In the middle of Qingdao, China, there’s a cafe where you can interact with the world’s largest rodents. A few months prior to going to China, our daughter Willow sent us a photo of herself beside a Capybara at Capy Park, we couldn’t quite believe it. She was at the Capybara Cafe in Zhongshan Park in Qingdao, China.
The concept seemed so foreign to us, massive 100-pound capybaras sharing space with cafe guests, a sight you’d never find back home in Australia. A quick exchange of text messages followed with words such as cute, amazing and “we want to go. When we visited Willow in July, this would be one of our first stop.
Visiting the Capybara Cafe
Address: Yan’an first Road No.106 Park 6 Haofang Qingdao China
We just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see and pat a Capybara. So, we grabbed a Didi rideshare and headed to Zhongshan Park, the biggest green space in Qingdao and home to numerous other attractions such as the Qingdao Zoo and Zhanshan Temple.
The Capy Park Cafe cost us 74 RMB which included a coffee and a souvenir cup. Our daughter Willow only paid 58 which did not include a coffee or a cup.
The visits are timed at one hour to keep the number of people down. The cafe is home 2 fully grown Capybaras and half a dozen cats. The place is not large by any means and the area where the Capybaras roam is around 6 meters by 6 meters, with an additional area that has a swimming pool for them.When we entered, there were around 6 other people inside, watching and feeding the Capybaras.
Feeding the Hungry Capybaras
You can purchase some food on entry, which comes with a set of tongs to feed them with.Bec headed straight over to the Capybaras with a look of excitement and apprehension and started feeding them.
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The Capybaras were much bigger than we had expected.Willow and I took a seat on a cushioned bench and watched Bec do the feeding while taking some pics. It wasn’t long before one of the Capybaras made its way over to where we were sitting.
Willow said they sometimes like to sit on the bench and have a rest where we were. One of them just hopped up on the cushion next to us and lay down. It was such an amazing experience having a capybara laying next to me.
I took the opportunity to pat him and was stunned at how coarse his hair /fur was.
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It could be described as being prickly without being sharp. The Capybara layed quietly enjoying the attention he was getting. We stayed our full hour just watching and patting the animals. I realized why these cafes have become such a phenomenon in Asia, making a connection with these animals is the real connection.
The cafe’s cats wandered over occasionally, seeking a pat, but they played second fiddle compared to our fascination with the capybaras.
Looking back, what started as an amusing photo from our daughter became one of our most memorable experiences in Qingdao. Towards the end of our hour, we were lucky enough to be the only people in the cafe, which was really special family experience. If you ever visit Qingdao, make sure you visit the Capybara Cafe.
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