History

From the “Lukashansl” Inn to a modern wildlife park

Since 1874, the Mayr family has been making a living in the Ferleiten/Bruck area. In that year, Johann Mayr built the “Lukashansl” inn. After 100 years of agricultural use, the land consisting 15 hectares was turned into a wildlife park. In 1979, the walkway was created and a first game enclosure was erected. Today, the Ferleiten Wildlife and Adventure Park is still run by the Mayr-Reisch family.  

Takeover of the inn "Lukashansl" in Ferleiten by Johann Mayr

Construction of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road

Routing and construction of the first enclosure

Construction of the "House of Fish" together with the National Park Hohe Tauern

Opening of the new wolf and bear enclosure

facts and figures

Ferleiten on the Glockner Road used to be the bottom of a lake, surrounded by hillsides. Houses in the Hohe Tauern mountains used to have bell towers so that they could warn hikers and travelling salespeople and help them to make it safely to the nearest hostel.

Accessibility is everything: Even before the famous Grossglockner Road was built, a road to Ferleiten existed which Lukashansl’s landlord had built in 1903. Together with the neighbouring villages of Fusch and Bad Fusch, Ferleiten became a popular holiday destination. Hiking and mountain climbing with professional alpine guides was something very special in those days and turned out to be so profitable that it employed 20 and 30 alpine guides full-time during the summer. Many guests ended up staying overnight in the popular Lukashansl inn, among them the King of Bulgaria and famous Austrian literary beacon Hugo von Hofmannsthal who used to visit Ferleiten at the head of its beautiful valley nearly every year.

Finished after only five years of construction works, a new era began for the region when the Grossglockner High Alpine Road opened in 1935. The Road is one of the great dream roads in the Alps and one of Austria’s big tourist attractions, with more people visiting every year. This brought about new possibilities for the businesses of the area.

Find out more about the Grossglockner High Alpine Road

The increasing industrialisation of agriculture brought a lot of challenges for farms with less fertile soils like the ones in Ferleiten. That’s how the idea of rededicating our 15 hectare land into a wildlife park took shape in the early 1970s. With its ideal location at the Grossglockner Road and easy accessibility, its many wells and an existing catering business, Ferleiten was the perfect spot.

In the autumn of 1979, a walkway was created, followed by first enclosure for red and fallow deer, for ibex and mouflon. At the same time a pond system for native ducks and fish was installed. Every year, new enclosures and aviaries were added and attracted more and more regular and new visitors.

Today, more than 200 animals of 40 different species live at Ferleiten Wildlife Park. Two professional animal attendants take daily care of the animals’ well-being, and several times a year a vet will conduct checks-ups. Of course we are continuously working on the extension of the park. Since 2011, for instance, we have been gladly cooperating with the Hohe Tauern National Park with the joint “House of Fish” pavilion.

Learn more about the “House of Fish”

We are also particularly proud of our joint bear and wolf enclosure.

The once-small children’s playground has developed into a large adventure park with 40 playing devices waiting to be conquered.
Learn more about the Adventure Park

Foundation Wildpark Ferleiten: 1979
Size of agriculture: about 15 hectares
Size of the adventure park: about 2 hectares
Number of animals: about 200
Number of species: about 40
Seating in the restaurant: for about 300 people

1874

1931 - 1935

1979

2010

2019

A short history of Ferleiten  

The great breakthrough: Grossglockner High Alpine Road

New times bring new opportunities

Always something new: Ferleiten Wildlife and Adventure Park today

Holiday destination for mountaineers and VIP guests

Ferleiten in the olden days