Tunis Belvedere Zoo — Attraction in Tunis

I went to this zoo with a Tunisian friend who suggested we visit, and I will forever wish I hadn't. It was a terribly depressing experience due to the lack of consideration for the animals' welfare. The enclosures/cages were far too small and there seemed to be little thought put into simulating natural habitiats. For one of many examples, the placard next to the parrot enclosure explained that the birds' environment in the wild is in the forest among the trees, yet those at the zoo were trapped inside a metal enclosure completely devoid of any vegetation, with barely any room to fly. As a result, the majority of them were clinging to metal caging and shrieking loudly the entire time. Maybe saddest of all was seeing the animals who are group oriented in the wild kept solitary at the zoo. Some animals are social and need to be among peers to thrive. The poor lone elephant with a birth defect that I was told was given to the zoo as a gift nearly brought me to tears. No animal should have to live in the environment it was in. And while I understand that Tunisia is struggling economically and therefore doesn't have unlimited resources to invest in a zoo, not investing in one at all would be preferable to doing so at the expense of the welfare of the innocent creatures it holds in captivity. I don't know what the solution is because the money charged for admission likely contributes to the zoo's upkeep, but there has to be a better answer than caging animals inhumanely simply for...

The Belvédère Park is located at the northernmost part of the new city of Tunis. Accessible via Avenue de Paris, intersecting with Avenue Bourguiba, and continuing along Avenue de la Liberté, the journey offers glimpses of beautiful building facades, especially along Avenue de Paris and towards Avenue Habib Thameur and adjacent streets. The affluent neighborhoods of Tunis are situated north of Avenue Bourguiba. For those unwilling to walk to the park, the metro also provides convenient access.

As the largest park in Tunis, it was designed on elevated terrain based on plans by J. Lafacade, the head gardener of Paris, starting in 1892. With a vast expanse of greenery, Belvédère Park is a pleasant stroll providing respite from the intense summer heat in the capital, shaded by numerous tree species. Exploring the park's pathways to the top of the hill, where the koubba stands, an 18th-century Arab-Andalusian pavilion originally part of a palace and relocated here during the French protectorate, is recommended. The panoramic view, encompassing Tunis and its gulf, justifies the visit. Belvédère Park is also home to the Tunis Zoo, featuring animals representing the African continent's fauna, including rhinoceroses, lions, monkeys, and more.

FEE OF...

I went to this zoo back in 1994 as a very young child, then again in 2016 and now today, August 2025. And the zoo not only is still terrible but the animals are treated worse than trash in the bin. The owners would be in prison in any other developed country. The whole point of a zoo is to see the different animals but what a miserable place, the animals are very skinny and hungry, very dirty and lack of shade means they're under the hot sun for most of the day. The lions are so skinny and weak they look like cats. I remember seeing a monkey with a visible large tumour growing out of it's lower back.

The zoo itself is big but there are many people trying to sell knock off Chinese items, public facilities are also poor. The only positive is that it's super cheap to enter.

It doesn't help that some visitors like to throw things at the animals or bang the cages to get a reaction. I'm not surprised, the overall culture in this country mistreat animals and see them as nothing, with all the public displays of cow heads in meat shops or skinny cats/dogs all over...