Zurich Wilderness Park, Nature reserve near Zurich, Switzerland.

The Zürich Wilderness Park (Wildnispark Zürich) consists of two separate sites in the Sihl Valley south of Zurich: the Langenberg Wildlife Park in Langnau am Albis, founded in 1869, and the Sihlwald forest, mostly in Horgen on both banks of the Sihl. The forest covers about 12 square kilometres, mainly beech, with many trees around 120 years old and some up to 250.

The Sihlwald forest became Zurich's property in 1309 through a gift from the Habsburg family and served the city as a timber source for centuries. Commercial logging finally stopped in the 1990s.

Langenberg Wildlife Park, founded in 1869 by city forester Carl Anton Ludwig von Orelli, keeps 16 native or formerly native species, among them European bison, Przewalski's horse, elk, beaver and wild boar. In the Elchhaus, an exhibition explains the return of large herbivores such as bison, red deer and wild boar that had once died out here.

The park is easily reached by train: the S4 line stops at Wildpark-Höfli for the animal enclosures and at Sihlwald station for the forest area. Both sections offer trails for different fitness levels and can be visited depending on your time and interests.

This is Switzerland's only peri-urban nature reserve, combining genuine wilderness with proximity to a major city. Nature has developed here with remarkably few human interventions despite its closeness to Zurich.