I thought I would move some of my UK attraction reviews back to page 1 for half-term for any parents wondering where to take their little livewires! Hope this helps! ;)
Being the mum of a lively five-year-old who is animal-obsessed, I’ve been to Chester Zoo more than most. Only an hour away from us, it’s one of our favourite places for a day out. However there are some potential annoyances that any prospective visitors should know about, especially if travelling a long way. So I thought I would write a review all about what you should expect if you go down to the zoo today…
Chester Zoo is a good, wholesome, educational day out for kids from one to ninety-one and beyond. A visit covers more of the National Curriculum than you might at first expect…
SCIENCE
Of course, the main attraction at Chester Zoo is the animals. There is a good variety of animals including giraffes, zebras, elephants, cheetahs, jaguars, lions, tigers, penguins, otters, rhinoceroses, bears, kangaroos, red pandas, meerkats, mongoose, camels, bats, crocodiles, snakes and lizards, orang-utans, macaques, gibbons, chimpanzees, lemurs and many more besides. There are plenty of information boards in close proximity to most of the animal exhibits, detailing the names, ages and birthplaces of many of the animals. Some exhibits have interesting interactive quizzes and activities for children to do, revealing interesting snippets about, for example, what the animals eat and the climate and vegetation in their countries of origin. The relatively new jaguar house is a particularly fine example, with displays engaging all the senses – things to smell, feel, see and listen to. The zoo seem to try to develop at least one new feature per year: this year they have introduced painted dogs, which were very quiet when we saw them and probably still settling in, and recently housed a display of animatronic dinosaurs for the summer which my son absolutely loved but which have now moved on.*Update 12/10 - The Jaguar house is closed until December for maintenance, however you can still view the jaguars when outside either side of the building.*
While the exhibits show and reflect to some extent the animals’ natural habitats, and are made attractive with greenery, pictures and sculptures such as bear cubs at play, an impressive meerkat artwork and many and varied colourful rhinos, some of them by their very design do obscure the view of the animals a bit. The orang-utan house “Realm of the Red Ape” is by far the worst example. The windows inside are small, and the orang-utans only ever seem to be visible in a few of the windows. My son is autistic, and having to wait for the throng of people to clear so that he can see the monkeys is an incredibly frustrating experience for him – and sadly many people these days won’t move out of the way any faster for a tearful child. It can also be a fight for a view of the penguins when swimming, and at the viewing windows for the cheetahs and tigers. For these reasons we tend to avoid visiting on weekends and very sunny days – we don’t mind braving the rain or cold for a better, more lingering view of the animals – but in my opinion they could have thought out the design of exhibits better to accommodate more people viewing at once.
I’m also completely baffled as to why they replaced the loveable sea-lions with otters, when they also have otters by the orang-utan house. One or two years ago they surveyed members to find out what sorts of animals they would like to see at the zoo. I mentioned some more unusual animals – hippopotamuses, which I have never seen in real life, and polar bears, which Chester Zoo in its heyday did once have. No sign of them yet.
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
Chester Zoo funds a lot of conservation work around the world as well as housing some endangered animals such as the Amur tigers themselves. There are interesting displays about this as you circulate the zoo, if your kids will allow you to linger long enough to read them! Membership (£66 per adult per year, £36 per child) and animal adoption (£55 per animal with two free entry tickets for the season) are available and you can find out more in the visitor centre at the entrance when you visit if interested in either. These are not cheap, but some of the money raised from this goes towards conservation projects and caring for the animals in the zoo. It must be said that the animals always seem content and active (with the exception of the kangaroos, who seem to sunbathe a lot) and have plenty of toys and enrichment activities as well as space. As a member I enjoyed reading the quarterly “Z” magazine which details the work being done, and the 20% discount in the restaurants and shops (excluding books). I do tend to join for a year when I have the money, as animal welfare is very important to me, and my son tends to want to go enough times to justify it!
“Zoo” is short for ‘zoological gardens’, and the gardens are indeed impressive, comprising many different species of grasses, plants and trees – often with signs and information posts as well telling you the name of the species and their country of origin. My son was particularly fascinated to learn that you can tell the age of a monkey puzzle tree by counting the rings of branches around the trunk! There are also ornamental gardens such as the Chinese garden with dainty red bridges and the sunken garden with a Poseidon-esque sculpture dominating a tranquil pool, hidden away just behind the otters. If you’re a keen gardener you can also nosy around the greenhouses where young plants are cultivated.
ART AND DESIGN
In addition to the visual spectacles of spots, stripes, patterns and colours on the animals themselves, there are activity rooms for children where they can paint a pottery animal or have their face painted like an animal. There are zoo staff on hand to assist, and this can certainly perk up a rainy day visit. However, this is not included in the entry price for the zoo, so depending on your budget you may wish to avoid this area – located between the lions and tigers. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the pieces of pottery are not the most substantial – given, little boys are like whirlwinds and often knock things over, but my little boy painted a blue sea-lion, which promptly broke the day after his visit and now has chipped flippers, but he won’t part with it.
GEOGRAPHY
At some point, somebody somewhere involved in the design of Chester Zoo must have had the brainwave of dividing the zoo into “sections” and placing animals from similar parts of the world in the same area of the zoo – hence areas like Asian plains including cheetahs and elephants, the Andes including condors and coati, and an appropriately far-flung area housing animals from Down Under such as kangaroos and bush dogs. Logical, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, these bits seem too much like add-ons to the main part of the zoo, and the logic doesn’t apply zoo-wide. In truth, most of it is a bit of a mish-mash and doesn’t follow this logic at all.
When you enter Chester Zoo, you will be given a free map, which also features on signs around the zoo complex. However, being a good map-reader does not guarantee that you will find it easy to find your way around Chester Zoo. It’s a rather erratic maze of paths which don’t in reality look quite at the same angles as they do on the map. There are plenty of sign-posts, but you can be following, for example, signs for the chimpanzees, and the next sign-post you come to, chimpanzees are not mentioned. No, it’s not that you’ve taken a wrong turn, though many are suckered into that trap and do then indeed take a wrong turn. It’s just that the sign-posts are erratic too. It’s easiest to find your way around the right-hand side of the zoo, which is a newer area with blissfully straight paths – save that bit for the afternoon when you’re tired, the kids are fractious and the zoo is busier if you want to save your sanity! Other than that, it’s probably best not to have a list of animals you’ve promised you’ll get to see, but just take one path at a time and treat it as an adventure, viewing whatever animals you may come across.
There’s one thing you don’t need to worry about finding, and that’s toilets. They’re everywhere, and mostly clean in the morning to slightly “used” with dirty footprints and torn bits of toilet roll on the floor as the afternoon goes on. Most blocks have a disabled facility and baby-changing room.
P.E.
As you may have gathered from the Geography section, yeah, you are likely to do a LOT of walking at Chester Zoo. It’s huge, and the animal enclosures are spacious, which is wonderful for the animals, but which means they’re spread all around the vast gardens and it can be a long walk from one animal to the next. Wear comfortable shoes and if you’re deliberating over whether to take a toddler’s buggy – do.
A very nice feature is that there are three play areas – “Ape Around”, near the orang-utans and jaguars, for 3-5 year olds is my son’s favourite, and comprises a slide/climbing-frame combo, a toy jeep on springs, and various toy animals. There is also the “Fun Ark” near June’s Pavilion Restaurant which caters for a wider age range, half the area being for 3-5s and half for 6-14s. This is more of an adventure play area with lots of climbing challenges and large tube slides. The newest is “Little Acorns”, near Oakfield Manor restaurant, for 3-12 year olds – we haven’t visited this one yet.
All the play areas are safety equipped with wood chipping flooring, and zoo staff are relaxed about ages of children using the toys as long as they’re behaving well and being kind to other children.
HISTORY
If you can, take time to look at the long display of Chester Zoo’s history which runs down the side of the aquarium building on the far left of the zoo. The Zoo began life small with Oakfield Manor and a few exhibits in 1935. The founder, George Mottershead’s vision was “a zoo without bars”. This is still evident in many exhibits such as the penguins, giraffes and lemurs, where only low wooden fences cordon off the exhibit from the public area. However you can’t get as “up close and personal” to the animals as you can at certain other zoos (Blackpool being one example) as the part of the exhibit where the animals frequent is often far from the wooden fence – not that I blame them! “Lemur Island” is a case in point – I’ve never seen a lemur on it!
Without doubt the zoo’s glory days were around the 1970s when there was a family of polar bears in residence. I remember seeing them on one of my very first visits to the zoo as a child. While it’s still a wonderful place now, having been part of its history as a long-time visitor and supporter, I love indulging in a nostalgic look back at its colourful journey. Oakfield Manor itself, a Victorian building which now houses a restaurant and caters for weddings, is also worth a photograph opportunity.
MATHEMATICS
OK…now to the nitty gritty. There is plenty of opportunity for your children to practice their Maths at Chester Zoo, from the two large shops “The Trading Ark” and “Fountains Shop” placed strategically at the entrance and the centre of the zoo with tantalising displays of beautiful cuddly animals enticing children in, to the many ice-cream and coffee kiosks and sweet sellers. As far as the shops go, small is sweet and big equals a big hole in your wallet. It may be a good idea to advise children they can only have “a little thing” – small plastic animals, small cuddly toys at £5, and stationery are very reasonably priced – before you go, because the larger teddy bears can be anything from £10 to £20 apiece. If that wasn’t enough, there’s also a Monorail and a boat which take you on, ahem, a magical mystery tour round the zoo. I don’t personally know about the boat, but in the last 18 months they have hiked up the price of the Monorail from a matter of pence per round-trip from one station to the other and back, to a matter of pounds for a one-way ticket. You don’t even see much from the Monorail: the zebras and hooved animals if you get on at “Monkey Island” and the camels and a tiger if you’re lucky if you get on at “Jubilee Square”. Not to mention the queues. Needless to say, unless your legs REALLY need a rest, I would avoid it and walk!
There are also three main places to eat: The Oakfield Manor restaurant, which is a “real” restaurant, June’s Pavilion Family Restaurant, and Café Bembe. I have never eaten in Oakfield Manor but have contemplated the menu, which is similarly priced to any three-course-meal sort of restaurant and has a good choice including of vegetarian options.
June’s Pavilion is a new incarnation of the old Ark restaurant with a new menu of a very limited choice of hot meals, salads or sandwiches, or fast food - and new prices to boot. I am not impressed. A cappuccino, a hot chocolate and two cakes for my mum and I when we last went came to over £10 and the cakes were really sugary and not nice at all. There are also less chairs and the layout in the self-service canteen area is ridiculously confusing and badly-organised. I would recommend Café Bembe, which still has a nice family atmosphere and plenty of tables in there and there is a reasonable choice of salads, sandwiches, barbecue, hot meals and children's lunch boxes - a full lunch for my son and I recently cost around £15. It does get very busy between 11am and 1pm however, so consider eating there outside these times. Bringing a picnic will obviously save you money, and in case of rain, there are indoor picnic shelters peppered about, an indoor picnic area near the jaguar house, and if you get stuck, a large covered area with benches from which you can view the cheetahs.
*Updated information on Cafe Bembe added 12/10*
Admission prices at the time of writing are £15.40 for an adult, £14.00 for concessions, and £11.50 for children aged 3-15. It’s rare to see discount vouchers online - which is unusual for a family attraction, but there are deals for families and large groups. I would say there is enough to see and do at the zoo to justify spending this amount, but for me with my personal budget it does mean we have to be very careful about our spending for the remainder of the day. Do be warned that it’s sadly getting increasingly cash-oriented – which Chester Zoo never used to be – their latest ruse is pouncing on you as soon as you walk through the gates for a photo which they then “cleverly” superimpose onto a dinosaur or animal background for you to buy when you leave!
EXTRA-CURRICULAR
Chester Zoo is a fairly accessible venue with a mobility booth near the entrance where staff can explain extra facilities for mobility-impaired visitors. Animal houses with an upstairs, such as the orang-utan house, sport lifts, and attractions such as the Monorail are roomy to allow space for wheelchairs or pushchairs. I would warn that the restaurants between about 11am and 2pm get so busy that it may be hard to find space for either, or to grab one of the limited number of high-chairs available for an infant. Paths are mostly smooth and straight. Do bear in mind my earlier point about visibility of the animals and the reluctance to move aside for people in wheelchairs or children in pushchairs – which I think occurs because people who’ve paid good money to get in are often disgruntled having had to wait for space enough to see the animals themselves. There are plenty of benches – mostly very “eco” being fashioned out of old tree roots/branches then varnished – for anyone who needs to take the walking a bit at a time and sit down often.
There are scheduled times of day when you can attend a talk or a feeding session for a wide range of animals including the penguins, cheetahs and lions.
They encourage the animals out at these times and you’re pretty much guaranteed to see them, but of course those times are busy so arriving early at your chosen animal enclosure is a must. However, it may be useful to know that there are often zookeepers present around the zoo and they check on the animals’ food, water and cleanliness regularly – most of them are very happy to chat about the animals, tell you information and answer any questions any time of the day. The lovely thing is that the staff I’ve spoken to really seem to care for the animals and be proud of their zoo. You’ll get a leaflet about the animal talks when you enter the zoo, but don’t feel confined to those if you want to ask a question – ask a zookeeper near the animal you want to know about.
I will also say that some of the best days I’ve had at Chester Zoo have been out of season – February and October half-term for example. It’s much quieter, which is better for my little boy who gets worried by large crowds, and bad weather really doesn’t have to mean the end of your day out – there are many animal houses including the bat cave, “Islands in Danger” and the “Tropical Realm” with beautiful tortoises and elusive crocodiles, and many of the animals including the giraffes, elephants and rhinos can be viewed inside their houses on rainy days under cover. It can be a bit smelly in the elephant and giraffe house in particular though!
Chester Zoo is open from 10am daily. Closing times vary from 4pm off-season to 6pm in the high summer season. It is easy to find on a main road not far from the M53 motorway, and well-signposted (ironic given the sign-post situation once you’re inside the zoo!). Parking is ample and free. I recommend that you visit the comprehensive website at www.chesterzoo.org for full and up-to-date information ahead of your day out.
I have had some truly awesome experiences, the best of which include being nose-to-nose with a jaguar – with a giant glass window in between, of course! – seeing the newly-born cheetah cubs just weeks ago, and seeing the first baby elephant born in Chester Zoo many, many years ago when I was just a “cub” myself. While it has its faults – and what venue doesn’t these days? – it has a special place in my heart. It’s a place of refuge and sanctuary for my little boy, who finds the mad world we live in quite bewildering, and coming close to the animals is a calming and healing experience for him. Tearing him away from his favourite animals, the giraffes, gets harder every time!
I can’t end this review without telling you about my favourite animal: the cheetah. The “cheetah bridge”, as we call it, is my favourite place in the whole zoo. As you stand on the bridge, at first all looks calm and green and still. But if you stand still and quiet, you’ll soon spot a pair of glittering eyes peeking inquisitive at you, followed by a graceful parade, usually at least two cheetahs, who love padding around their giant enclosure and showing off!
And like a cheetah that doesn’t change its spots, despite the infiltration of sky-rocketing prices and air of money-grabbing, I refuse to let it spoil this haven which was part of my childhood and which at its core is a place purely about nature and the wonder and majesty of our earth’s creatures, from the fierce lion, to the zany bats, to the shy bear, to the mild-mannered meerkats - I will carry on championing, supporting and spending time at Chester Zoo for the rest of my life.
Chester Zoo - It's an Education! 
