Sorry if some of my reviews aren't all that great...i'm still a bit new to this! Thanks for the read...
Sorry if some of my reviews aren't all that great...i'm still a bit new to this! Thanks for the reads though! :) x
Member since:29.05.2007
Reviews:48
Members who trust:1
The majority of my family live in Colchester and when I come to visit, it usually envolves a trip to Colchester Zoo!
The Zoo is well sign posted on the areas surrounding the zoo and it has a very large car park with a toilet block (good if the kids are desperate after a long car journey). In the reception area are several kiosks in which tickets are sold, priced at: Adults - £13.99 Child - £7.75 (3-14 yrs) Senior Citizen - £9.99 (Over 60s) Disabled Child - £4.99 Disabled Adult - £6.99 Carer - £6.99 (one carer admitted per disabled person). Also in the reception area are two gift shops.
The zoo is divided into several zones, the first being the 'Beginning Zone'. This contains a large outdoors childrens play area, a fast food restaurant and toilets with baby changing facilities. The first enclosure you will see is 'Wilds of Asia' which houses the Orangutans (their enclosure is very small for two very large animals, a new enclosure is currently being built which is more suitable), there are also some Gibbons in a enclosure next door...could spend hours watching them swinging around!
Follow the path along and you will find 'Parrot Rock', where you can see some
very talkative and colourful Macaws! (They can only be seen in Parrot Rock on nice days, when the weather is bad they are housed in a off-show indoor area). Besides Parrot Rock is an indoor childs soft play area, more toilets and a snack shop.
Much of the Beginning Zone is being regenerated, coming soon is a new enclosure for the Sloths. The next set of enclosures is 'Desert Life' where you can see some very cute Sand Cats, Fennec foxes and not so cute snakes and lizards! Oppostie Desert Life is a newer enclosure housing Iguana's- you can walk right through the enclosure with the Iguana's all around you.
Beginning Zone then finishes and you go on to the 'Aqautic Zone', you will first see a resturant, ice cream palour and customer services. Inside the main Aqautic House is several types of fish from around the world and a koi carp pond as well as a few snakes and small furry animals. Then there is Penguin shores, where you can either watch the penguins swimming underwater or watch them on the land.
The best part of all is the sealion enclosure called Playa Patagonia, it features a underwater tunnel, you can walk right through watching the sealions swim over your head, if thats not for you, then you can also watch them from above the water on a viewing platform.
Also in the Aqautic Zone is a new monkey enclosure and another penguin pool.
After the Aqautic Zone, you go on to Valley Zone where prehaps the most popular animal is housed in Tiger Valley. A large male white tiger who has a wonderful enclosure complete with a little waterfall and climbing equipment. Opposite Tiger Valley are several smaller cats, an anteater and rather strange small deer-like animals aswell as more monkeys.
Moving on from the Valley Zone you will come to 'Out of Africa' which is a small set of enclosures housing rare lemurs, birds and other small animals. Also in the same area is a childrens play area, snack shop, undercover picnic area, toilets and an activity centre. Next is the Falconry Display Arena, where displays take place two-three times daily.
Carry on and you will see the Lion Rock enclosure, housing one male and one female African Lion. More Fennec foxes are housed right next door aswell as some Turkish Mice!
Hugely popular with the children is 'Familar Friends' a large area with a variety of farmyard animals and pets such as rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas. Animal feed is available to buy and you can feed the horses, goats, sheep ect! A magnificant Shire Horse stands in a rather small stable..many people think this is where he lives day after day, however if you visit often and talk to zoo staff you will find out that he rotates between one day in the stable and one day out on the feilds behind the car park (these are not on show to visitors)! In the summer months, goats and sheep roam free around the Familiar Friends section and are all friendly and love to be stroked.
There is also a pizza resturant, ice cream shop, more toilets, a 'Panning For Gold' area, activity centre and a outside childrens play area.
Continuing on from Familiar Friends is the largest of the zones, the 'African Zone'. Which has elephants (which can be hand fed by visitors at times throughout the day) and a mixed species enclosure which houses Giraffes, Zebra's, Rhino's and Ostrich's all together in one enclosure. (You can also feed the Giraffes at certain times). There is a large inside area called Kingdom of the Wild which has the animals in the mixed species enclosure night quarters as well as several types of fish, reptiles, bugs, meerkats, two pygmy hippo's and some monkeys. There is also a picnic shop. Outside, next to Kingdom of the Wild is a vulture enclosure and a zoo 'train', which is carridges pulled by a Land Rover, it is enclosed and has wheel chair and push chair access, when you first get on the train, the driver does mention you won't see any animals, and that the train purely gives you a lift back to Familiar Friends. Cheetahs, baboons, hyenas, warthogs and more monkeys aswell as toilets and childrens play area are all in the African Zone.
The last zone is the Heights, there is a large lake with pelicans, flamingos and normal ducks, aswell as a hot dog stand, picnic shop and undercover seating area. Round the corner is a small Seal Pool and Aadvarks. Also nearby is the second land train, this time you seem lots of animals including wolves, lemurs, the white tiger, several types of monkey, red pandas (if you look carefully) and two types of wild dogs.
Once you get off the train, if you continue forwards you will come to prehaps the largest enclosure in the zoo, the one that houses two (or is it three?) tigers. Next door is a chip shop and picnic shop. Walking up the hill you will come to wolves, vultures, owls, more birds and eventually the two Komodo Dragons, which at the moment are only babies.
Next is a small set of tanks and enclosures housing a python snake and several types of fish and reptiles. Then you come to Chimp World, where you will see a large group of chimpanzee's (including a baby one at the moment), and next door in a enclosure are two small crocodiles.
Overall, I personally think the zoo is amazing. The level of animal care is outstanding, they all seem lively, happy and have spacious enclosures with plently of things for them to do. Children love the zoo, enclosures are easy for kids in buggy's to see in to and there are several play areas. The staff are wonderfull, always helpful and will tell you about the animals they look ater or help with directions.
There a couple downsides though- the food and drinks at the zoo are expensive (£1.20 for a bottle of coke!) so best to take a picnic, and it is VERY hilly which would be a problem if you have children in buggy's or people in wheelchairs with you.
The zoo gets so packed you can hardly move in the summer so we always visit on colder days when there isn't half as many people.
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We really ought to go there some time, it's been several years since our last visit and the fact that we live reasonably near to Colchester means that we have no excuse not to go. The last time we went, my sons were scared of the larger animals, it would probably be the other way around, now!
mightymuffin 16.07.2007 21:26
Great review xx
duskmaiden 16.07.2007 01:37
I'venot been but it sounds a good zoo. Excellent review
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Advantages: Happy looking animals, spacious enclosures, plenty of interactivity, plenty of seating Disadvantages: Some zones are on the hilly side, popular enclosures get a little congested
tractor-boy 20.07.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: exceptional
Review of Colchester Zoo
Jul 15th, 2007
exceptional by (6%):
very helpful by (94%):
