Politicians not planners driving Safari Park relocation

The relocation of the Ramat Gan Safari Park, which was announced last week, is not the first attempt, nor will it be the last, to take control of a piece of land worth a conservative estimate of NIS 10 billion. If in the past this land attracted the private sector, today the government is also eyeing the Safari Park, to gain the potential income that will flow from it, and to win political credit for increasing the supply of apartments. But it now looks like wishful thinking that the plan is moving ahead.

Last week’s planned festive signing ceremony for an agreement in principle to transfer the Ramat Gan Safari to Ariel Sharon Park, to be attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama HaCohen was canceled. Under the plan, the land where the Safari Park is currently located will be rezoned for thousands of housing units, while Ramat Gan would retain control of the park by extending its jurisdiction to part of the Ariel Sharon Park.

On the surface, the plan seems logical. The Ramat Gan Safari occupies a large area of valuable land in a central and expensive location. Alongside the pleasure the Safari brings visitors, complaints are received from residents of the immediate area about the noise and odor nuisances. It makes sense for the Ramat Gan Safari Park to find an alternative site.

The Ramat Gan National Park began as a small initiative to establish a wildlife sanctuary in the Ramat Gan National Park, and according to Wikipedia, in October 1964, 23 animals from Kenya were brought to the park. In the early 1970s, Zvi Kirmeyer, director of the Ramat Gan National Park, initiated the establishment of an open African zoo covering an area of about 1,000 dunams (250 acres), and in 1974 the safari opened to visitors. Seven years later, the existing animals were joined by animals that had previously lived in the Tel Aviv Zoo.

The questions of whether, after more than 50 years, it is time for the Ramat Gan Safari to move, and whether it is generally desirable for a municipality to manage such a national project, are legitimate questions but the discussions are dominated by political and vested interests.

It was the private sector that discovered the enormous economic potential of the Safari Park’s 1,000 dunams, and almost 30 years ago it put forward the proposal currently being discussed, to relocate the Safari Park to Ariel Sharon Park (then the Hiriya municipal garbage dump).

In 1997 “Globes,” reported that the then Ramat Gan Mayor Zvi Bar, said that private entrepreneurs were interested in vacating the Safari Park in exchange for a profit from the sale of the land, which was then estimated at $1 billion. Bar, who spoke at a conference of planners of the Tel Aviv District Master Plan, spoke about the private sector initiative to relocate the Safari Park to the Hiriya, just as the government and Ramat Gan Municipality are trying to do now. Once again, it shows how the private sector notices opportunities long before the public sector.

Homes to replace hippos: Ramat Gan Safari Park to move

What was worth $1 billion in 1997 must be worth at least three times that today, and the argument is that the current initiative to clear the land also stemmed at least in part from the billions it is worth.

The billions beckon

Now a lot of factors have come together: Minister of Environmental Protection Idit Silman wants to strengthen and finance the activities of Ariel Sharon Park; the Ministry of Finance wants to initiate new residential projects; the Israel Land Authority (ILA) want to market as much residential land as possible; and Ramat Gan Mayor Shama HaCohen’s want to build thousands of apartments for the city’s young people, without losing administrative and municipal control over the Safari Park.

The Safari Park is being seen as an unreasonable use of one of the most densely populated urban areas in the country. However, the fact is that no planning agency has been involved in discussions so far. Moreover, according to the outline plans, senior planning agencies accept and approve the Safari Park in its current form and location.

This has led to hasty conclusions being drawn by government ministries and the Ramat Gan Municipality, with Shama HaCohen not even informing the Safari Park’s board of directors and the Ramat Gan council about the relocation of the Safari Park. The city, with the Planning Administration not at all involved, and the General Directorate of the Ministry of Planning, which has been without a director general for over a month, has no one to approve the plan, sign it, and promote it.

On Wednesday afternoon, it was announced that the festive signing ceremony was canceled, due to the Prime Minister’s schedule constraints. However, it is believed that the cancellation was made due to concerns that the event could become embarrassing.

The matter of relocating the Ramat Gan Safari Park will rumble on. The billions and political capital that the land is worth will make that inevitable, but the real questions about the best location for the Safari Park will begin to be asked at one stage or another.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on February 1, 2026.

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