I woke up early in the morning but kept my eyes shut as long as I could. The surreal feeling hasn’t left me, and I was almost sure that all our yesterday’s adventures were just a wonderful dream. But as soon as I opened my eyes and looked around, I breathed a sigh of relief. The dream was actually a reality. Good morning, magical Tenerife! And good morning, beautiful ocean view!
I’ve read lots of positive things about Costa Adeje, and many travelers recommended this beach for sunbathing and swimming. And since I was planning to go for a swim at some point, I decided it would be wiser to check it out in advance.
Costa Adeje, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
It is indeed a lovely place for swimming and hanging out. The waves here are not that big, so this beach will be suitable also for the families with kids. Temperature of the water was around 20 degrees Celsius. Not very warm but not that cold either. I’ve been swimming in cold Finnish sea when the temperature was not more than +16 C. So, when I dipped my feet in the Atlantic Ocean I didn’t feel cold at all, the water was nice and refreshing.
And if you get thirsty or hungry, there are few restaurants just across the road.
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Our main destination that day was the Monkey Park. I read about it on a TripAdvisor as well. And after I looked through so many inspiring reviews I was eager to visit this place myself.
Monkey Park, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Price for adult – 10 euros. Box with vegetables and fruits (for feeding the animals) – 3 euros. Keep in mind that the animals are on a special diet and they are not allowed to eat certain food, including some fruits, like banana and grapes, for example. More detailed information you will get at the cash register.
Monkey Park, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Monkey Park, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Monkey Park, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Food preferences:
- Small monkeys liked white cabbage the most and when I was offering them green beans, they were throwing it away. Well, I don’t blame them, I would do the same.
- Bigger monkeys preferred apples.
- White-cheeked turaco and some other birds loved the carrots and corn.
- Lemurs ate apples and corn.
- Small turtles and guinea pigs had no preferences what so ever, they happily ate absolutely everything from the box I purchased.
To be honest with you guys, Monkey Park was not what I expected. And I have mixed feelings about this mini-zoo. Seeing monkeys in the small cages, sitting there like the prisoners behind bars made me feel uneasy. It really felt like I was attending the prison tour. Tiny hands holding the bars of a cage, and empty emotionless eyes following your every move when you are passing the jail cells.
Same situation with birds. All of them are doomed to stay in the cages for the rest of their lives, and they will never be able to fly again. I felt especially sorry for the Macaws (Ara parrots). Their small spaces reminded me of the Dehiwala Zoo in Sri Lanka. That visit brought me more sorrow than joy.
Kids on the other hand will probably love this place. When you are a child you don’t think about animals like a grownup. And all you want to do is to pet as many cute and fluffy creatures as possible.
As for me, I was disappointed. But I must say, it wasn’t a complete letdown. The highlight of this establishment were… nope, not the lemurs as some of you might have guessed. But the guinea pigs! So adorable! I also love the funny squeaky noise these little hungry guys make:
Monkey Park, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Show them food and you will have more followers than on your Instagram, he-he.
It might sound weird, but if this Zoo had hundreds of guinea pigs instead of monkeys, I would enjoy it much more.
Can I recommend Monkey Park? I don’t think so. There are plenty of other interesting and exciting things to do on this magnificent island.
* * *
I do not want to end this post on a sad note, so here are few beautiful sunset photos that we managed to catch on our way back to Vigilia Park:
Sunset in Los Gigantes, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Sunset in Los Gigantes, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Hope you enjoyed it!
TWVera
Costa Adeje looks lovely! +20 water sounds very warm to me 😅 I try to avoid zoos these days. I had a terrible experience on a work trip to Thailand where our hosts took us to a zoo which was as sad as Monkey Park. If not worse. There were drugged tigers which tourists took photos with, monkeys in too small cages and worst of all, elephant and crocodile shows. The croc show was the worst as you could see the animal was totally out of it and the performer had to keep splashing it with water and throwing it about to get any response. The elephants were poked with spikes to perform. 😭😭 And this place had won a tourism award that very year!!!!!!! Smells of corruption to me….
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After 9 years in Finland +20 water is warm for me, too, he-he))
Oh my God, that is horrible! Tourism award… sounds like a joke!
My absolute worse Zoo experience was in Dehiwala, Sri Lanka. I wanted to cry when I saw a beautiful white sea turtle stuck in the fish aquarium which was just 1.5 m2… And later that year I read the news that most of the animals that Zoo receives (exchange program) are dying within months ☹
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Oh that poor sea turtle 😭 And all those other animals who end up there! I would rather not go to any zoo but if I must, at least the animals at the Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki are being taken care of.
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That’s true. They know how to take care of animals in Finland. I would love to visit Ähtäri Zoo, to see the pandas 🙂
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