Going wild at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo
What to do on a nice Saturday? Get wild and go to the zoo! We chose ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, because it is huge(600 acres ) and it has lots of animals(3.626-yup, lots). This was our first time visiting an English zoo and I saw some birds that I was very excited about. Can you guess the species?
How did we decide to go to the zoo? Albert was learning at school about African animals, so we thought visiting the zoo would be a very good idea. Good timing and the weather was nice too! Even though we knew ZSL Whipsnade Zoo was big, we decided to park the car and visit it by foot. We bought the tickets online and at the entrance we took a flyer with the map of the zoo.
We saw sea lions, penguins, bears, lions, tigers, zebras, rhinos and other animals. I fell in love with the giraffes, they were adorable. We went inside their stable and one of the giraffes came in to eat. It was something new, because I’ve never seen a giraffe eating in front of me. We wanted to see the chimpanzees, but the visitors were not allowed to get close to them. We barely saw them, but I was happy when I saw their huge jungle gym.
As I told you in the beginning, the zoo was huge, so we visited the animals in Asia by train. After the train ride finished, we went to see the flamingos. I had no idea that they had flamingos, so I was just following my husband. At one point we stopped and I saw them. It was love at first sight(with all of them, haha). For my surprise, they are not pink. I expected them to be pink, because of all of the decorations and pictures that I saw. Their colour is a mixture between red and orange.
Before going to ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, I recommend checking their website, https://www.zsl.org. They have daily events, workshops and much more that you may find interesting. Here are some examples:
- Tropical Talk- you can meet the birds, crocodiles and butterflies that live in the Butterfly House
- Sea Lion Talk- you can find out how clever a sea lion is and how they have fun
- photography workshops,
- Zoo Explorers- courses for children between 5-10 years old
- camping overnight
When visiting ZSL Whipsnade Zoo take into consideration driving inside the zoo. It may sound weird, but in 3 hours we didn’t manage to see everything and they allow driving. There are restaurants, a picnic shop and if you visit during summer, take a backpack for the water bottles.
Next time we visit ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, we will plan our day better, so we can attend some events. My Cutie wants to go to the playground, see the alligators and I want to see the Butterfly House. We had a lovely time there and all of us want to visit this zoo again.
Love, Alexandra
