Wildpark Grafenberg, Dusseldorf

The Wildlife Park in the Grafenberg Forest with its size of 36 hectares, is one of the larger parks in Düsseldorf. It is one of the oldest game parks in Germany and only shows native animal species. A beech forest that is more than 200 years old is at home around the free-range areas and enclosures for the animals.

The park was created in 1927 , then with a size of 10 hectares . It housed fallow deer and roe deer . A plane crash occurred on December 12, 1944. In the same year the park was closed, then in 1953 it was expanded to 30 hectares and reopened. It was later expanded to its current size of 36 hectares. Between 2008 and 2014, volunteer archaeologists from the LVR Office for Land Monument Preservation in the Rhineland worked on the crash site of a British Avro Lancaster bomber that crashed on December 12, 1944examined and documented. On April 5, 2017, a memorial plaque was set up in the immediate vicinity of the crash site at the time, on Lindenplätze.

With around 100 animals, the park is a popular excursion destination, and not just because it does not cost any admission. You can find red deer, fallow deer, mouflon, wild boar and pheasants . Wildcats, raccoons and other small carnivores can also be seen.