Edenya (Pairi Daiza)

Edenya is the tenth themed 'world' of Pairi Daiza, the zoological park at Cambron-Casteau in the municipality of Brugelette. The first design sketches date from late 2017 or early 2018. The project took five years and was built on a former park car park; more than a hundred companies took part, 90% of them Belgian. The stated investment is 215 million euros of private funds, to which the RTBF adds some 10 million euros a year in running costs.

Even before it opened, the access arrangements caused a row on social media: a visit requires booking and a supplement, subscribers included. The park replied that it preferred to charge only the visitors who wanted to go rather than raise every subscription, and that booking ensures calm visits that respect sensitive ecosystems.

On 6 February 2026 Guinness World Records certified two titles, world's largest tropical greenhouse and world's largest covered zoological ecosystem, after an independent surveyor measured a surface of 40,447 m². These were new titles rather than broken records. A third, for the diversity of plant species grown in a tropical greenhouse, was still under review; it was certified in July 2026. Edenya opened on Saturday 7 February 2026, and the park's founder Éric Domb likens it to a glass cathedral sheltering an ecosystem built from scratch.

Edenya is a continuous, fully covered and climate-controlled structure. According to L'Avenir it is 206 metres long, 192 metres wide and 24 metres high. The park describes a four-hectare glass roof with made-to-measure glazing that is five times more insulating than that of a conventional greenhouse.

The climate relies on hybrid ventilation, misting and heat pumps, which keep the temperature at a minimum of 18 °C all year, and more than 5,000 m² of hidden plant rooms control temperature, humidity, irrigation and lighting. Photovoltaic carports supply all of the electricity, and a geothermal project is under way. The 17,000 m³ of water circulate through rainwater harvesting, storm basins, on-site treatment and automatic irrigation, monitored by more than 150 meters. Fire safety includes 25 fire-protection columns, automatic smoke extraction and sprinklers in every space.

Inside, the setting includes a 17-metre waterfall, a dry-forest plateau raised eight metres above the floor and a sunken Maya temple with large underwater windows.

The park cites nearly 1,800 plant species along with more than 5,000 cacti and euphorbias. Plants singled out include the 'mythical' coco de mer and two direct descendants of the Buddha's tree.

The greenhouse is meant eventually to hold 230 terrestrial and aquatic animal species, not counting thousands of fish. The park names jaguars, manatees, pygmy hippos, giant otters, tapirs, capybaras, giant anteaters, squirrel monkeys, drills and Komodo dragons, with sharks, rays and sea turtles in the sunken temple. A 1,500 m² dome houses thousands of butterflies from responsible breeders in Papua New Guinea, South America and Africa, which the park counts among the largest butterfly spaces in Europe.

Edenya supports conservation programmes for the jaguar, the manatee, the loggerhead turtle, Parson's chameleon and the Komodo dragon.

Edenya is visited from within Pairi Daiza: entry requires advance booking and a supplement on top of the park ticket or subscription. The route runs through the rainforest, the beach, the dry-forest plateau and the sunken temple, with a suspended canopy walkway shared with squirrel monkeys and red howler monkeys, glass-walled underwater grottoes and the great waterfall.

The greenhouse also contains 88 guest rooms, 28 of them underwater, an underwater restaurant decorated with fossil slabs from Brazil's Santana Formation and a beach restaurant. A neighbouring water park, La Lagune, linked by a lazy river, is due to open in 2027.