The Réserve Africaine de Sigean has set itself five objectives:

  • ANIMAL WELFARE: Positive mental and physical state linked to the satisfaction of the animal’s physiological and behavioral needs and expectations.
  • CONSERVATION: Conserving endangered species for future generations.
  • EDUCATION: Learn to observe to gain a better understanding of wildlife and the interdependence between animals and their environment.
  • RESEARCH: Adding something to human knowledge in the field of wildlife.
  • RECREATION: Offering visitors the pleasure of wildlife viewing.

The European directive on zoos of March 29, 1999 took up these objectives of conservation, research and education and made them an obligation for European zoos, thus recognizing the work of establishments which, like the Réserve Africaine de Sigean, had this vocation.

The ever-increasing number of visitors to the Réserve Africaine de Sigean demonstrates the continuing interest in this zoological park, which has not hesitated to “provide rearing conditions in which the animal would have a social life and benefit from a sufficiently vast and well-adapted environment to maintain behaviors close to those observed in its native environment”.

This new wildlife park philosophy has been maintained over the years, enabling large herds of different but compatible species to cohabit on large territories.

Today, several thousand animals share a territory of over 350 hectares. Sigean is open to nature, and a visit to the park is as much about discovering Africa’s wild fauna as it is about discovering an environment: the Languedoc lagoon coastline.

The tour passes through a natural environment of alternating ponds, marshes, garrigues, pine forests, plains and hills, divided into large spatial units of around ten hectares, where a wide variety of species, mostly African but also belonging to the local fauna, evolve and reproduce. Discovering them in their everyday lives, deciphering their behavior and recognizing them are all part of the charm of the walk.