of the frame. Some AI removal can help in some cases.
We ended up spending most of our time walking through the zoo and taking photos. This area also offers several places to relax, grab some lunch, or enjoy a drink. All in all, we spent around five hours exploring Safaripark Beekse Bergen, covering a total of seven kilometers on foot.
Boat safari
We ended the day with the boat safari, it was rather busy. We arrived at the moment a boat left the dock. The boats go every 30 minutes, so we had to wait about 30 minutes inline to be able to board the next boat.
In the line we were in the back so we could unfortunately not see on top without any glass. We found a place next to an opening to have no glass, but we were at the left side. Which looks like it’s a good spot to see something during the boat safari.
Most animals were to far away even with 500mm to make some nice photos. But there are some other chances you have on the boat. One of them is the birds you will encounter during the trip. For example if you are lucky and look good around you, you can maybe spot some kingfishers. We’ve seen during the 20 minute trip three of them. Two were too difficult and fast to capture, but I then also found one at the side of the river chilling on a branch.
This was a fun and easy trip to get a rest and to get back to the entrance of the park. You are only allowed to do a one way trip, if you want to go back again it’s possible but you have to get back inline. You can also start with the boat trip, but the line can maybe change your mind to take the boat later or directly.
Zoo Route Map
On the map roughly the route we took during the day. The Car safari is not included in the map, only the walking safari ending with the boat safari is included on the map. Here and there you can deviate a bit from the route to have a look at some of the animals nearby.
Impression Photo Gallery
Below in the gallery an impression of my own favorite photos of the day, that I made in Safaripark Beekse Bergen.
