Hainan's kingdom of animals and tropical plants

Black bears are among the animals seen on a safari tour at Hainan Tropical Wildlife Park and Botanical Garden, June 9, 2015. [Photo by Huang Yiming/China Daily]

Hainan Tropical Wildlife Park and Botanical Garden is nature's haven, with no less than 4,000 rare birds and animals representing 200 species. With tropical forest covering over 90 percent of its area, the garden offers beautiful views of a wide range of tropical plants, flowers and fruit trees.

The scenic spot about 25 kilometers from the center of Haikou offers a drive-thru safari tour where you can get up close with elephants, lions and bears. The "Safari on Foot" area features walking trails where visitors can see the rest of the animals, including hippos and monkeys, and feed them for a small fee.

Visitors also can see what happens when you breed a lion and a tiger. Two unique attractions are rare hybrids: a liger, the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger and a tigon, which is created by a female lion and a male tiger.

As a teaching center of the National Popular Science Education program, the park also serves as a second classroom for students to learn about wildlife and plants. Since it was established in 1995, it has received more than one million student visitors.