Both sites are situated in the Sihl Valley to the south of Zürich, but are separated from each other by the town of Langnau am Albis.

[1] The city of Zürich received the Sihl forest, or Sihlwald, as a gift in 1309 from the Hapsburgers and again in 1524 through the dissolution of the Fraumünster convent.

[2][3] In 1869, Langenberg Wildlife Park was founded by the city forester Carl Anton Ludwig von Orelli.

[1] On August 28, 2009, the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) declared the Sihl forest a "regional nature park of national importance".

[1][5] The Zürich Wilderness Park comprises two disconnected sites: Both sites can be reached via rail service S4 of the Zurich S-Bahn, using Wildpark-Höfli station for the Langenberg Wildlife Park and Sihlwald station for the Sihlwald forest.