| Product: |
Isle of Wight Zoo |
| Date: |
15/07/08 (141 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Inexpensive
Disadvantages: Needs a lot of work. Doesn't take long to see the whole zoo.
I visited the Isle of Wight Zoo in June 2008 during a day trip to the island. We were camping in the New Forest and decided to hop over the channel to visit the zoo after picking up a brochure and discovering that the zoo was home to 'ITV's Tiger Island'.
The Isle of Wight Zoo is situated in Sandown on the south east coast of the island. It is built around an old Victorian fort and is easy to notice by its large, thick walls upon which stands a huge statue of a tiger overlooking the seafront. From the outside the zoo looks very grand and impressive.
There is a large gravel car park which I imagine would be large enough for even the busiest days at the zoo. It is situated right in front of the entrance doors so there isn't a long walk to get in, although the ground is very uneven and may cause problems for wheelchair and pushchair users (once inside the ground is tarmacked).
One of the deciding factors when choosing where to spend our day out was the price. Camping, ferry tickets and petrol can all add up and at £5.95 per adult ticket to the Isle of Wight Zoo it was not breaking the bank. Children and seniors tickets are £4.95 each, while under 5's get free entry. The zoo also offers discounts for families, groups, campers and island residents so you can be sure of an inexpensive day.
We arrived at the zoo just in time to catch 'Jeepers Creepers' - one of the many keeper presentations. The talk was inside the insect and reptile house (not the place to go if you aren't a fan of big spiders and other creepy things!). In the room there is a variety of species from insects, to snakes, tortoises and lizards to look at. It is well decorated with lots of interesting facts and figures on the wall to keep read as you look around. The keeper talk was very interesting and gave us all a chance to see some lizards up close as they were perched on her arms! After the talk the keeper fed some of the animals and I found it fascinating to see the spiders run out of their nests and gobble up the crickets that had just been thrown in for them (although some of the other visitors weren't too keen on this bit!).
We then head out of the reptile house to have a wander around the zoo. This is when I started to realise the zoo could do with some major renovating. The first enclosure we came to was for Lemurs. The enclosure was certainly large enough and had plenty of enrichment toys like ropes and platforms, but it looked so neglected. There were large stinging nettles growing both sides of the fence and vines climbing up the wire. The Lemurs looked happy, but I felt that the zoo could really improve the enclosure with some minor efforts.
After walking further on I discovered a much larger, better maintained enclosure called 'Lemur Land'. This enclosure had plenty of trees and stones for the Lemurs to climb on and just generally looked a lot better. Lemur Land houses 4 different species of Madagascan Lemur, although they must have been inside sleeping as we waited and waited and only caught a glimpse of 2 lemurs!
The enclosure opposite Lemur land was closed during our visit as the high sea winds had blown down some of the high platforms. In this area of the zoo there are also enclosures for several species of Monkey, including Spider Monkeys. Again, I felt the enclosure could have down with some tidying up and refurbishment, although the monkeys seemed healthy and happy.
Walking on we discovered similar problems in the big cat area. The zoo is home to 2 beautiful Jaguars which can be seen really close up as they pace around their enclosures. Seeing the Jaguars yawn and stretch so close to me was once of the best parts of my day, although it was also my least favourite thing about the zoo as the enclosures were tiny and again, needed some work. I noticed the same thing about several other enclosures as we walked around and I was just starting to wish we hadn't visited the zoo when we entered the new big cat area. In this area there is major work taking place. There are already 3 large big cat enclosures, each designed around areas of the world where wild cats reside.
The enclosures are lovely, large and full of features. The enclosure housing a 'white' Indian Tiger has a huge lake and plenty of tall rocks for her to climb on while the Lion enclosure even has an old Land Rover for them to lie out on in warm weather!
There is a lot of building work going on in this area of the zoo to finish more new enclosures. Once these are complete I think the Isle of Wight Zoo will be a much better day out. It only took us around an hour and a half to see the whole zoo, it may have taken longer if we'd have seen a few more of the keeper presentations, however, if you are thinking of visiting you won't need to plan a whole day around the zoo.
There is a small cafe and children's play area, as well as a small gift shop as you would expect.
Overall, I came away from the Isle of Wight Zoo with mixed feelings. Whilst areas of the zoo are in dire need of attention, it is clear the zoo is in the process of upgrading and improving almost all areas, especially the big cat enclosures. It is worth the £5.95 entry fee, but if I'd have paid any more I'd have been very disappointed with the outing. Having said that, if I happen to be on the Isle of Wight in the future I'll pay the zoo a visit as I'm sure once the building is completed it'll be a much better day out.
If you are looking for a good day out at the zoo on the island my advice is to give the Isle of Wight zoo a miss and drive 10 minutes up the road to Amazon World which in my opinion is a much better attraction.
You can visit the Isle of Wight Zoo's website at www.isleofwightzoo.com
(Gladallover 2008)
Summary: Has potential to be good once building work is finished.
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