Saturday 1 October 2011

Animals do the funniest things ...........

Espace Animalier de la Haute-Touche is near Obterre, in the Indre (department 36) and  about a 15 minute drive from Le Petit-Pressigny.


The animal and nature reserve of Haute-Touche is a 500 hectare forest in the Brenne National Park. Over 100 hectares is open to the public with more than 100 species of animals from five continents on view - or so the signs say!


If you like animals it is a lovely day out. It is calm and non-commercial, although they do have a restaurant/café and a place to buy ice creams. The Haute-Touche is about seeing the animals in a more natural environment.


The first 20 minutes of the visit is a drive, VERY slowly, along a safari trail with some brilliant photo opportunities along the way. There are also signs with information about some of the species and the conservation work that Haute-Touche is involved in, with zoos and organisations around the world.


A car park is to be found at the end of the safari drive, and close by an area for picnics and a restaurant. Then there are many trails to explore and see the animals in large enclosures and wide open spaces.


I think the entrance fee is about 8€ and Haute-Touche is open every day from (10-6) in May to September (weekends and Wednesdays in April and until the end of November).


Tim, thinking about a money making opportunity. Needless to say we didn't send the video off . Still, it might make a healthy donation to the funds of the amis-hautetouche if the video were to appear on some inane TV programme!



The antics of this ostrich really cheer me up. I think he was trying his best to impress us - or see us off!

We had a fantastic afternoon – so much so that I visited with two sets of our summer visitors within the space of a week!

The Chateau at Azay-le-Ferron is very close by and well worth a visit. More about this at another time……

6 comments:

  1. Haha!! I forgot about the flirtatious ostrich!! :o)

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  2. After living in Africa I find game parks a bit strange. They do an amazing job though of breeding endangered animals so I am happy to see them around. Have a good weekend. Diane

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  3. Hello Gaynor:
    This sounds to be a wonderful place to visit and to see animals, and birds, in a natural environment, or as close as it is possible to make it. And so good to have it as somewhere a little different to take visiting friends.

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  4. What did you do to put that poor ostrich in such a state? Looks to me like it is performing a mating dance! LOL!

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  5. I agree with Ladybird, Gaynor.... what were you or Tim wearing?

    WV is "laliphop"... what the ostrich is doing... laliphopping around!!

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  6. Hello Gaynor,
    Thanks for leaving the message on my blog about the books I've read this last month. I laughed at the 'are you sure you're not me' comment! Definitely sure... last time I looked we didn't go to France and I definitely didn't have 'empty nest' syndrome twenty odd years ago when my two sons went their merry way! Sighs of relief all round would be more to the point!

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