What’s special about Nara park is the deer. You wouldn’t want to miss feeding them if you are visiting the park. So what time can you feed them, and where is the best place to buy the food?
When is the Nara deer feeding time?
Deer get active when the sun rises, and they go back to where they sleep when it’s the sunset. They say there are about 20 to 30 deer home groupings.
When they are awake, they walk around the park wherever they want to go looking for food. There are more than 1000 deer in the park, and if you visit between 9 am to 4 pm you can’t miss them as they are everywhere.
Time you can buy the deer food.
You can buy the crackers from the souvenir shops, traditional local cafes or street vendors around the park.
The souvenir shops and cafes open around 10 am to 4 pm, and the street vendors open around 9 am to 4 or 5 pm. The street vendors in the park are convenient, but they might not be there when it is a rainy day or not many tourists.
What is deer crackers?
This cracker specially made for the deer is made by rice bran and flour. It hasn’t got any flavouring or colouring. If you are curious you can taste them, it is not tasty and is very dry though, and it’s not gonna harm you.
All the cracker sold in Nara is certified by The Nara Deer Preservation Foundation, and a part of the sales is used for looking after the deer.
What is the price?
There is one price anywhere around the park, 150 yen for 10 crackers. If you are thinking of getting some, you might be better to buy one before walking into the park, as there might not be any shops in the middle of the park.
If you see a cheaper one, they are not certified and could include non-organic ingredients which is not good for deer.
Can you feed deer something else?
The reason Nara park sells the cracker is that they don’t want the visitors to feed the deer something else. Deer eats anything even your guide book or plastic which deer cannot digest properly. Please do not feed deer any food apart from the deer crackers that they sell, and remember feeding them something else harms them.
