Primorski Krai: Primorski Safari Park – Siberian Tigers
One of my longtime dreams was to see the rarest of the tiger species – the Siberian tiger (aka Amur tiger). With only 560 animals in the wild (stable and increasing thanks to Russian conservation efforts despite North Koreans eating them), it’s pretty difficult to see them in the natural environment. Luckily, about 2 hour drive north from Vladivostok is a Primorski Park (one of the best wildlife parks in the world) which showcases the endemic Russian Far East animals in natural environment. The park’s stated objective is rearing abandoned and injured animals for release into the wild, this is not a zoo. There are no cages here and animals roam in large areas with visitors looking at them from elevated pathways. Tigers have three huge areas bigger then football field each to roam freely. There are currently 3 adult tigers (Amur, Taiga, Ussuri) and one 2-year old cub (Sherhan). Absolutely beautiful animals, these are the largest tiger species in the world, males averaging around 220kg. I spent almost an hour observing them.
