Gustav Mahler Wildlife Park

Very special animal encounters, that's what the Gustav Mahler Wildlife Park - "Wildpark Gustav Mahler" in German, "Parco Faunistico Gustav Mahler" in Italian - in Dobbiaco, strictly speaking in Carbonin Vecchia, a hamlet belonging to the municipality, brings along. In a spacious area, there is a huge variety of animals that can be admired: adorable raccoons, majestic deer and roes, ibexes and mouflons, domestic pigs and cheeky goats, lynxes and snowy owls as well as buzzards, pheasants and eagle owls make not only children's hearts leap for joy in a visit.

Right at the entrance of the 11 hectares large park in the Upper Val Pusteria you can purchase some fodder for the animals. Isn't it a great feeling when the four-legged friends eat from the palm of your hand?! The offer is completed by a small playground with swings and slides and the Mahlerstube tavern, famous for its dishes of wild game and South Tyrolean delicacies such as dumplings and Schlutzkrapfen (pastry filled with spinach and quark). It is a former noble house, known in the past as Trenkerhof, which already hosted Gustav Mahler. He described the areas as "... wonderful to be here, it sets your soul and body at ease".

The wildlife park owes its name to this Bohemian composer: Directly in the park there is the wooden composer's cottage of Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911) which has been preserved in its original state. During his summer holidays between 1908 and 1910 he composed in this little house the Ninth Symphony, the unfinished Tenth Symphony and "The Song of the Earth". The latter premiered in 1911 in Munich, right after his death. And how to reach the Gustav Mahler Wildlife Park? A small road turns from Dobbiaco into direction Carbonin Vecchia, parking is available. Also the bus no. 445 runs between Dobbiaco and Carbonin, whereas by foot a pleasant trail takes you to the park, which leads also past the lift facilities of the Skicenter Rienza.