Walk with penguins at Planckendael

At the start of the Easter holiday on Saturday, Planckendael animal park in Mechelen will open its new ‘Penguin Promenade’ to the public. The new section allows visitors to get closer to the animals than ever before:  families are invited to walk among the penguins, a first in Europe.

Head caretaker Ben Van Dyck points out that the animal park invested €1.5 million in the new penguin area which holds penguins together with flamingos and has pools containing 330,000 liters of water. "The area was as good as ready in April last year,” he said. “But we chose to let the penguins first get accustomed to people before the grand opening."