La Vanille Nature Park tour: giant tortoises, crocodiles & the wild south
Private day trips · your group only · pickup anywhere · since 1998
Quick answer: La Vanille Nature Park at Rivière des Anguilles is the wild south's family favourite — home to the world's largest colony of Aldabra giant tortoises (over 1,000, roaming free enough to walk among and feed), around 2,000 Nile crocodiles, a 23,000-specimen insectarium, lemur feeding, a fossil museum with a dodo, and a petting farm and pony rides for the little ones. Our private tour handles the whole day: door-to-door transport, arrival timed so you catch the daily 11:30 AM crocodile feeding (free with admission — and easy to miss), and the wild south built around it — Gris Gris cliffs, La Vallée des Couleurs or a Le Morne beach afternoon. Per-vehicle price, your group only. Tell us your date on WhatsApp.
[ Plan your La Vanille day on WhatsApp ]
Private transport · timed for the croc feeding · tortoise & lemur feeding · wild-south combos · English & French
Walk among a thousand giant tortoises
Opened in 1985 in a lush river valley once planted with vanilla vines, La Vanille is a 3.5-hectare conservation park under giant bamboo and palms — and the one place on Earth where you can wander through the largest captive-bred herd of Aldabra giant tortoises anywhere: more than a thousand of them, from hatchlings in the nursery to the park's vast old patriarch Domino, at around 280 kg one of the largest tortoises alive. Kids hand-feed them leaves while the giants amble alongside — the single most-photographed moment in the south.
What's inside:
The tortoise valley — 1,000+ Aldabra giants, walk-among and feed
The crocodile reserve — ~2,000 Nile crocodiles under the bamboo, with the daily feeding show at 11:30 AM (included in entry)
Lemur feeding — supervised sessions with the park's playful troop
The insectarium — 23,000+ butterflies and insects from five continents, one of the largest collections in the world
The fossil museum — ammonites, marine skeletons, and the extinct icons: the dodo and Madagascar's elephant bird
For little ones — petting farm, pony rides, playground, and a "Junior Keeper for a day" programme for budding zookeepers
Plus — monkeys, giant fruit bats, iguanas, deer, the aquarium, and a forest restaurant for lunch
Three ways to do your La Vanille day
1. La Vanille + the wild south coast — the park in the morning (timed for the 11:30 croc feeding), then Gris Gris's wave-battered cliffs, Rochester Falls and the untamed southern shore. The classic wild-south day.
2. La Vanille + La Vallée des Couleurs — tortoises and crocodiles, then the 23-coloured earth, waterfalls and ziplines next door. The proven family double-header.
3. La Vanille + a Le Morne beach afternoon — the park first, then west along the dramatic coast road (Maconde viewpoint photo stop) to Le Morne's lagoon for the afternoon swim.
Prefer it folded into the complete southern circuit with Chamarel and Grand Bassin instead? That's our full-day south island tour — this page is the park-first version, built around real time with the animals rather than a quick stop.
Your day, hour by hour (option 1 shown)
08:30–09:30 · Pickup & the drive south — collected anywhere on the island; the deep south is a real drive from the north and east, which is exactly what door-to-door transport is for.
09:30–11:15 · Tortoises first — the valley at its quiet best: feed the giants, meet the hatchlings, find Domino. Then the insectarium and fossil museum while the morning is cool.
11:30 · The crocodile feeding — the daily show, included in your ticket. We build the whole morning so you're standing there when it starts.
12:15–13:15 · Lunch in the forest — the park's restaurant under the canopy (kids' options aplenty), or a local table in Rivière des Anguilles.
13:30–14:15 · Gris Gris — the south's wild edge: cliffs, crashing surf, the "weeping rock" — the coastline with no reef to tame it.
14:15–15:00 · Rochester Falls — the square basalt columns and the cascade, a short scenic detour on the way back.
15:00–16:30 · Home — door to door, with a phone full of tortoises.
La Vanille practical facts
Opening hours: 9:30 AM–5 PM daily, including weekends and public holidays.
The feeding times matter: crocodile feeding is daily at 11:30 AM and included in entry; tortoise and lemur feeding sessions run through the day. Arriving early means the tortoise valley before the crowds and the croc show — the whole reason we schedule the morning tight.
How long you need: 2–3 hours does the park well — which is why it pairs perfectly with the wild south around it rather than filling a day alone.
Kids: genuinely one of the island's best parks for young children — hands-on feeding, the petting farm, pony rides, playground, and the Junior Keeper programme (book ahead). Child seats in our vehicle are free.
Bring: proper shoes, sunscreen, mosquito repellent, water — and an umbrella lives in our car, because the south's greenery comes from its showers.
Entry tickets: ticketed (children 3–12 at reduced rates, under-3s free); we confirm current prices and arrange entry before your day.
Getting there: Rivière des Anguilles, deep south — minutes from Gris Gris and St Aubin, 20 minutes from La Vallée des Couleurs, a genuine drive from the northern resorts.
Original data · The Barefoot Bespoke Index
The park in honest numbers
1,000+ — Aldabra giant tortoises, the largest captive-bred colony in the world
~280 kg — Domino, the park's giant patriarch
~2,000 — Nile crocodiles in the reserve
11:30 AM — The daily crocodile feeding, free with entry — and missed by anyone who arrives for lunch
23,000+ — Specimens in the insectarium, among the world's largest collections
80 euros— Your per-vehicle price for the La Vanille day
The honest takeaway: La Vanille is a 2–3 hour park with a fixed daily showpiece at 11:30 — so the visit is won or lost on scheduling. Arrive at opening, do the tortoises cool and quiet, stand at the croc feeding on time, and pair the afternoon with the wild south ten minutes away. That's a full day done right; the park alone, badly timed, is half of one.
Source: La Vanille Nature Park published information; TripAdvisor visitor data. Replace the Barefoot figure with your genuine number.
The process
How your La Vanille day works
Tell us your date and your crew's ages
Toddlers, teenagers or tortoise-mad grandparents — the plan flexes around them.
We time the morning to the park's rhythm
Tortoises at opening, the 11:30 croc feeding on the dot, lunch after.
The wild south built around it
Gris Gris, Rochester Falls, La Vallée des Couleurs or a Le Morne beach — your pick, minutes away.
Door to door, your group only
No coach schedule; we leave when the kids have said goodbye to Domino.
Case study
A family who nearly gave the deep south a miss
Guests: family of five from Grand Baie (kids 4, 7 and 11) · Brief: "the tortoises, definitely — but is it worth the long drive from the north?"
From Grand Baie, La Vanille is the far corner of the island, and they'd almost written it off as too far for a small park. We made the drive the easy part: collected at 8:15, tortoise valley by 9:45 while it was cool, the four-year-old hand-feeding a giant twice her size, the croc feeding at 11:30, lunch in the forest — then Gris Gris's cliffs and Rochester Falls turned the "small park" into a full wild-south day. Asleep in the car by Curepipe, home by five.
The doubt — "Too far for a 2-hour park" The fix — The park timed tight, the wild south wrapped around it 11:30 sharp — Front row at the croc feeding The photo — A four-year-old feeding a 200 kg tortoise
The concrete result
What the timed day delivered
Tortoise valley at its quietest, before the coaches
The croc feeding caught — the show most self-drivers miss
Gris Gris + Rochester Falls folded into the same day
5★ review — "the long drive we almost didn't make became the best family day of the trip"
First-hand reviews
In our guests' own words
★★★★★ "Walking among a thousand giant tortoises is something else — and our driver had us there at opening, before the crowds. The 11:30 croc feeding was the kids' highlight." — J., United Kingdom (via Google)
★★★★★ "Park in the morning, Gris Gris and the waterfalls after. The south in one day, with a four-year-old, zero stress. That's the value of someone planning it." — C., France (via TripAdvisor)
★★★★★ "The fossil museum's dodo made my dinosaur-mad son's holiday. Petting farm, pony ride, tortoise feeding — built for kids without being a funfair." — S., Germany (via GetYourGuide)
A contrarian view
La Vanille isn't a full day out — and pretending it is ruins it
Some brochures sell La Vanille as a whole-day destination; some disappointed reviews call it "just a small zoo." Both miss the same truth: it's a superb 2–3 hour conservation park with one fixed daily showpiece — and it lives in the most under-visited corner of the island, ten minutes from cliffs, waterfalls and coloured earths that most tourists never reach.
Treat La Vanille as the whole day and it feels small. Treat it as the anchor of a wild-south day and it's the best family morning on the island.
That's why every good version of this trip is a combo — park plus Gris Gris, park plus La Vallée des Couleurs, park plus a Le Morne beach — and why the drive south, the thing people hesitate over, pays for itself twice.
The fair caveat: if your family isn't animal-inclined, or the kids are past the petting-farm years and into thrill rides, Casela on the west coast — bigger, wilder, zipline-strung — may fit better; we run that day too and we'll tell you straight which suits your crew.
Questions, answered straight
La Vanille Nature Park — FAQs
Is La Vanille worth visiting?
For families and animal lovers, absolutely — the world's largest colony of giant Aldabra tortoises (which you can walk among and feed), 2,000 crocodiles, lemur feeding, a world-class insectarium and a fossil museum with a dodo. Best done as the anchor of a wild-south day rather than on its own.
What time is the crocodile feeding?
Daily at 11:30 AM, included in your entry — we schedule the morning so you're standing there when it starts.
How long do you need at the park?
2–3 hours does it well, which is why we pair it with Gris Gris, Rochester Falls, La Vallée des Couleurs or a Le Morne beach afternoon in the same day.
Is it good for young children?
One of the best on the island — hands-on tortoise feeding, a petting farm, pony rides, a playground and the Junior Keeper programme. Child seats in our vehicle are free.
Can you arrange the entry tickets?
Yes — entry is arranged before your day, with reduced child rates (3–12) and under-3s free, and we quote the honest current prices upfront.
Where do you pick up from?
Anywhere on the island — and the further north or east you stay, the more the door-to-door drive to the deep south earns its keep.
Tell us your date and your crew
That's all we need to build your La Vanille day — tortoises at opening, the croc feeding on time, and the wild south wrapped around it.