La Bourbansais

Château de la Bourbansais

Yesterday we visited La Bourbansais, just north of Rennes in Southern Brittany.

A fantastic place, a zoo set in the grounds of a chateau. I am usually not keen on zoos, large animals kept in concrete compounds seems very cruel. At La Bourbansais the animals have large areas to roam, there isn’t any concrete and fences are kept to a minimum, the animals are housed on islands. The ‘moats’ surrounding their islands prevents them from escaping!

Not only are there all the animals you would expect, lions, tigers, energetic gibbons, screeching monkeys, pacing wolves, sleep panthers, grumpy camels and leggy giraffes but there is also a spectacular chateau. The chateau is still lived in by a family today, and it is nice to see their children’s bikes discarded in the courtyard and a their sullen teenaged son throwing a basketball through a hoop which has been secured to the chateau wall! Parts of the chateau are open to the public and it is well worth a visit.

There are also shows throughout the day. We watched the giraffes having ‘afternoon tea! A show demonstrating the hunting skills of big birds such as eagles, falcons and big owls. Amazing.

Giraffes enjoying afternoon tea at La Bourbansais Pleugueneuc

All in all a very good day and well worth a visit if you happen to be in Southern Brittany!