Visit Nantes and experience sightseeing by Elephant back

Visitors to the Western Loire’s beautiful city of Nantes will now be able to view the sights from a novel perspective – upon the back of a giant mechanical elephant. The 12 metre high, 8 metre wide Great Elephant is part of an extraordinary exhibition known as Machines de I’Ile de Nantes.

It is the brainchild of local craftsmen François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice who formally worked for the travelling Royal de Luxe theatre company that delighted London last summer.

Visitors can take a spectacular 30-minute ride along the River Loire admiring the views from the elephant’s belly – a lounge complete with French doors and balconies – or from the extensive top terrace upon its back.

Travelling at 3 miles an hour, whilst flapping its huge ears and spraying unsuspecting onlookers with a blast of water from its trunk, this incredible feat of engineering is made of wood and steel and comprises hundreds of moving parts, weighing 40 tons in total.

The exhibition will eventually include some ten monumental mechanical structures, the first elements of which can already be seen taking form in the Machine Gallery. In addition, visitors can view the machinists hard at work in the Workshop and walk on the prototype branch of The Heron Tree, a 28 metre high steel tree topped by two herons which will carry passengers through hanging gardens when it is finished in 2011.

Situated in the industrial warehouses of the I’Ile de Nantes’s former shipyards, the permanent exhibition is part of a major urban redevelopment project that celebrates the city’s ship building heritage together with new developments.

Prices & Information

- Elephant ride: adults 6 Euros; children 4.50 Euros
- The Gallery/Workshop Entrance Fee: adults 6 Euros; children 4.50 Euros

Open daily from 10am to 8pm throughout August, from 10am to 6pm in September (excluding Mondays) and from 2pm to 6pm from November to April (excluding Mondays and Tuesdays). Closed in January.

For further information visit Nantes-tourisme.com.

More accessible than ever with direct flights to Nantes from all major regional airports and via Rail Europe and Brittany Ferries, the Western Loire region stretches from the Atlantic coast to Le Mans and is intersected by the famous River Loire with its many tributaries and waterways. For further information visit Westernloire.com.