Casela Park – where to walk with lions in Mauritius

  • Last updated on 12 January, 2023
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Casela Park in Mauritius (Casela Park) is an amazing park of nature and recreation, spread over an area of ​​250 hectares off the western coast of Mauritius, near the resort of Flic-en-Flac. It was founded in 1979 as a way to save land with unique vegetation from agricultural development and to preserve rare species of birds that live here. Over time, the collection of animals and plants grew, the park was opened to visitors, and it became one of the most visited places in Mauritius.

Reviews of Casela Park in 2024

Most of the visitors to Casela Park are very positive about the park, and both adults and children are equally enthusiastic about what they see. Some of my friends went to the park with a child, spent the whole day there and said that it was still not enough time. Other acquaintances – adults without children – decided to go to the park on their own and were also completely delighted. They say this is something you should definitely try to see when in Mauritius.

Reviews of Casela park in Mauritius

Opinions are divided on what is the most interesting thing in the park. For some, the most striking impression was a walk with the lions, someone liked the extreme zip-line descent more. But you must admit, a zip-line can be found in any country, and there are few places where you can walk with lions.

Even people who have not taken any additional program (I will talk about this a little later) usually treat Casela Park with great warmth and regret that they did not allocate more time for the visit.

But there are negative reviews as well. Most often they come from people who do not speak English or French. Unfortunately, you can only communicate with the staff in these two languages, and if you contact them in Russian or German, they will not be able to help you. Not that you need perfect English, just enough to understand the inscriptions or ask something from the staff.

Where to buy tickets for Casela Park?

Casela Park in Mauritius - should you go or not

You can buy tickets to the Casela Park at the box office, but this is not the best option. The problem is the huge queue where you have to stand, and when you get to the coveted window, it may well turn out that the places for the most interesting programs have already been sold out. Therefore, I advise you to book tickets online in advance.

There are two ways to buy an entrance ticket to Casela Park online:

  • Book via official website https://booking.caselapark.com. Payment is possible only in Mauritian rupees. If you have a EUR or USD card or another currency other than MUR (Rs), then there will be a currency conversion charded.
  • Book via Viator website basic ticket (you can add a transfer to the park from the hotel to this ticket) or basic ticket + quad bike safari. You can choose a plenty of currencies to pay via Viator website. There is also an option to pay via Paypal. It is a pity that through Viator it is impossible to pay for visiting all additional programs.

Basic park tickets cost:

  • 1100 Rs = 0.00 € for adults and children over 12.
  • 880 Rs = 17.89 € for children under 12.
Do not buy excursions with a transfer to Casela Park, which are organized at hotels. They are very overpriced and taking a taxi that will take you directly to the place will cost less.

How to get to Casela Park

Getting to Casela Park on your own is not a problem – you can take a rented car, bus, taxi or transfer.

If you take a car, you can still drive to a couple of interesting places or to a nearby beach. For the price of renting a personal car for a day, it will be like a round-trip taxi, and if you are staying on the northern beaches, then it’s even cheaper. See car prices on the LocalRent website, where reliable Mauritian rentals are collected. About the features of the movement and what documents are needed, I talk about in this article.

There is a shuttle bus from Flic-en-Flac to the park. It’s a 15–20-minute drive.

Taxi services can be negotiated from here for as little as 300 Mauritian rupees (approximately 6.10 €). It will be a little more difficult and expensive to get from Port Louis, but not too problematic in the end. But from the northern beaches of Grand Bay, Mont Choisy, Trou aux Biches, you will have to travel with transfers. It’s easier, of course, to rent a car or take a taxi.

In order to figure out which bus route will take you to Casela Park, you can use Mauritius Buses website. Select the bus stop from which you are going to leave, and specify Cascavelle Village as the final destination, and the site will give you the number of the desired bus and its schedule.

What can you see in Casela Park in Mauritius?

Casela Park on the island of Mauritius is both a zoo, a safari park and a wildlife park. Its main feature is that it is divided into two parts, “park” and “wild”. In the park part, animals and birds live in enclosures, and you can look at them through the bars, and in the wild they roam freely.

Even the landscaped part of the territory of Casela Park is huge, and it will take several hours to explore it. It helps a little that free buses run from one sector of the park to another, always ready to give a lift to visitors. Getting to the right place in Casela Park on time can be very important, since all entertainment programs are tied to a tight schedule.

It is for the sake of these entertainment programs that many people come to Casela Park. Unlike conventional zoos, here visitors have the opportunity to interact with some of the animals, and the list includes more than just pets from the Petting Zoo. Casela Park offers communication with predatory cats (lions, tigers, cheetahs), giraffes, hippos, deer and many other wild animals. This includes walking together in the forest without a protective net, and the opportunity to go inside the enclosure to stroke the animal or take a close-up photo of it, and hand-feeding or even bottle-feeding, if we are talking about cubs.

Walking with the lions in Casela Park, Mauritius

These programs must be booked in advance for a fee and are only available during certain hours. Details can be found either at the checkout or on the official website. You should plan your visit to the park in such a way as to have time for everything planned, and it is important to take into account that most activities occur in the first half of the day and are not available on Sundays.

But even if you are not ready to pay extra money for close contact with animals, you should definitely go on a photo safari. Every hour, special open buses depart deep into the “wild” sector, which take guests of the park around the savannah for about 45 minutes and from where you can watch the animals almost in their natural habitat. This way you will see zebras, rhinos, African antelopes, wild boars and ostriches, and sometimes they come right up to the bus. This trip is already included in the ticket price.

There are other types of safaris that promise even more exciting pastimes. Visitors can go on an hour or two-hour tour on quad bikes, segways and electric bikes. You will have to pay extra for this, but it will make your wildlife experience even more memorable.

ATV safari at Casela Park in Mauritius

Stop for zebras feeding during quad bike safari

Of course, when interacting with animals, you must observe safety precautions, so before each point of the program you will be instructed in English and French. Specially trained park workers look after both visitors and animals, and make sure that neither one nor the other does not cross the boundaries of what is permitted. Excessive familiarity with predators can harm both the animals themselves and the people who irritate them.

In addition to those listed, there are other ways to have fun in Casela Park. You can admire exotic birds, which have a collection of thousands in Kazel, or rare plants, some of which are sure to bloom whenever you visit the park. There are also ponds where you can catch fish and freshwater shrimp, playgrounds, a 4-D cinema, a restaurant and a rather large selection of extreme entertainment. The latter includes several types of zip-line (flying through a canyon, paired descent, and a descent through a waterfall) and crossing a stormy mountain river on a suspension bridge or wade with safety ropes.

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Hello!
My name is Tatiana, and I am glad to see you in my Mauritius travel guide.
For more than 12 years I have been traveling and creating travel guides to different countries. For the first time I got to Mauritius in 2018. I got inspired by the island so much that I decided to create this guide.
I personally visited all the places described on this site. Photos and texts are also taken and written by me. I update articles regularly to keep them up to date.
I hope you’ll forgive any errors or awkward phrasing, as I am not a native English speaker.

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