Planète Sauvage

Planète sauvage is a zoological park in Port-Saint-Père, a small town on France's Atlantic coast in the Loire-Atlantique department, a short distance south of Nantes. The park opened in 1992, founded by Monique and Dany Laurent, and for its first years operated under the name Safari Africain, a name that points directly to its original drive-through safari concept.

How do you get there?

Port-Saint-Père sits in the Pays de la Loire region, close to the Loire estuary and the Atlantic shoreline. Nantes, with its airport and rail connections, is the obvious gateway for visitors arriving from elsewhere in France or from abroad — the drive from the city takes under half an hour. The surrounding countryside is rural, threaded with local roads linking the smaller towns of the department, which makes it easy to combine a visit to the park with time along the coast or in the Loire valley.

What will you see?

The park's name and its history as Safari Africain point to a drive-through safari format: visitors move through large open enclosures where animals roam freely, rather than being kept behind walls or in conventional cages. This layout lets guests observe animals in conditions closer to the wild, setting Planète sauvage apart from a typical city zoo.

Ownership of the park has changed hands more than once over its three-plus decades of operation, reflecting its growth as a commercial tourism venture. Between 2005 and 2015 it was run by Compagnie des Alpes, a French group specializing in the management of leisure parks and tourist attractions. Since 2015, the park has belonged to Looping Group, whose main shareholder is a Belgian private equity fund tied to Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. Philippe Vignaud serves as the park's director.

These changes in ownership have typically come with investment in infrastructure and an expanding visitor offer, a pattern common to large zoological parks that operate as commercial tourism destinations blending wildlife education with family entertainment.

When should you visit?

Since most of the park is outdoors, spring and summer are the best times to go, when longer daylight hours and warmer weather make it comfortable to spend a full day walking and driving through the enclosures. The summer holiday months draw the largest crowds, so visitors who prefer a quieter experience might consider coming in early autumn instead. The Pays de la Loire region has an oceanic climate with generally mild temperatures for much of the year, making the park a reasonably comfortable destination outside the peak summer weeks as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where exactly is Planète sauvage located? The park is in Port-Saint-Père, in the Loire-Atlantique department, a short drive south of Nantes and close to France's Atlantic coast.

When did the park open, and what was it called before? It opened in 1992, founded by Monique and Dany Laurent. Until 1998 it operated under the name Safari Africain.

Who owns and manages the park today? Since 2015 it has belonged to Looping Group, whose main shareholder is a Belgian private equity fund connected to Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. Before that, from 2005 to 2015, it was run by Compagnie des Alpes.

How is Planète sauvage different from a standard zoo? Its format is built around the idea of safari: part of the visit takes place by driving through large open enclosures where animals roam freely, rather than viewing them behind walled-off pens.