China Orca Parks

Well in May I took in a trip I had been very nervous to do – going to China to meet the orcas. Due to China’s black out nature, I had been nervous because it was difficult to get travel information from Google Maps. I also thought I had to get a tourist visa from the embassy which seemed long winded. But after going to Japan, and learning about the 10 day transit visa option and meeting Cesar who was doing a China trip after Japan, I decided to bring forward my intended trip. I did lots of YouTube video research to prepare me for all the phone apps I was going to need.

Shanghai
So I landed in Shanghai and I had booked a hotel that was centralish between the airport and Haichang. Unfortunately I couldn’t sleep the night before, but in the morning I took a Didi to Haichang and bought a ticket on the door. I arrived just in time for the start of the 11am orca show. Wow, what a sight to behold Panghu. What an incredible male. What on earth is in the water to allow Panghu and Shawn to keep such straight dorsals?! I’m convinced Panghu is the biggest male in captivity too, not Tyson. During my time at Shanghai over 3 days I went to all shows which were only 11am on Thursday and Friday, and on Saturday there was an 11am and 1pm. The shows were 15-20 mins long. It basically seemed like the Panghu show, and then they brought in Dora, Zimo and Cody. Cookie was never used, only brought to the trainer stage at the end of the shows. And Shawn was kept out all of the shows except the last one where he was used at the very end.

After the shows I would basically spend all day at the underwater glass. Zimo really was the star. He was so curious and interactive at the glass. But he had a slight stereotypy pattern of swimming along the wall. Not quite as bad as Cody’s stereotypy though of banging his head underneath the concrete stage.
The groupings appeared to be primarily Shawn alone in the left pool, Cody and Zimo in the main underwater glass pool and Dora, Cookie and Panghu in the right pool. However they would mix them up throughout the day. On the first day, Shawn was in with Cody and Zimo for part of the day, which was not really a great thing for the little ones as Shawn kept trying to penetrate them! Particularly Cody, poor boy. Even Panghu tried to get in on the action too. I felt like Cody was roughhoused a lot, even Zimo would bash against him!

I didn’t see a whole lot of Dora and Cookie. But Cookie was absolutely huge. So so clearly pregnant (and turns out she gave birth a month after my visit!).

Not only was Zimo very active at the glass but he was also very vocal too. I was very confused at what I was hearing at first, but then I realized it was Zimo. I was also very pleased and privileged when I got my own personal interaction with Zimo when no one else was around. Loved it.

As mentioned before, I went to the park 3 days. On day 2 and 3 I managed to get discounted entry as ‘Ladies ticket’ – this was to do with it being around mother’s day apparently. Very happy about that. Unfortunately the afternoon of my last day the orcas were kept out of the underwater glass, whilst some workers did maintenance outside the tank. I explored the rest of the park but can’t say I was overly impressed. I observed some fire animal welfare conditions and acts of animal abuse, by both staff and guests. I’m glad to see the orcas were doing well for the most part but I can’t say the same about the other animals in the park.
 

Chimelong
After Shanghai I flew to Zhuhai and stayed a short Didi ride away from Chimelong Spaceship. I bought a 2 day ticket. I headed straight for the underwater orcas. For both days in the main pool and used in the shows were Nakhod, Chaid, Kaixin and Yilong. They were used in two short underwater performances, and then the two main shows in the stadium. The main shows were absolutely hectic. I’ve never seen such chaos and sensory overload in a show before. The shows were 35 mins and feature blaringly loud music, dancers, water skiiers and pelicans and ibis! Then finally it’s the orcas. They introduce each orca in the show and then do a video clip about the baby orcas of Chimelong. I do worry for the orcas with the noise though.

Speaking of babies, I went down to the Kindergarten pool and got to see Nukka, Sonya and Liulong/Pearl! Ahh what a little cutie. So sweet to see her. She had moments of being independent. And looked like Nukka has one on the way! I asked a staff member if she was pregnant and she was like ‘Shhh!’, so that suggested yes to me lol.

Towards the end of my first day I went back over to the Kindergarten pool and saw two orcas in there – a small and large one. It was the quickest of glimpses before they closed the curtain but my gut told me it was Loki and Bandhu. Quite a special sighting as I hear they are typically off exhibit!
The following day was very much the same in terms of where each groups were. I had been disappointed at the end of the first day to not have seen Tyson, Katenka, Jade and the calves. However during the day I went over to the Kindergarten pool and was surprised to see those 6 in there. Again, it was only a short sighting, and I was worried that would be my only sighting of the day. Tyson, Jade and Jingxi were briefly put in the main pool, but again it wasn’t for long.

I was relieved when at the last hour of the day that that group were put into the main pool. It was fascinating to see them. To me Tyson didn’t look like the biggest male orca of all. And the babies Katniss, Jingxi and Bowen were oddly small. All 3 were older than Zimo, yet Zimo seemed so much bigger and more independent than all of them. These calves looked like one year olds. And it was crazy how Katniss was barely any bigger than Bowen. Most odd.
Finally, I visited the underwater restaurant twice even though it was horrifically overpriced and underwhelming food choices. But I did get the orca chocolate mousse which was nice!

 
But yeah, what a treat to see them all. I officially saw all captive orcas in China – except 2 new ones will make the list – Cookie’s and Nukka’s calves. I guess I will have to go back at some point?!

Japan Orca Parks - March 2006

 Kamogawa SeaWorld

So this was my first park and I can’t express how excited I was to be here. I first learnt about the captive orcas in 2003, and Kamogawa has been a staple park throughout all that time. It’s the OG orca park of Japan. And so I was super excited to meet Lovey and Lara who I’ve known since I was 11. When I arrived I went straight to the orca stadium and was delighted to see it was already open – as I’m accustomed to stadiums only being open at set times like Loro Parque. And there they were, the three girls – Lovey, Lara and Luna. They were lapping in unison when I arrived. I stayed at the glass the whole time before the first show – I probably did like a 1000 squats that whole day to get a good view of the orcas, as the underwater view requires getting low. It was so cool to see them hangout with each other and interact. It appeared that Luna and Lara were more of a pairing and Lovey occasionally did her own thing. I also noticed Lovey’s jaw injury which I later learnt happened when she and Lara were upset over Ran leaving. Poor girls. But I did also noticed that Lovey had some prominent rake marks down her side which I found curious. I also later heard that apparently Lovey isn’t the dominant female and the other two pick on her. This surprised me. Other than Lovey doing ‘her own thing’ more I never really observed behaviours that made me think they didn’t get along. I thought Lovey was hanging alone because she was the dominant one, not thinking it was because she was picked on. I did see Lovey and Luna ‘mouthing’ each other quite a bit but I didn’t think it looked aggressive. Only one moment it seemed the girls got a bit ‘feisty’ but it was over so quickly and it was too hard to see what was going on because of the splashes and water disturbance.

 Anyway, so obviously the significant thing about Kamogawa is that they still do waterworks in their shows – something I haven’t seen in 16 years. I’m not overly a fan of trainers standing on the orcas backs and faces, but it does look like the trainers do have a nice relationship with the orcas. And they height they can reach when the orcas propel them into the air is quite spectacular! It was also refreshing that the Kamogawa shows alternated their soundtrack every other show, unlike Loro Parque which does the exact same show format every singe time. And there were more shows than Loro Parque too. We were also not asked to leave the stadium in-between shoes either, so that was amazing – literally getting to camp out at the orcas all day! It was also super interesting to see what a hardcore ‘orca fan club’ there was at Kamogawa. Lots of locals with so much orca merchandise, proper cameras and just hanging out all day with the orcas. It was really cool – closest I’d seen that was my last trip to Marineland France but not really at the SeaWorld parks or LP. My only regret for Kamogawa was not going to the underwater restaurant – I saw the restaurant but had no idea that it had viewing glass to the orca pool. Shame. I just assumed it was above only access as the orca fans stayed up there.

 

Nagoya

Well I was sad that I would be visiting Nagoya with Earth no longer there. But what a great facility it is. I loved the opportunity to see Lynn all day either above or below water. The days I was there, Lynn spent the first half of the day in the back pools and then the second half of the day she had access to the show pool and one back pool. Honestly, wow. Seeing her in the show pool is incredible. What a huge pool! I wish all captive cetaceans (not just orcas) could live in pools this big. From my observations of Lynn, she was active all day. She wasn’t an overly lethargic orca floating lifelessly like I’ve seen some others. She was always moving and interacted with her two dolphin pool mates too. The trainers often gave her ice cubes in-between training sessions. She did two training sessions a day – the first in the back pools and the second in the show pool. The sessions were quite good at striving to be educational, unlike the Kamogawa ones which were purely for entertainment. An observation of the dolphins at Nagoya is they all seemed to have this stereotypical behavior of swimming upside down, blowing bubbles and then righting themselves to chomp on the bubbles as they rose. Even the one year old calf was doing it! And Lynn’s stereotypical behavior would be swimming the pool in loops – swimming upside down near the bottom of the pool and then swimming upright at the surface. She often had one or two dolphins accompanying her with this. It’s a shame she has to live without any other orcas company. We’ll see if she gains a companion again or not.. At Nagoya I also met Masumi-Chan, a nice Japanese lady. We communicated through Google translate, it was quite fun to talk about the orcas with her!

 

Kobe Suma Sea World

 So my last park was the newest of the Japan parks, almost marking two years of having orcas there. Of the three parks it was the most expensive, but has less to see. Perhaps because of having less to see this is why they had more shows. At the weekend which is when I went, there were 5 to 6 shows per day and longer opening hours. However I arrived and saw there was a Dine with the orcas buffet experience at the underwater glass which I reserved for Sunday dinner! So it was my first time to meet Stella who I had also known of for 23 years – Mama Stella. And then pretty daughter Ran. Stella appeared ‘sociable’ as before the shows she spent much of her time hanging out in front of the glass. Great photo opportunities for everyone. Whereas Ran was less social, spending more time floating by the wall.

 Like Kamogawa, Kobe also does waterworks with the orcas. Must’ve been interesting for Stella to re-train that after having so many years without it. The shows were shorter than Kamogawa – about 15 mins exactly, but I guess that’s what allowed them to have more shows in the day. However unlike Kamogawa we had to leave the stadium in-between the shows. And frustratingly I never knew how long the stadium was closed for. A staff member told me that the stadium opened 30 minutes before, but I found that it actually opened even earlier than that. I never figured out the exact time.

 As for Stella and Ran, they would lap the pool together at times but also spent time apart. I noticed Stella had rake arks, which again I was surprised about like with Lovey. Turns out that Ran isn’t always the nicest to her mother, which shocked me. I assumed Stella was the matriarch and they would co-exist peacefully as they are family.

 The second day at the park I made a friend – a fellow orca fan Alex who was there with his mum to also see all the Japan parks and the China ones too. It was so cool to chat about the orcas. We spent the day together and we had the same dinner reservation by chance. I got to join their table at the glass. It was so cool to dine with the orcas and see them from underneath. We also go to see the last show from this new point. Super cool to see the trainers in the water and the signals they give to the orcas via various body cues.

 

Yeah, so what a trip! I think the order I visited the parks is also the order I favour them from most to least. Kamogawa is just the OG park and Nagoya has the huge pools, whereas Kobe doesn’t have much to make it feel too special, apart from the underwater glass restaurant. No idea if I will ever come to these parks again, but so glad I did!

Loro Parque February 2026 Trip Report

And so finally, my World Captive orca tour that I have been wanting to do for years is here. My aim is to visit every orca park this year (except Moscow and the not really known Chinese parks), and I have kicked it off with a re-visit to Loro Parque to check in on how baby boy Teno is doing..

Monday 9th February 2026

As always, I arrived in the park in the morning and killed time seeing the other animals until it was time for the first orca show! I came in at the right side of the stadium. Morgan and Teno were in the showpool with Adan, whilst Tekoa was in the back left. I went over to the far left side of the stadium was thats where Teno and Morgan were hanging out. Teno was doing lots of head tapping on Morgan's mammary glands. Teno then went and followed one of the trainers around who was playing with him at the glass. So cute! Teno did a few slide outs too, bless him. Over at the left side of the pool he was then just goofing at the glass and being really cute. Morgan was just chilling. Before the show started that briefly put all 4 orcas in the back pool together. 

So the show started with Tekoa and Adan, but they took Tekoa out pretty quickly. So the first half was mainly Adan. Then the second half was Morgan and Teno. Teno was cute doing a few froggies, spins and pec waves. No breaching yet. At the end of the show, Morgan and Teno remained in the showpool with the boys in the back. Teno resumed bumping Morgan's mammary glands again, but then they started their showpool laps - swimming underwater upside down across the pool, and them Morgan's high tail dive at the left of the pool. 

After the show I got lunch and looked at the other animals - chimps, penguins and gorillas. Then I went back for the second orca show. Teno was being soo cute at the glass again - poking his tongue out. I felt like he was doing it for me lol. He looked like he was watching a mother and her baby too, so sweet. The second show was very much the same. However Tekoa wasn't in it at all, he was in the med pool. Hope he's okay. After the show, Teno was bumping Morgan again and then I left the park. 

Tuesday 10th February 2026

This morning I bought my VIP pass for the 1pm slot. Again, I went to see the other animals first - I felt like the baby sloth was the real star of the show. And I found the black panther, white tiger, red panda and baby capybaras today. There were pretty cute too. Then I went in for the first orcas show. Tekoa and Adan were in the showpool, and Morgan and Teno were in the right back pool. Morgan and Teno were doing their own thing - Morgan was spyhopping. Tekoa was following a trainer around and squeaking. Adan was just lapping. Morgan and Teno synched up their lapping but then Teno swam into the back left pool by himself.

We had all 4 orcas in the show. At the end Teno was being cute and wagging his tail when he was supposed to be pec waving, n'awww. After the show, a trainer kept throwing lots of jelly to Morgan and Teno. Then they were left to swim between showpool and the back right pool, whilst the boys were in the left pool. 

I had my lunch then went for the VIP tour. It was such a big group compared to when I did it in 2024. The guide showed us the alligators, animal embassy and chimps. Then we went to the underwater orcas. We had Teno being the cutest baby at the glass. There were a few kids with their dad in our group, and Teno was keenly checking them out. It was super adorable - worth the money just to see that! I left the tour early to get to the second orca show. Morgan and Teno were in the show pool and Teno was being his super cute self as always. He was wagging his tongue and spraying water too. Such a cutie. However Morgan and Teno weren't used in the show at all, it was just the boys. Morgan and Teno were in the back, sliding out and doing target practice instead. That was too bad to not see them before I left.

But it was a great two days, and I'm so happy to see what a sweet boy Teno is. Hopefully I will make it for another visit later in the year when Wikie and Keijo are finally moved here...Fingers crossed!