The cute, curious ostriches of the Brioni National Park, Istria, Croatia
Written by Karen Bryan
One of the best laughs I had during my trip to Istria in Croatia was taking videos of the ostriches at the Safari Park on the Brijuni/Brioni Islands National Park. Everything in Istria is written in Croatian and Italian which can be a bit confusing.The Brioni National Park comprises of fourteen islands and is reached by ferry from the town of Fazana.
The ostriches were so curious that it looked as though they might grab your camera from your hands. It was hard to take a video of them as they were pretty jerky movers.
The main island was the favourite haunt of the Yugoslavan ruler Tito and most of the other animals in the Safari Park were gifts from fellow members of Non Aligned Movement. However there has been an ostrich farm on the island since 1910, so I guess that the ostriches are pretty used to humans.
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Hi Karen .. 14 islands .. it must be wonderful to visit .. Ostriches are quite vicious and extremely strong .. did you get to eat some of an egg?
I liked the videos ..
Thanks Hilary Melton-Butcher
Hi Hilary – we only managed to visit the largest island. i did read that ostriches don’t make good pets as their legs are very strong and when they get spooked they can cause a lot of damage. No we didn’t taste any ostrich flesh or eggs in Istria but loads of fresh seafood.
Karen, I haven’t had the chance to visit Brijuni yet, but after watching the those clips, I think it will be sooner rather than later!
neha, there’s a lot more to the Brijuni National Park than the ostriches and the Safari PArk e.g. roman ruins and a display about Tito.