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BRANFÉRÉ
Branféré Park, a zoo and botanical garden set in some 80 acres, offers an unusual wildlife experience among more than a hundred species of birds and mammals that wander freely in a magnificent 18th century garden setting. You can get quite close to the animals - this is Eleanor, one of our guests, in the picture!
 
  There are six lakes and an elegant 17th century château, complete with storks' nests and surrounded by exotic trees. A feature of Branféré is the attempt to do away with as much fencing as possible, instead using waterways to divide the various animals. Among the most interesting are four species of Madagascan lemur and some spectacular birds.
 
La Ferme du Monde at Carentoir
 
  La Ferme du Monde is a vast animal park ("400 animals from 5 continents") set around a pretty 16th century manor house. There are many activities here, including pony-rides, mini-golf and the chance to see bread and jam being made by traditonal methods. Again, it is possible to get close to all the animals, and there is a large petting-zoo.
 
  There is also a model of a traditional Breton Village, which took 25 years to build. All the old skills are ingeniously performed by mechanical figures - a clog-maker, potter, cooper and carpenter, among others.
 
Tropical Park at St-Jacut-les-Pins
 
 

Claiming to be one of the biggest Tropical Parks in Europe, St-Jacut has a wonderful collection of exotic animals and many tropical birds.

There are frequent displays and hands-on experiences with many of the animals. The themed gardens and hothouses, orchid collection, cacti and bonsai make it a fascinating place to visit.

 
Planète Sauvage
 
 

Soon after driving over the magnificent St-Nazaire bridge, you come to this, the biggest Safari Park in Europe, situated between Nantes and Pornic, where you can see 150 types of animals from five continents.

There are 16 distinct areas, along 10 Kilometres of track, among giraffe, elephants, bears, wolves, rhinos, hippos, lions, tigers, antelopes and watussi cattle.

 
 

There is also Planète Océan, a large 6-metre deep pool where you can watch sea-lions with their trainers. There is an underwater gallery to watch the sea-lions swimming in an underwater seascape inspired by Jules Verne.

 
La Gacilly - Le Végétarium
  In 1956, when Yves Rocher produced a cream based on the Celandine plant in his attic in Brittany, he could not have imagined that his brand would become the world's number one in botanical beauty, and that the Yves Rocher Group would eventually provide cosmetic products to over 40 million people worldwide. Today the group has 13,500 employees in 88 countries, and in 2002 it achieved a turnover of 2 billion euros.
     
 

The La Gacilly botanical garden was created in 1975 as a place for studying and observing plants that may have applications in cosmetics.

More recently the Vegetarium was constructed as an interactive visitor centre, and covers such diverse topics as The Green Planet, The Secret Life of Plants, and Plants and Mankind.