Introduction

I adore animals (you'd never have guessed that would you?!), pet or wild, I don't mind- I just love to be around them and love to learn about them. The idea of a zoo is something I'm quite undecided about, I think some house animals in poor conditions purely for the benefit and entertainment of humans and that is something I don't agree with, however, I do believe there are some zoo's out there that genuinely care about the animals they have, put their needs over that of guests and do all they can to help improve and protect the species by breeding programmes and the like. To me, Colchester Zoo is definitely of the latter type and a place I enjoy visiting very regularly and am extremely grateful to have it within a 5 minute care journey from my house.

Colchester Zoo opened in 1963 and is located in the Stanway area of Colchester in Essex, it covers 60 acres and is home to an impressive 5666 animals from 345 different species and is considered to now be one of the best zoo's in Europe. I feel it is certainly one of the best I have visited, and boy, have I visited a lot of zoo's around the world!

The zoo is very easy to find, well sign posted from Colchester town and nearby motorways and there are regular buses that stop right outside the zoo. Upon arrival, there are plenty of car parking spaces with designated disabled parking, posts to secure bicycles to, an area for coaches to park and several 'over-flow' car parks which are used on the busiest days when the normal car park is full. Each row of the car park is named after an animal so it's very easy to remember where you have parked your car and on very busy days, such as school holidays or during the height of the summer season, the zoo organises the car park very well, having marshals out to direct you to your parking space and prevent the whole thing descending into chaos! There is a toilet block in the car park also, this I imagine would be very handy for those who have travelled long distances as you don't have to wait until you are inside the zoo to go to the loo, or good for those with kids.

After you've parked your car you can make your way to the large black entrance building to buy your tickets and make your way into the zoo. I won't list admission prices here as they change regulary, but they can all be found on the zoo's website. You will have to que a fair while on busier days but sometimes the zoo organises staff to come out in animal costumes to entertain the kids so the wait won't be too bad for them. Once you've purchased your tickets, you'll be given a map and you're ready to start your day.

Colchester Zoo is 'separated' into 6 different zones, each colour coded on the map and well sign posted around the zoo. As soon as you leave the entrance building you will find yourself in the Beginning Zone.

Beginning Zone

The Beginning Zone, as you will have probably guessed from the name, is the first zone you will enter after leaving the entrance building. Here you will find a toilet block with baby changing facilities, picnic areas, an indoor kids soft play area, a small fast food outlet serving hot chicken meals and drinks and a large children's Ark themed play area as well as several animal enclosures.

There is a walk through Iguana enclosure and a combined enclosure housing a Sloth and Marmosets and there is several smaller exhibits dotted around which house various small birds which to be honest, aren't all that exciting. The Beginning Zone is also where you will find Customer Services should you have any questions or need any help, I've always found staff in here to be very helpful and very pleasant.

Aquatic Zone

After leaving the Beginning Zone, you will find yourself in the Aquatic Zone, which is where most of the zoo's water dwelling creatures can be found, aswell as the zoo's main restaurant and an ice cream parlour. In the main aquatic house there is plenty to see- various tanks full of fish from around the world, a few snakes and more Iguanas and a very impressive marine tank full of 'Nemos' which kids will no doubt love. A large Koi carp pond can also be seen, with a little bridge to walk over and look down at the fish on.

This area has to be my least favourite part of the zoo however as I feel that some of the tanks are small and overcrowded, but having said that, the Penguin and Sealion facilities are very impressive and a real credit to the zoo. The Sealion pool is one of the largest in the world and is filled with salt water, not chlorinated, and has a 24 metre clear glass tunnel running through the middle of it so you can experience the sea lions swimming over your head. You'll find various other smaller enclosures in the Aquatic zone including Meerkats, Porcupines, Squirrel Monkeys, Toucans and various frogs, snakes and lizards.

The zoo's newest attraction, Orang-utan Forest is also located in the Aquatic Zone and is home to the zoo's male Orang-utan, the female sadly died shortly after they were moved into their new home. The Orang-utan Forest is huge and absolutely amazing, one place you must be sure to visit whilst at the zoo.

Valley Zone

Following on from the Aquatic Zone, you'll come to the Valley Zone. This area is home to Spider Monkeys, Giant Anteaters and Leopards amongst others and the star attractions in this area are most definitely Sasha, the beautiful White Bengal Tiger and the zoo's pair of African Lions. An undercover picnic area and a children's play area aswell as a small shop selling ice creams, snacks and hot and cold drinks can also be found in the Valley Zone.

Here we also have the Falconry Arena where there are several displays a day showing off various birds from around the world, from huge African birds of prey through to the birds we find in the English countryside. All the displays here are a pleasure to watch, it is nice to see the bond the birds and their handlers clearly have and they are very informative too, with plenty of seating and an area suitable for buggies and wheelchairs. It's not very good if it is raining though as the Arena is open air, although I'm just being picky now.

Lakelands

Moving on from the Valley Zone, you'll find the Lakelands area of the zoo. This is quite simply a large lake full of Flamingos, Pelicans and British water birds aswell as a few terrapins. Nothing too impressive in my opinion and there are food outlets poorly situation by the lake- you just get ducks mobbing you for your dinner! You can also find a poor excuse for a seal pool, which is home to two Harbour Seals, I really do not like this enclosure, the pool is very small and very shallow and the seals always appear miserable to me, although, that said, I don't suppose I really know what a happy seal looks like, so I'm probably just being daft!

African Zone

Following on from the let down that is Lakelands, you come to the African Zone which will quite simply make you forget your previous disappointed! It is quite simply breathtaking. Two extremely large open enclosures run alongside each other, with a walk way between the middle. To your left there is the zoo's herd of African Elephants, and to the right is a mixed African themed paddock which includes Rhinos, Giraffes, Ostriches and Zebras all happily living together. I love this area of the zoo, it looks amazing and the animals have so much room and seem so happy, you also get the feeling that you are really on Safari with all the African animals surrounding you. It is also nice to see different species mixing together like they would in the wild and you even get the chance to feed the Elephants and Giraffes at various times throughout the day.

If you keep walking you will come across more African animals including Cheetahs (in a sadly heartbreakingly small enclosure), Hyenas, Baboons and Vultures. There is also the large Kingdom Of The Wild building, which is the indoor area for the animals in the mixed African paddock and also home to several other animals including some Meerkats, Pygmy Hippos and Monitor Lizards (avoid asking the keeper if they are similar to milk monitors like my fiancé did, you'll just look like a prat). Inside here you can also find a few tanks of fish dotted around and some small glass enclosures housing various bugs and the like.

Kidz Zone

After the African Zone, you'll find the Kidz Zone, or Familiar Friends as the zoo also calls it. This is the 'farm' part of the zoo, lots of goats, chickens, pigs, sheep, one or two cows, some gorgeous horses and the opportunity to feed them all which many kids will love to do. Although do be warned that the zoo does let the goats out to roam freely around this area and they like to bite and chew anything remotely edible and have been known to head butt you on occasion too.

Around this area you'll also find the barn type building where you can find more farm type animals- donkeys, ponies, reindeer in the winter and lots of pet animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, ferrets and chinchillas and a pretty pointless pitch black enclosure for the nocturnal Pygmy Gliders. Kids also have the chance to do 'Panning for Gold' and there is a Pizza restaurant here aswell.

Heights Zone

The last zone there is to mention is the Heights Zone, perhaps the largest zone in the zoo and home to many beautiful animals. Firstly is the zoo's pair of stunning Amur Tigers (or orange tigers to me and you!), these two have an amazing enclosure, very big with plenty of foliage and even a pool and they always seem very chilled out. A Chip Shop and snack shop are nearby also if you get peckish, as well as the Zoo Train, which will take you on a little ride around the Lakeland Area of the zoo and see some Lemurs amongst other things along the way.

Further up are the Grey Wolves, loads of them- about 10 or so and they all simply look like German Shepherd Dogs to me, but beautiful all the same and its nice, although pretty eerie to spend a few minutes listening to them howl.

Keep going and you'll come to a collection of enclosures which are known as 'World of Wings' which, you may have guessed, each house a different type of bird. There are Vulture, Eagles and Owls in them but not all can be seen all year round as some move to warmer (off-show) areas during the winter months. To be honest, I find these enclosures pretty boring, birds don't do much y'know.

After the bore that is World of Wings, the Komodo Dragon enclosure is next. The enclosure really is very impressive and is one of the zoo's newer projects, its huge with a retractable roof and plenty of room for the animals, it all looks very natural aswell if you get what I mean. The pair of Komodo Dragons that the zoo has are still very young though, so no where near their full adult size, this is a little bit of a let down at the moment as they appear nothing like you'd expect them to be, but I'm sure it'll be worth the wait once they do grow.

Opposite the Komodo Dragon enclosure is home to a pack of African Hunting Dogs and moving along you'll come to the 'Wilds Of Asia' building, which to be honest, doesn't contain much except an absolutely huge Burmese Python that scares the hell out of me everytime I go in there, a couple tanks full of Asian fish and an enclosure that houses some type of lizard which I can never find as it is so well camouflaged!

Keeping moving, you'll wander past some Red Pandas which are very cute but do nothing other than sleep, a pair of very entertaining Otters and several other enclosures containing various small monkeys, birds and a species of small deer rather amusingly named Kirks Dik Diks.

At the end, is the well loved Chimp World, home to the zoo's resident Chimpanzee's. There surely cannot be one person who doesn't enjoy watching these, I know I could watch them for hours. The enclosure is very large, with indoor and outdoor areas, plenty of play equipment and things for them to climb on. One of the Chimps at the zoo though does sit there consistently rocking, notices are displayed explaining this is because the Chimp starting off life in a laboratory and they believe this is what causes the rocking, whether that is true or not, I do not know. The other Chimps all seem extremely happy, but it is very distressing to watch the rocking Chimp.

Also in the Chimp World building, in a separate enclosure of course, is a pair of Crocodiles, well, poor excuses for Crocodiles anyway! They're not 'proper' Crocodiles, but a Slender Snouted variety instead. Whatever they are, they are very boring as not once in all my trips to the zoo have I seen them move, I starting to wonder if they are infact statues.

Food Outlets

The zoo has many food outlets including a Wrap Bar, Pizza Restaurant, KFC style fast food eatery and many different coffee shops and snack kiosks. I've eaten at most of them and the food hasn't been too bad and the places are fairly clean, I'm a vegetarian so options are somewhat limited for me most of the time but the food I have eaten has been quite tasty. One thing to take into account though is how high the prices of food are, a 500ml bottle of soft drink will set you back £1.40 and ice creams are around £1.50, sandwiches £4 and hot meals, well, an awful lot! It's best to take a picnic I think, there is plenty of nice places to eat it and you can leave it in your car and only go and get it when you need it.

Toilets

There are plenty of toilets dotted around the zoo, at least one toilet block in each zone, each with disabled cubicles and baby changing areas. The toilets are very clean and it is clear they are checked regularly, sanitary bins and dispensing machines are provided at most of them.

Visiting With Children

I've taken my god children to the zoo many a time with me and they have always absolutely loved it. The zoo is extremely hilly in places which makes a push chair very hard to push and the natural design of some of the enclosures means that kids can't always spot the animals within very easily which can often frustrate them and also some of the viewing windows are a little too high for children to see into which can cause a few problems.

There is plenty of things to keep kids occupied though, other than the animals. Face painting is generally always available and there are many play areas dotted around the zoo and the Panning For Gold is generally a big hit, as is feeding the animals in the Kidz Zone. The zoo hosts many themed activities throughout the year for Easter, Halloween, Christmas etc and these are always a lot of fun, the zoo makes a huge effort and they are well worth going to.

All the food outlets are generally quite happy to provide hot water to make up baby milk or heat jars of baby food for you and high chairs are available in all of the restaurants.

Finishing Up

As I mentioned at the start of the review, I have been to many zoo's all around the world and I still think Colchester is one of the best I have visited. It's a large, modern zoo and it's clear they really do care about the animals and that's something I like. I also love the fact they do not make the animals perform- yes, they do some displays, but there is no sea lions balancing balls on their noses, or monkeys riding bikes, all the displays are purely factual and the animals, such as the sea lions or birds, are just doing natural behaviours which pleases me.

The zoo is very hilly in places, but that can't be avoided, it makes it quite hard to walk around at times and I'd hate to do it pushing a wheelchair, but there is a route detailed in the map which enables you to see most of the animals whilst avoiding the biggest hills in the zoo.

The enclosures are generally all really lovely I think. There are some which are in obvious need of upgrading and the small enclosure that the Cheetahs are in really does break my heart but there really are some amazing ones, such as the ones for the African animals, Lions, Sealions, Penguins, Orang-utans, Chimpanzees and Tigers. They are also all very well kitted out, with plenty of foliage and enough things to keep the animals occupied and the keepers are about a lot. They are all very open too, no iron bars here, I like that a lot.

The animals seem happy, which is a great thing to be able to say about a zoo. There is some that can sometimes look a little depressed but the vast majority do seem very happy and content, there are no animals, except for that poor Chimp, that spend their entire day rocking or pacing up and down their enclosures and for me, that says a lot about how much the zoo cares for their animals.

Overall, an outstanding zoo with very little faults I can find. The animals are happy, the majority of the enclosures are excellent, the staff are friendly, there is plenty for kids to do, entrance fee is reasonable and the zoo genuinely does seem to have its animals best interest at heart and seems to do all it can to keep them happy and help educate the public.

A highly recommended and thoroughly enjoyable place to visit.

Colchester Zoo is open from 9.30am every day except Christmas Day, closing times vary.

(Another zoo trip is planned this week- pictures will be taken and uploaded!)