Parc animalier de Sainte-Croix — Attraction in Sarrebourg-Château-Salins

Not your average zoo... It takes some time to grow accustomed to the park's core concepts of sustainably bringing humans closer to nature and the animals within it (with this in mind, you'll also not find many rare and exotic animals at this zoo, but rather ones that you might encounter in nature yourself as well). The use of natural materials in the construction of enclosures, for example, leads both to natural looking barriers and charming, decorative wood cabins (spaced out around the park as observation huts), as well as some dilapidated looking constructions. Likewise, the general lack of landscaping in the park makes certain parts look unkempt or neglected (like the path leading from the main entrance past the donkeys to the start of the adventure trail), whereas in other parts, such as the forested green path, it works towards an immersive experience that makes you believe you're actually out in nature (if not for being pulled out of this immersion by the presence of wire-mesh cages and tree huts). The downside of this, however, is that spaces feel way less open and much more cramped than in a typical zoo. This stands in stark contrast to the large open spaces that form the animal enclosures. This doesn't mean, however, that it's easy to spot the animals, as the many hiding places in the enclosures mean that the animals are often in hiding or located far off in the distance (certain animals can even only be seen if one takes a ride on the train the park offers!): I'd therefore recommend attending as many of the frequent (but somewhat hard to find) shows as possible, taking some binoculars and spending some calm and quiet time at each enclosure to view the animals. As this can be very trying for young children, the park offers a great playground (next to the main entrance) and a fun petting zoo with a tractor and "milkable" cows.

The best way to visit the park, however, is to book an overnight stay. We spent the night at the deer meadow. This will get you a small and simple wooden house with a comfortable bed, kitchenette with mini-fridge and microwave, bathroom with shower (with wooden floor) and dry/composting toilet. And while I'm generally not a big fan of the latter, the way the park implemented them certainly makes them the best (and cleanest) I've had the experience of using: a separate bag, freshly installed for your visit, collects the waste inside the toilet, while a sprinkling of sawdust after use prevents any unpleasant odors from escaping. A similar concern with sustainability and the environment can also be seen in the kitchen, where garbage is sorted in four different categories. Depending on your preference, dinner is served in either restaurant or brought to your room for you to heat up using the microwave (although, unfortunately, there's no easy way of doing dishes as a drying rack and even a mixing tap for warm - but not scolding hot - water are missing), leading to an overall pleasant stay. However, what makes an overnight stay worthwhile, above all else, is the spacious balcony overlooking the deer meadow, giving you first row seats to animal feedings at sunset and dawn. Be prepared to get up early to witness this spectacle (in fact, there are no curtains, so you'll naturally awaken as the sun comes up), but there's nothing that can quite compare to seeing a majestic stag slowly walking through the rolling morning mist while the sky, starting off bright pink, takes on an increasingly blue colour, birds waking up and flying across the meadow, with wolves howling in the distance.

Overall, we had a unique experience in the park, that I can highly recommend. However, the main value of this experience derives from the overnight stay and taking the time to enjoy the view from our room. I think that if we were to have visited the park as a regular day's outing, our experience would've been...

We are German tourists and stay in Center Parc nearby. We are traveling with our kids, so we thought of coming to the zoo. After a day of sightseeing, we went to the children's park at the entrance. We waited by a toy tractor for a while, and then my youngest son got on it after the other children had finished playing. Then a little boy came over and tried to climb onto my son's side to play, but my son didn't want to and started crying. I tried to comfort him, but the boy pushed my son away twice. The boy's mother then started speaking in French with a sarcastic tone. Then my son pushed the boy away, and the boy's mother scolded my son. My son was still crying, so my husband came over, and I spoke to the boy's mother in English: "We've only played for less than 5 minutes. Can we finish playing first, and then you can play?" The boy's mother ignored me and continued speaking to the boy in French, and the boy kept pushing my son. I picked up my son and left the tractor, and the boy's mother started clapping and laughing in French. Then the boy sat on it. My husband sat next to the boy and said, "No one likes this." Then the boy's mother got into the car and kicked my husband. I spoke to her in English, saying, "Hitting people is not right. “ The woman didn't apologize, and her husband also spoke to us rudely.

I shouted for help and called the police. No one came to help at the time, and then two women arrived but couldn't speak English. One of them was the boy's grandmother, and the boy's mother kept talking to me for a long time and pushed me on the shoulder.

In the end I took out my phone to record everything, the boy's father came and grabbed my phone, I said “don't touch me, this is my stuff. “ No one came to help us the whole time, and eventually the boy and his family walked away, just ourselves left there and the footprints in my husband's pants.

We were really unlucky and we felt like we were alone, having something like this happen to us on vacation. We spoke to the staff at the park about the problem, but they only spoke French and had to use mobile phones to translate. I wanted to call the police, but my husband didn't want to stand there and talk about it, and our two children were tired, so we decided to go home. During my trip to France, the locals basically only spoke French, and we spoke English or German, which made communication very difficult.

I've been thinking, we've been taught to be polite and nice to people, but when someone is so aggressive and hitting someone , do we have to...

This (very large) animal park (note the absence of the word: zoo) is one of the most beautiful when it comes to immersion, diversity and habitats. We've been here twice, both times were in early september with decent weather. If you're not a fan of rainy weather, do not visit during rainy seasons or days, because there aren't any indoor habitats (except for the small nightcrawlers expo) to take shelter. The park also has a large diversity in flora, you can find nametags on quite a lot of flowers and plants. If you're a connaisseur for plant life, do try to visit during bloom season.

The park features several different biomes each with their own species of animals. All biomes have quite large habitats, which enables the possibility of you not seeing any animals. This does add to the special feeling when you actually do see the animals in their most natural behaviour. The habitats are not as generic as in your average zoo, instead are teeming with plants, trees, rocks and most of them befit the species that live there.

Make sure to bring some snacks, as the park packs a whopping 120 acres of land. You can also use on site facilities, there are several restaurants. Not all of them are open all year. You can follow different routes, marked with colours and easily trackable. Each route will tour you through different parts and consists of different lengths. (Comes in handy when visiting with kids.) Or you can just freewheel and go your own way, just make sure to be prepared to cover some distance. They also offer handwagons in which you can fit two (small) children and some baggage, which you can take nearly everywhere on the park.

You can take guided Safari tour through the park several times a day and the animals are fed on set times, all of which are communicated throughout the park and on the map.

The park seems to be growing/expanding, as per our last visit, a whole new biome was added with several habitats and a restaurant. There's also the possibility to stay on the park grounds overnight in one of the cabins for rent. You can wake up next to the wolves den, in the forest, or looking over the bear and bison fields.

Will definitely visit again. The admittance fee is easily below what they could charge for a long day in a beautiful...