Tenerife has the problem normally associated with the pop duo Wham! For some people it seems just so 1983. It has appeared, not unlike George Michael, to be still around, but it isn't what it used to be.

Which is harsh, at least for the north of the island. Rarely can so small a place be so dramatically divided in culture and style. The south of Tenerife, invariably the drier part, does still have a sense of the early Eighties about it. The northern section, on the other hand, has refocused on the family market, but with an emphasis on environmentalism.

Botany might not be obviously connected with Tenerife. Yet the flora is fantastic throughout the north of the island, with hotels such as the Botanico offering extraordinary ecologies in their own grounds as well as stunning public facilities such as the Botánico Academy. All this is augmented by Loro Parque - arguably the most fascinating wildlife site in Europe.

Why a “wildlife thing”? Well it is a sort of a zoo, except not really as the animals are hardly caged. It is sort of a nature reserve, but that is not quite the right description either. It has an aquarium, yet that massively understates the exceptional collection of underwater life that has been assembled. It has echoes of Seaworld in Florida, without some of the tackier theatrics. There are rides for younger children, yet it could not be described accurately as a theme park. It is undoubtedly an educational facility but without lecturing the visitors. It is an amalgamation of these items while being superior to all of them.

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It contains the largest collection of parrots in the world and the largest Penguinarium. A flabbergasting, endlessly entertaining assortment of penguins - some from Antarctica and others from the warmer shores of South America - basically run riot daily. It was the most fantastic experience of animals that my ten-year-old son George has ever had.

Loro Parque is the brainchild of a German who has built it up over three decades to become the centrepiece of a whole section of the island. Discovery tours allow enthusiasts behind the scenes to find out how to organise a gorilla's bedroom or to maintain what must be the world's largest freezer to keep the penguins content.

Children have really been brought into the act. Between July and mid-September the Hotel Botánico organises a mini-club programme. For £15 a day or £55 for a four-day period, children aged from 4 to 12 team up with the vets, biologists and animal trainers for what is, in essence, an educational programme cunningly disguised as entertainment. This has proved wildly popular with youngsters, while permitting their parents to soak up the sun, be pampered in the spa or shop (the nearest town, Puerto de la Cruz, although raved about in guidebooks, struck me as overrated - nearby La Octavo is far better).

It is not the Tenerife expected. Offering children opportunities of this kind is an admirable innovation - just as long as they do not get in the way of the adults studying hard in the Penguinarium.

NEED TO KNOW

Prestige Holidays (01425 480400, www.prestige holidays.co.uk) offers a week's B&B at the Hotel Botánico during school holidays from £1,348 per adult and from £561 for a child (under 12 child sharing with two adults). This includes flights from Gatwick and car hire.

Further information Loro Parque (00 34 922 37 38 41, www.loroparque.com). Botanico Academy (38 35 72).

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