On my recent trip to Tunisia with work we had some time to go and visit Carthage Land which is a a small theme park located in Yasmine Hammamet. This is the first theme park ever opened in Africa.
Location:
As mentioned it is located in Yasmine Hammamet and is not very far at all from the ... Read review
Advantages: Nice day out and ideal for families with younger children. Disadvantages: Not much for older guests
...time to go and visit Carthage Land which is a a small theme park located in Yasmine Hammamet. This is the first theme park ever opened in Africa.
Location:
As mentioned it is located in Yasmine Hammamet and is not very far at all from the beach. In fact is is only a few minutes away from the back end of the hotel we were staying in which was the El Mouradi Yasmine Hammamet. If you were staying here on in the sister hotel, the ... ...the experience. Overall for a half day visit this place would be ideal for families with young children but I think it wouldn't be enough to entertain for the whole day and I would say unless you are close by to Carthage Land it wouldn't really be worth the trip. ... more
On my recent trip to Tunisia with work we had some time to go and visit Carthage Land which is a a small theme park located in Yasmine Hammamet. This is the first theme park ever opened in Africa.
Location: As mentioned it is located in Yasmine Hammamet and is not very far at all from the beach. In fact is is only a few minutes away from the back end of the hotel we were staying in which was the El Mouradi Yasmine Hammamet. If you were staying here on in the sister hotel, the El Mouradi El Menzah, which is next door to it you could easily walk to the theme park. The entrance is very easy to spot as on sidewalk next to the main road there is statues of elephants and also just off the main road is a big sign with the name on it and a small waterfall flowing over it. Once you go behind the elephants you can follow the path to the main entrance which has a large archway with giant statues on each side. Under the arch there is actually some men who stand with tiger cubs where you can pay to have your picture taken with them.
History: The park was opened in August 2003 and the interior area of the park is decorated in a classical Tunisian/Roman style. The park has I mentioned above, is the first of it's kind in Africa. Not only have you got the park, it has been expanded to the immediate area outside of the gates too where a Medina has been created to look like an old Medina. In this area there is also a variety of shops, bars and restaurants and there is usually people with snakes and birds that you can pay to have your picture with.
Attractions: The park doesn't have big rides but a small selection of family type rides. The main rides that we went on were a small log flume, a pirate ship, a river rapids and some bumper cars. There is quite a lot of attractions but the majority of them are for quite young children. There are shows on during the day including 'The adventures of Barberousse' which is at an extra charge and you can buy tickets for this with your entrance tickets to the park. There is also various people dressed up who wander around the park too - we saw a man dressed as a roman warrior which makes for a good photo opportunity!
The park also has a small farm yard area where they keep camels and other smaller animals. They also have a cage near to the main entrance where they keep a lion and lioness. Personally for me the cage they were in seemed a bit small for the two of them but we found out that the same lions are not always there as they don't keep the same ones all year. This was the only thing I did not like about the park as it seemed a bit cruel on the animals.
Outside of the actual park itself there has been a Medina built where there is a variety of shops, bars and restaurants. There is also a few people who stand in this area with various small animals of which you can have your photo taken with them at a charge.
Prices and opening times: The park tickets are priced per adult and child and there is no family tickets available which is a shame really - however prices are not that bad so even buying individual tickets is not that expensive. Prices are listed below:
Entrance to park and extra show - Adult 15TND Child 10TND
Entrance to Park only - Adult 12 TND Child 8TND
Show only - Adult and child both 5TND
To give you an idea of the cost in GBP, the current exchange rate is 2.28 TND to 1 GBP so overall prices are not too high at all.
The park is open every day of the year and from July 1st - September 15th it is open from 3pm until midnight. The rest of the year the park is open on Sundays from 10am - 8pm and on Mondays through to Saturdays is open from 12pm - 7pm
Overall opinion: When we visited the park it was really empty - so quiet in fact we only saw about 10 other people in the whole park! It wasn't high season whilst we were in Tunisia so it's easy to see why it was quiet but, it would have a better atmosphere in the park if there was more people in it and I thin this would really add to the experience. Overall for a half day visit this place would be ideal for families with young children but I think it wouldn't be enough to entertain for the whole day and I would say unless you are close by to Carthage Land it wouldn't really be worth the trip.
