South Lakes Wild Animal Park is the Lion's mane! (South Lakes Wild Animal Park)

Member Name: englishrose

Product:	South Lakes Wild Animal Park
Date:	26/03/09 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great conservation project. Unique zoo.

Disadvantages: A bit remote unless you are in Cumbria already

South Lakes Wild Animal Park is a zoo with a difference!

We have been twice, the first time was around 11 years ago, and then more recently last year. Both visits were equally fantastic: The standard hasn't dropped at all, if anything it has soared.

Most people visiting Cumbria are there to see the beautiful Lake District, and we were no exception: South Lakes Wild Animal Park is situated away from the picturesque part of Cumbria, being near the working town of Dalton-in-Furness, and does not look much from the outside: we originally only wandered there almost by mistake after we had 'exhausted' the lakes!

How happy we are that we did - this zoo is great, in fact I don't even like calling it a zoo, because wherever possible, the animals are roaming free: Don't panic, not the tigers and the like, obviously! But the more harmless animals are free to wander, and we humans walk through their territory. It's a great way of keeping animals, and they must be much less stressed because of it - if they feel like walking away, they just walk away!

The park is very rustic looking, and you walk around either on footpaths or platforms over the enclosures. You are able to be up close and personal to creatures like emu, wallaby, countless birds, most notably the peacocks, and small monkeys.

There are more fierce creatures such as tigers, bears, lions too: These are obviously safely enclosed, and humans walk around a raised platform to see them: At set times of the day, the keepers place meat at the top of a pole and you can observe the tigers climbing for it, which is a really interesting experience. They do this because it mimics their natural environment. They also do this with the lions, although we didn't see this.

There are also many talks and demonstrations throughout the day, where you can handle a snake, for example, or learn more about conservation of the different animals there.

There are loads of staff walking around all the time, and they all seem geniunely interested in the park and the animals - they seem to know the answers to all our questions, which was lovely.

A highlight for us was the giraffe feeding: Again, it is all tailored around the animal, not the human, which is great: We stood on a high wooden platform which is just the right height for the giraffe's long necks, and hand feed them: my daughter was beside herself with excitement when one of the giraffe's licked her hand (did you know, they have a dark blue tongue? I didn't, but I do now!)

We had lunch in the Maki restaurant, which sold the usual range of foods (for example baked potato, chips, sandwiches, and some more expensive cooked dishes) and a range of drinks.

The gift shop has a lovely selection of animal toys and souvenirs (we bought a fridge magnet , like we do everywhere we go, and it was around £2.00, to give you an idea of the prices).

There are also picnic areas around the park, and it is fine to bring your own picnic food. The rules are quite strict here though, to preserve the environment for the animals: no smoking anywhere, even outside, and no dogs, not even guide dogs.

The park is on a big scale, so you might get a bit tired walking around: there is a miniature steam train, which you can hop on and hop off, which goes in a big circle around the edge of the zoo.

Some areas are quite hilly or slippery when wet (as it was when we went) so anyone with reduced mobility should probably phone ahead and ask advice about access.

There is a winter special price of £7.00 adults and £4.00 children, until the end of March, so if you hurry you can get in cheaper - after that, it's £11.50 for adults and £8.00 for children and OAPs. Under 3's are free. All profits are ploughed back into the zoo, and you can also adopt an animal while you are there.

We entered the park using Tesco Clubcard Deals, so it didn't cost us anything this time.

We will definitely go there again, we live far away from that area, but I would recommend it so much that it really is worth a special trip.

http://www.wildanimalpark.co.uk/wildlifepark_home .asp

Summary: A great day out, fun and educational