Panaca — Attraction in Quindío

A fun park for kids and adults who love to interact with animals.

The park is about 1.5 hour drive from Pereira and cost 20 dollars for the general admission pass. Another 10 dollars more allows you to see the night time horse show. The park has various stations with many farm and domesticated animals to see and interact with. There are also various shows with the animals that range about an hour long. After the shows, you are able to take pictures with the animals for free and get professional photos at an extra cost. There are also places where kids can mount the animals for photos as well. Be sure to mount the buffalo and the horses for great photos. My favorite shows were the cattle display and the country show. I skipped the free horse show, but many people said it is the best show to watch (riders doing tricks and dressage on horseback). However, all show are in Spanish, thus making it difficult to understand for non Spanish speakers.

There are many opportunities where you can interact with the animals at a cost. You can milk a cow, feed the animals, ride a horse/pony, and play with the dogs and cats. Prices varies, but ranged for about 1 to 10 dollars, depending on the activity. There is also zip lining for about 10 dollars as well.

The staff are friendly and helpful, but most of them only speak Spanish. Thus, best to use a translator if you can't understand Spanish. Also, you ask nicely, you may be able to take more photos of the animals in the show (was able to take a photo mounted on a show horse and donkey... Please feel free to tip the staff as well).

There are also many restaurants and gift shops, but expect to be Columbian expensive (but much cheaper than Disney or universal). Didn't try the food, so unable to comment.

While it looks the animals seem to be cared for, I think they can still do a better job in giving them a higher quality of life. Saw many of the domestic animals in small cages and some did look a bit dull. However, found the food to be plentiful for the animals and staff making sure the guests treats the animals with respect.

Overall, had a fun time at Panaca and definitely will visit again. Wished there was a translator for the shows and animals can be a little better cared for. But the many opportunities to interact with the animals makes a fun place. Next time, will take a lesson in trick...

I would like to say the park itself is very nice. As an animal lover, I am disgusted and disappointed with how the animals appear. First of all, the ponies and the horses were locked up in their area with a string attached to their mouths, looked in distress and that is unacceptable. I then saw the dogs and cats which shocked me because canines and felines should NOT be in a theme park at all whatsoever. They are home pets and need constant love and attention. I saw where they were kept in these tiny boxes that looked unpleasant. This is a form of animal abuse. Using animals for show and entertainment is so wrong and honestly I will never be coming to this park again. And people getting on those horses and ponies, while the horses were dragged around with a rope so they could walk in circles for the satisfaction of people to go on, is disgusting. It’s clear ALL of the animals are not taken care of properly, and it was very hard to see. They are cooped up in these tiny small spaces with barely any room, no food, no water. When they gave us some carrots and milk to feed the cows and goats it’s clear they were desperate to eat and in so much hunger and thirst. The horses were kicking constantly looking around, some of them had red eyes and tears coming down. Someone who is an expert or a professional needs to come take a look at this park. Especially the little piglets and pigs being fed just to be taken to get slaughtered and eaten, as the worker told us himself. They SHOULD NOT be taken to another place to get killed. Don’t take in animals if you can’t even take...

Our time was limited so we only went for an afternoon. We got to see a few animals, mainly horses. We got to see different types of beautiful horses and professional riders in the show, The sound was too loud, they could lower it without compromising the quality of the presentation. But the show was good and it involved the crowd which made it fun.

We ate at the eateries in the equine station. The lady who took our order at the restaurant did a decent job, she was professional and she answered our questions about the food. When I went back because they forgot part of our order, she went to the back to get it made.

My main complaint was the lady at the fruits/juice/smoothie area, there was no one else waiting to order and no other people who had placed an order. This lady got bothered we asked questions about the fruits in the juices, and if we could order something slightly different from what they offered. I had to translate for my wife and we had questions since one of the drinks was for our 1 year old. The lady was very impatient and short in her answers when we asked questions. I know she was not that busy, 10 minutes later she was chatting away with a co-worker. I think Panaca needs to watch the work of some of their employees, that lady didn't have any customer service skills or desire to work and she is the reason I'm lowering the rating from an otherwise pleasant experience.

Props to the lady at the entrance who gave us a nice welcome and asked about our trip and gave us tips about exploring the park in the little...