KonTiKi – short for Kontakt-Tier-Kind (animal-child contact) – is the nature education and leisure facility at the animal and nature adventure park at the Mundenhof.
KonTiKi gives children an opportunity to discover and find out about nature in a playful manner using all their senses. Nature thus becomes something to be felt and touched both literally and figuratively. Children are encouraged to act responsibly in their dealings with the animals. In this way, they take on responsibility for their shared world and experience that they really can become actively involved in protecting nature and their environment.
Many children long for direct contact with animals. Through their interaction with the animals at KonTiKi they can find out about the animals’ needs, feelings and patterns of behaviour. By processing animal products (such as wool, eggs, milk and honey) the children also experience animals as livestock. This gives them an understanding of the origins and production of foods and textiles. At the same time, they become aware of the complicated work involved and think more about their own nutrition.
Stuck knee deep in dung, stumping across the field with dirty rubber boots, feeding goats or crossing the zoo on the back of a donkey: in very close contact with animals and nature and satisfying their inexhaustible curiosity. At KonTiKi the children discover themselves and their abilities whilst in contact with nature and experience the magic of the many and varied sensations such as the air, light, and the earth as the seasons change.
(The Mundenhof Zeitung, 1/09)