Lomography

Phoenix Parc and The "Green Diamant" of Nice
written by vicuna on June 25th, 2009 , 6 comments (4 votes)

Please activate JavaScript to see this gallery.

Zoological parcs are fascinating places, because they bring me back to my childhood where the discovery of the whole fauna and flora was for me an incredible adventure. When I was a child, we had an impressive giant zoo not far from where we lived (the “Wilhelma”, in Stuttgart, Germany) and spending a day there was for me, as a child, an unique experience of discovery of the diversity of life on earth. And that’s why today, as an adult, I simply love to visit zoological gardens because it brings me back to some great sensations of my childhood. So let’s have a visit of the “Parc Phoenix”! :))

This parc is a kind of mix between a zoo, a natural parc, a relaxing place and a giant greenhouse.
The main attraction of it is the “green diamant” which is be claimed to be one of the biggest greenhouses in Europe with over 7000 square meter surface and reaching the height of 25m. There you have 8 different areas reproducing the climatic conditions of various places on earth, from the tropical forest to the dry desert, with over 2500 different species of plants and flowers, and all this with the natural fauna of animals living there. If these aren’t dangerous, they live free in this space (that’s the case for example for the Iguanas,very impressive but peaceful beasts…), for some others, they’re separated from the public (like the alligators of course, and the special place for insects, spiders, etc…). The Orchid Hall has some of the most impressive and beautiful flowers you can see and under the 25m dome you got some very impressive tropical trees.

But the greenhouse is not all. Outside, you have a wonderful parc to relax and walk, surrounded by a lot of other impressing plants and flowers and with a lot of animals lving free inside there. From the majestous peacock who likes to show the visitors his impressive “costume” to some pelicans and a lot of ducks, swans and other water birds. Of course, the only kind of animals you can’t find there, are the dangerous ones, for the visitors and the other animals, so don’t expect to see lions, bears or other kind of predators.

The parc has a little lake and some beautiful gardens, organized in a thematic approach of the different continents with the corresponding flora and so you can really travel through a lot of different universes.

It’s a great place to visit and I like it a lot, and the entrance fee is only of 2 € a day (or a year card for 30€). I hope my shots will show you how beautiful it is to spend a day in such a parc! :))