Norway - Part 9 - Avesta to Kolmården (30 June)

The final part of our trip was a visit to Kolmården Zoo.  This is the largest zoo in Scandinavia and first opened in 1969.

We stayed at the Kolmården Hostel and Apartment (a small apartment not affiliated with the zoo).  It was small but comfortable.

We then spent all of the 30th of June and 1st of July at Kolmården zoo.  We have 1,650 photos (10.1Gb) of Kolmården, so this post will split it like we did for Legoland, by separating the park into its areas rather than the exact order we walked around it.

The entrance

Outside the entrance

The Map

The park was massive! It was about 1.5km from front to back.  To get from the entrance to the Safari ride was predicted to be 35min walking at a reasonable pace.

Park Guide

We started by heading up to the Lodjur (Lynx Enclosure).  Mr Lynx was asleep each time we checked:

Lodjur

That's the Lynx.  I was assured that he was alive

Heading down from the Lynx, we came to the Vildsvin (Wild Boar) enclosure:

Information

Sow

Boar

Vildsvin

Drinking

After the boars, we came across the Barnens Lantgård (Children's Farm).  This area had sheep and goats, but it was a bit rainy so the animals were mostly inside.

Get (Goat)

Information on the Pygmy Goats

Information on the sheep

Information on the Nubian Goat

Roslag Sheep

After the farmyard, we came across the Zoolskolan (Zoo School).  The first part of this was a walk through the edge of Kolmården, showing the different types of rock that Kolmården is built on.

An insect hotel with room for bees and other helpful insects

Information (English at the bottom)

Looking out over the cleft behind Kolmården

There was also a school section inside with information on the animals:

Bear Skeleton

Wolf Skeleton

Our next stop was briefly at the Europeisk Kärrsköldpadda (European Pond Turtle) enclosure, but we couldn't see any turtles among the rocks.

Next was the Brown Bear enclosure, where we saw a couple of adult bears and three cubs.

Mamma Bear

Daddy bear goes for a swim and eats a stick

And one of the babies goes for a runner

Runaway!

Peekaboo! (I was proud of this shot I took on my phone)

And then Kris had to outdo my photo with her "%"¤#-ing big zoom lens

Sometimes the zoom was a little too powerful

The three cubs

Going for a swim:

Eating the stick:

Climbing the tree:

Now what?:

After the bears we headed past the Tarkin, Davidshjort (Pere David's Deer) and Kulan enclosure.

Mishmi Takin

Takin

Davidshjort

Davidshjort

The Kulan is a Turkish wild ass (the kids loves talking about wild asses):

Some Kulan gathering around a rogue Takin, at any moment they will leap in for the kill and blood and fur will fly.

Next stop was the Järv, or wolverine:

Information

Wolverine

I'm watching you...

After the wolverine came the Stallet (or stables) with the Minigris (pygmy pig), Nubisk Get (Nubian Goat), Dvärgget (Pygmy Goat), rödkulla (Swedish Red Rolled Cow), fjällko (Swedish Mountain Cow), Silkeshöne (Silky hen), allmogeget (Swedish peasant goat) and alpacka (alpaca).

Allmogeget

Rödkullako

Alpacka

Move along, nothing to see here humans

Fjällko

Hello! - He worked out how to twist his head to get the horns through the fence

Although Cam was worried for a while

Minigris

Meeting the goat

After the stables we arrived at the Snöleopard (Snow leopard) enclosure:

Snöleopard

Waiting...

Up close

Camouflaged against the rocks

There were two entries into the Snow leopard area -

From the bottom via a tunnel

Or by walking along the edge of the enclosure

Next came the Röd Panda (Red Panda):

I think it may actually be pooing

Red Pand

a

Next was the Sydamerika (South America) enclosure, with Tapir, Nandu (Rhea), Vikunja (Vikuna), Mara and Kapybara (Capybara).

Mara

Kapybara

My favourite - Tapir!

Mara

Vikunja

Kapybara

Nandu

Tapir

After the South America enclosure we stopped for a hot dog and to get out of the rain and wind.  It was raining pretty heavily (fortunately day 2 was nice and sunny) and the wind had picked up. Kris was hit by a falling pinecone, so we decided to wait out the worst of the weather.

One the weather calmed, we headed over to one of the main attractions - Tiger World.  There were five tigers in the enclosure and they were pretty cool to watch:

Tiger World

Part of the enclosure

Tiger

The tiger isn't afraid of the rain

Fighting

My ball

Got it!

Tackle!

And again

Ow! Good sir, kindly remove your canines from my epidermis

Piggyback

Also in Tiger World was the Dhole enclosure:

Information

Next stop was the newest feature of Kolmården - Wildfire, and there's an interesting story to go along with it.

Wildfire is the fastest wooden roller coaster in Europe and the second tallest wooden coaster in the world.  What's strange is that, until recently, Kolmården was purely a zoo.  Some smaller rides were added, but nothing that would be considered a major thrill ride.  Then for some reason the park decided to build one of the worlds biggest wooden thrill rollercoasters.  It was opened in 28 June 2016 and ran for a single season until October 2016, when it was shut down due to zoning problems. It turns out that Kolmården's permits for the rollercoaster was revoked for environmental concerns.  The was plenty of speculation that the massive rollercoaster would have to be torn down, but a pass was given for it to remain while the licencing was discussed.  The discussions went back and forth and for a long time it was expected that the coaster would not run again, or it would need to be removed. In June 2017 (a few weeks before we arrived) it was finally granted a permit and reopened.

The ride is 57m high, 1.3km long with an 80 degree drop of 49m and a top speed of 113 kmph and three inversions.

Our first ride was while it was still raining, and the rain drops nearly scoured the skin from our faces as we hit them at speed, but the ride was amazing and definately one of my favourite coasters.  The  longest wait for us was 10 minutes and the ride ran for 2 minutes.

Entry to Wildfire

Specification

The rise (left) and drop (right)

The sawmill theme and the impressive rise

Coming around the corner - that's me in black and Cam in purple midway along

Going up!

Wildfire

Our ride picture

Next came Marine World, but I'll leave that to last (as we have a story about the second day to tell).  So onward to the Safari.

The Safari

The Safari ride was a cable-car over a variety of different habitats.  It is 102m high at the drive station and 2638m long.  It travels at 1.5m/s and was built in 2011

The animals in the Safari are listed as:
Älg (moose), kronhjort (red deer), dovhjort (fallow deer), visent (aurochs), giraff (giraffe), elandantilop (eland), gnu, lechwevattenbock (lechwe), besoarantilop (black buck antelope), watussiboskap (warusi cattle), grevyzebra (Grevy's zebra), axishjort (chital), gemsbok, struts (ostrich), alpstenbock (stenbok), brunbjörn (brown bear) and lejon (lion).

Off we go, with Alana screaming everytime the gondola moved and Tomas with his jumper (or his head) on backward...

One of the Safari guards

Outside Safari

The entrance

Our first ride was a bit of a bust - the weather was pretty bad so most of the animals were in cover and we didn't see many.  The wind also got a bit nasty up high.  We did another trip on second day and had a much better view and smoother run.

Brown bear

Bears

Lions

Ostrich and eland

Ostrich and chicks

Stenbok

My first view of a moose!

Moose!

Baby moose getting baby moose juice

Chital and red deer

Gembok

These bison were wiped out in the wild, but were able to be bred and reintroduced from zoo and wildlife park stock

Wildfire from the Safari

Cable car run

The kids enjoyed it

Our next stop was the Kolosseum, which housed Asiatisk Elefant (Asian Elephant), trubbnoshörning (white rhino) and surikat (meerkat):

Spot the odd one out (it's a mascot for the area)

Elephants

Sleeping meerkats

Hide! He's seen us

Next stop, the Savanna (Savann) for Grevyzebra (Grevy's Zebra), gnu, lechwevattenbock (lechwe), bläsbok (blesbok), trubbnoshörning (white rhino), sabelantelop (sabel antelope) and addaxnantilop (addax).

No kids it's not a gravy zebra!

Rhino

Round 1: Fight! (gnu vs sable antelope)

Help! Our necks are glued together!

This rhino was a bully. He kept chasing the other animals around randomly

He's coming and he wants our lunch money! Run!

Don't look at me, I don't know him

Remaining stops: the aparium (gibbons, gorillas and chimpanzes), Bamse World, Kulmården, Marine World, Öken (Desert), Skogshund (Bush dogs) and wolves.