The Safari Park
Turkey's first safari drive, opened in 2018: giraffes, zebras, lions and African antelope seen from the park's own vehicles on a short loop, on a separate ticket.
Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0
Before you ask about the lions and giraffes, ask about the acreage: this is the largest zoo in Turkey, spread through the pine woods of the Burç Forest on something like two square kilometres by the municipality's own reckoning, though independent counts put it nearer one. A city Arab travellers know for baklava, künefe and pistachios also keeps, on the same municipal count, roughly eight thousand animals of around four hundred species, and pulled in about five million visitors in 2024, a figure that tells you two things at once: the place is worth the trip, and weekends are heaving. The zoo opened in 2001 and has kept growing since, but what sets it apart is the Safari Park added in 2018, the first of its kind in Turkey. Some 350 dönüm (about 35 hectares) where giraffes, zebras, lions and African antelope wander without cages, crossed in the park's own vehicles rather than your hire car. The drive is short, a matter of minutes, yet it is the closest a child from the Gulf or the Levant will get to the savannah without flying to Kenya. Around it sit a large aquarium with some 74 species, a big bird section, a tropical butterfly garden, a chimpanzee island and a modest zoology and nature museum. A plain word of advice: the site is too big to walk end to end, especially with small children or a pushchair, so ride the internal shuttle train and pick three sections you care about rather than trying to see everything. In July and August the temperature can top 38°C and shade between enclosures is thin, so arrive when the gates open at nine and be gone by noon, or come in April and May when the forest is green and the air is mild. Winter is cold but perfectly doable, on shorter hours. The ticket is cheap by any standard, 100 lira for an adult and half that for students, and the zoo opens every single day of the year. It lies roughly eight to ten kilometres south-west of the centre, twenty minutes by car or taxi, and municipal buses run out here too. Give it a proper half day, not a spare hour squeezed in after the bazaar.
Turkey's first safari drive, opened in 2018: giraffes, zebras, lions and African antelope seen from the park's own vehicles on a short loop, on a separate ticket.
A large aquarium with some 74 species and a big bird section, both shaded relief at midday.
Distances are long and summer heat is fierce; the shuttle train is the only sensible way to cover the grounds with children.
Burç Forest, Şahinbey, Gaziantep
On a two-day trip without children, the bazaars and Zeugma deserve your time first. With children, the zoo is the best half day in the city, the safari drive above all, provided you start at nine, skip summer middays and avoid weekends.