I love animals. I sometimes feel like the crazy cat lady in that fantastic e-harmony spoof when it…read morecomes to nature - I want to hug it all and have it all on a rainbow, but I can't. Can't hug all the nature. Because that's mental.
Anyway.
Having read David's recount of this spot, and seeing that it's had barely any Yelp attention, I decided it had to be done - lo and behold, my holiday at home was the perfect time to jump in the car, head over Donny way, and get immersed in looking at cool animals.
It was busy, with lots and lots of childrens. We foolishly chose to pick refreshments up from the child's side barn, where the screams of joy are amplified and pierce your ear drums. The other adults didn't seem phased though, perhaps that happens when you start to parent.
But, nonetheless a 'coffee' and pasty was had to fuel the walk around, and two coffees, two pasties, and a danish was under a tenner. Nice.
The programme booklet is three quid really well spent too, btw. Not only do you get the map, times of the talks and such like, but each section gives a little more and details the various species and offers extra info to take home. Love it!
And what can you see? All sorts. It's a 1km complex (roughly) and so has plenty of span. That however, in context with say, how much territory a tiger will cover in the wild, seems small. (But that's not a criticism - more a realisation of how much land these animals need in the wild, and how easy it is to cross over into human territory.) However, their commitment to conservation and preservation is astounding. They've three leopards, brothers, all of whom are something like the primary leopards in the world for eventual re-introduction into the wild - their genes are great, and our best hope lies with breeding them, kinda thing. Apparently leopards are the only big cat that have a half decent chance of reintroduction, although I didn't get a chance to ask why that is. Perhaps as their solitary and don't need so much learning time with their mothers?
The giraffes were amazing, and breath-taking to see up close. It's weird to consider how massive their heads are, and it looks as though they live life in slow motion by the way they move - it's kind of hypnotic. They also, in real life, look like the kind of animal you'd have invented as a child. Bizarre but beautiful. Great eyelashes.
The African hunting dogs were also amazing. And the fact you can walk through enclosed areas and be so intimately close with wallabys and lemurs was an absolute pleasure. We arrived at Lemur woods just at feeding time, and it was pretty incredible. Want one! Can't have one. Must come back.
As a quick recap on the animals I saw, there are farm animals for petting, tigers, lions, leopards, giraffes, hunting dogs, lemurs, wallabys, wild boar, marmosets (who were AWESOME!) ostriches and a bunch more. It's best to go when you get a chance to plan the talks, so you can try and luck out to see the feeding times with the big cats, as sadly we didn't see much action from that crowd. But just spotting a massive leopard sat way up in his climbing frame, and catching the male lion roaring, was enough for me.
Basically, it's a great day out. Awesome.
