Knowsley Safari Park

...to Chester, we headed to Knowsley Safari Park, a land that promised rhinos darting everywhere, baboons climbing all over the roof of your car, throwing rotting food at the windscreen and camels who act as window cleaners.

Oh joy.

Throughout the brochures green and yellow pages, Knowsley promises quite a unique experience with the ‘baboon jungle’ being the only one of its kind in the country, an amusement park and birds ...
...to be essential viewing. However, Knowsley boasted about their wild cats and mammals well enough to convince me that it was going to be worth the visit, and an enjoyable one at that.

IN BRIEF...
Founded in July 1971, Knowsley Safari Park was the first of its kind to be built just eight miles away from a big city and the big city in question was Liverpool. For the first two years, the park had only 3.5 miles worth of road for ... more

When we were in Liverpool for a couple of days a year ago, as well as wondering around many Beatles exhibitions, my family had the nerve to suggest we do something different: so what if we’d already been on the Magical Mystery Tour and inside The Beatles Story! Mum had already made us go on a tour of Anfield – surely going and finding the Eleanor Rigby statue would have made up for me - of all people - being in a museum about bloomin’ football?!

We’d managed to pick up a couple of brochures about wildlife parks and other animal centres whilst on our travels. My Dad, who can be a real grizzly bear sometimes, didn’t want to go to Chester Zoo again; we’d already been there before but that was when I was very little and all I remember about that day was the gorgeous baby elephant that was just a couple of months old. On this occasion, instead of returning to Chester, we headed to Knowsley Safari Park, a land that promised rhinos darting everywhere, baboons climbing all over the roof of your car, throwing rotting food at the windscreen and camels who act as window cleaners.

Oh joy.

Throughout the brochures green and yellow pages, Knowsley promises quite a unique experience with the ‘baboon jungle’ being the only one of its kind in the country, an amusement park and birds of prey display...not directly inside the baboon jungle but further along on the trip! To be honest, the birds of prey display didn’t hold a lot of interest to me; I’ve seen owls and eagles flying pointlessly from one persons arm to another many times before so that part wasn’t perhaps going to be essential viewing. However, Knowsley boasted about their wild cats and mammals well enough to convince me that it was going to be worth the visit, and an enjoyable one at that.

IN BRIEF...
Founded in July 1971, Knowsley Safari Park was the first of its kind to be built just eight miles away from a big city and the big city in question was Liverpool. For the first two years, the park had only 3.5 miles worth of road for the visitors to travel along but afterwards, and still to this day, it is a five mile trip around the park. Even though I initially feared it would be an all too short a journey, once you do get going, you find yourself stopping and admiring the animals for an extended period of time, making the trip not seem quite as short as you’d expect.

During the five miles of road, there are several sub-sections in which many of the animals are divided into their natural groups. Although some of the animals do indeed look cute and fluffy, it’s important to remember that they are not all sweet and cuddly like a kitten and can actually be very, very dangerous. Whilst some of the species are kept in cages, others are free to roam about all over the road and you could find yourself in the midsts of a bull fight! Thankfully, there are several safari cars with trained animal experts stationed around the park so, if there are some wild scuffles, the staff are on hand to try and keep the action at bay.

The safari is, naturally, an outdoor event and so it’s a good idea to try and pick a day which promises some decent weather - or else the animals may decide to bugger off in search of shelter! There are however some indoor attractions, namely a sea lion show, a bug house and a petting zoo to name but a few, and the animals are normally allowed to wonder where they please within their designated areas so you can get a good look at them and tell them just how pretty they all are.

PRICES, OPENING TIMES AND PARKING
Between the 1st March and 31st October, during the parks summer season, the place opens from 10am and closes around 6pm. The last entry to the park is 4pm although, as you’ll discover in a while, if you did turn up any later than 4pm you may be a little bit disappointed as you’d have to rush quite a lot of the displays in order to try and view all of the animals and exhibitions before the place closes for the day. We visited in the summer although, if you did want to go during the autumn and winter months and play a game of hide and seek with the animals, from 1st November to 28th February, it’s a 10.30am start time and the last entry is at 3pm. Of course Knowsley is closed Christmas Day but by the sound of things, this is the only time when you can’t visit the park.

The admission prices aren’t too bad either; although Knowsley don’t list a Concessions price on the leaflet, because I had my UCAS student card with me, we managed to get £3 off the normal adult ticket price of £12, which was the price we ended up paying for the rest of my family. Children are £9 but if they are under three years old than they are allowed into the park for free. There is a special deal where you can take two adults and two children for £37, which means you’re saving a fiver and there are several other offers for group tickets and school outings too.

The Knowsley Safari Park is moderately cheaper than Chester Zoo, the other place we were considering going, but it is literally by a couple of pounds. Otherwise, by the time you take into consideration petrol costs (which is never too far from people’s minds!) you aren’t saving a great deal at all. However, once you do complete the track and begin exploring some of the smaller animals, parking up and going to view the remainder of the place is very easy; we managed to nab a parking space right outside the elephant cage (doesn’t sound the safest bet ever perhaps...) but there was a good sized car park a little bit further up too.

ANY WARNINGS BEFOREHAND?
In spite of there being a picture in the leaflet of a teenager gormlessly sticking his head and hand out of the window to touch one of the deer, there are plenty of signs dotted about the park informing spectators how that is exactly the kind of behaviour you shouldn’t demonstrate once inside the park! The lady on the ticket desk made this quite clear to us before we started the journey, as did several million signs littered around the park.

Alas, sometimes it really isn’t a case of monkey see, monkey do...

Whilst mentioning monkeys, it's important to note that Knowsley are not responsible for any damage done to your car by the baboons; there are plenty of signs dotted around the place to note this in the beginning and it's pretty much your risk in your hands if you decide to go through the Baboon Jungle.

THE FUNNIEST, MOST BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS AND THE JOURNEY AROUND THE PARK
By the time we’d paid, just after 2pm, we were sent on our merry way around the park. You do get offered a map of the park (costing about £3) which I don’t think is entirely necessary as everything is well signed up throughout the tour. You aren’t instantly thrown to the lions – that comes a couple of minutes into your Dad driving like a lunatic! Until then, you are greeted by the slightly sedate varieties of deer and the rather relaxed African Wild Dogs. Neither species did all that much and the dogs were obviously a bit camera shy and had their backs to the cars but they are quite unusual looking and quite sweet and are one of the types of near extinct animals that the Safari holds dear, and rightfully so. The deer, who are quite spread out around the park, all looked the same; whether there are different varieties or not isn’t obvious to the naked eye and although very pleasant animals, they are a bit like album fillers; nice enough but certainly not the main attraction.

Speaking of the ‘mane’ attraction, the first of the parks separate enclosures was the Lion’s Den, with lions and tigers sprawled out and keeping a keen eye on the cars as they pass. I was a little disappointed to only see one tiger; Knowsley is home to an extensive breeding programme so one can assume that she wasn’t a solitary tiger but I would sooner have seen more tigers than lions because I find them a lot more mysterious and charming because of their markings. Not that I would ever tell a lion to their face that I don’t find them as beautiful as the tigers! The lionesses proudly spied the cars and we manoeuvred slowly around the road, watching their young as they played around with one another. Some of the cars at this point overtook many of the slower vehicles which was frightfully ignorant and you realise just how dim some humans can be: picture a load of lions creeping closely beside your car, some even wandering into the road to get a closer look at YOU, with some idiot a couple of cars in front waving his arms out of the window to try and get the attention of the kitty for a quick snapshot! The park’s jeep and a couple of workers kindly reminded the moron to shut his window but it was quite unbelievable how people ignored the rules of the park for the benefit of themselves, rather than the animals.

The big cats were one of my family’s very favourite parts of the park; the lions and tigers are so proud and majestic and indeed striking that it’s hard not to be impressed with them. The cats didn’t seem fazed by the car engines and general bustle at all, not even the youngest of the group. The babe’s mane was only just starting to grow and he wasn’t as big as his relatives but its incredible how calm they stayed throughout people honking horns as a signal to move on or nearly getting run over!

The other subsection on the tour was the Baboon Jungle where you can expect monkeys of all ages to clamber over your car whilst having a light afternoon snack – just make sure you have your windows shut for that one! There is a ‘car friendly’ route which means you can bypass the monkeys and see them through the cages and, although I wasn’t overly keen on the thought of monkeys having a party on the roof of our motor, it would have been foolish not to have seen the comical creatures in their domain. Thankfully, our car wasn’t the place to be for the monkeys but the car in front of us had a baboon scramble up to the top, carting lots of food in one arm and going for a ride whilst enjoying a picnic! It was really funny to watch, especially because the keepers couldn’t get the monkey off, even by the time they came to the end of the section! He or she looked quite content sat up there with the rotting fruit and veg.

Well, somebody has to have Asda’s dregs...

There was a lot of monkey business going on with the cars –at one point two baboons were clinging onto either side of the wing mirrors to the car in front of us and they loved having their picture taken as the people in the car genuinely looked a bit startled. There were some good moments in this area, but the baboons may have nearly been outdone by a couple of other comedians of the animal kingdom...

After seeing camels nearly bumping into windscreens and ostriches admiring themselves in the windows, the buffalos were up next and were certainly a bit daunting – they were very fast and ferocious with one another and had a bit of a habit of charging too close to the cars! The rhinos were another one of the animals that I was really keen on seeing; they look a lot like dinosaurs and have peculiar, domineering temperaments that I always find quite amusing. Like the lions, although they are hereditary perhaps not accustomed to having a lot of traffic surrounding them, coped incredibly well and were perhaps the most road conscious of all the animals. The rhinos were quite satisfied, munching grass and dozing in the sun to care too much about the motorists!

‘DO WE REALLY HAVE TO WALK NOW?!’
Taking just over an hour to complete the motoring part of the park, which isn’t too bad considering we only really stopped and stalled at the Lion’s Den and the Baboon Jungle, it was time to park up and continue the journey on foot although my heart sank; as I saw we were driving to the end of the track, I honestly didn’t expect there to be any elephants to admire. Thankfully, a sign up ahead said otherwise, although it would have been way cooler to drive near to the big creatures, rather than see them locked up in cages! Elephants are perhaps the most amazing animals on the planet – I don’t know why I say that but for soon reason, I think they are adorable, gentle, yet so commanding and calm. The ones at Knowsley were no different although some of them were more antisocial than others. My favourite – the biggest female there – was stunning; she didn’t seem daunted by me waving madly at her or grabbing my camera from my handbag to take pictures of her! In fact, oddly enough, she posed a little and waiting patiently until I’d got my image before moving on to the next sea of admirers.

The parts of the park that you cover on foot also allowed for more information about each of the given animal, with the elephant section being the most thorough of all of these; I don’t know whether it was just because I was taking a particular interest in the adorable elephants, but there was a lot of information about the differences between the breeds. It is well known that the African Elephants, like the ones at Knowsley, have bigger ears than their Asian counterparts, they also have a different number of toes with the males weighing 6 tonnes - 1.5tonnes more than the Asian variety! It was very interesting and the elephants – I am delighted to report- were obviously well cared for, with lots of different staff members popping round to make sure they were ok throughout the time we were watching them. You can either get a look at the elephants on ground level or by a set of steps near the giraffe enclosure which leads to a hut and you are nearly at eye level with the beauties. Not that I was happy about that at all...

Dragging myself away from the enigmatic elephants, slightly smaller animals were on the horizon; the meerkats, like Alexander from CompareTheMeerkat.com, were also extremely lovable as their mannerisms are very cute, especially when they are sat curled up next to a rock or taking a good, long hard look at the spectators. One of the lady meerkats appeared to be pregnant and Knowsley is proud home of three litters of meerkats this year alone so you should get to see some tiny fluff balls around the park if you do get a chance to go to Knowsley!

Moving on to the red river hogs, they also had their own brand of charm about them – and smell! Initially, I did think it was the pigs that were ‘hogging’ the atmosphere but when you walked along, you’d learn that the pong was coming from the giraffe cave. It did smell bad but some people were definitely over exaggerating, grabbing tissues out of their bags to cover their noses with. The Korean couple with their daughter were quite funny during all of this too, with the mum juggling a tissue as she fidgeted with a camera. Anyway, back to the animals; giraffes are violent by nature. Don’t believe me? Well, one of these dudes was! He was head butting the other giraffe in the neck which was quite uncalled for. Funny but not exactly what you’d call playing nice! I do like giraffes but they aren’t nearly as awesome as elephants; they are big, yes, and cute but I don’t think they ever really command your attention in the same way others do.

Heading in the other direction, there are several more places to stop. The sea lions – some of the most graceful swimmers – were being carefully watched by one of the keepers, just in case a person fell into the water. There is a section underneath the pool with a glass floor so you can see the sea lions swim which was pretty impressive to watch. This was the same for the otters who, unfortunately, we had just missed the talk on but it drew a fair crowd, considering they weren’t the biggest species on display. However, as far as live audiences go, the birds of prey were a popular attraction; there were several benches behind the wiring and plenty of standing space behind that. If you weren’t inclined to stay for the talk like us, there was an opportunity to see the birds in their cages with the owl being disgruntled and unfriendly. The free roaming birds were quite the opposite with chickens wandering about quite freely, and one even had her ten chicks with her! They were beautiful and I loved the fact that Knowsley catered for all tastes as you go from some of the tallest creatures on the planet to some of the teeniest in a matter of minutes.

There were however, more opportunities to see some farm animals at the petting zoo; we were at Knowsley in mid-August and about two months prior to that, some piglets had been born; they were very funny and cute especially the black and pink one who wanted to eat his feeding bowl! What a pig. There was also an array of lemurs, who were a bit strange, and also Shetland Ponies. I must admit, I’m not normally that big a fan of horses but one of the tiny ponies desperately wanted to be petted – obviously, how could you say no to something with such big, bold eyes like that! Afterwards, at either end of the petting zoo, there were sinks and plenty of soap so you could wash your hands after petting the animals which is of course good if you have a little kid with you who is prone to putting their fingers in their mouth.

Along the way, there were many fair ground rides for children, including the safari adventure which was a bit like a merry go round with elephant, zebra and lion riders. I can’t comment as to how good they are because I didn’t use them. However, like the sea lion show – which we were too late to go and see – you would have to pay a bit extra if you wanted to use them and you could expect to pay in the region of £1 to £1.50 for a ride. You can also purchase a wristband that would allow you unlimited access to the rides and different shows but it would set you back an astonishing £9 for the day which, if we’d been tempted to do so, would have cost us an alarming £36 extra!

In addition to the sea lion exhibit, there was a bug museum that held very little fascination for me; whilst I consider a zoo to be all about the big animals, obviously, Knowsley provide for a wide audience, and has attractions such as this one to entertain the whole family throughout their visit. On the plus side, the Bug House is included in the cost of your park admission tickets so, if you had a bit more time and wanted to see something a bit different, the Bug House would be a good place to stop off and take a quick look at. In keeping with Knowsley’s conservation plans, on the way to the petting zoo is a woodland area which offers a more peaceful outlook on wildlife. After opening in 2007, the Woodland Walk includes a vast variety of British woodland plants and fifty bird boxes to encourage breeding and to also increase the diversity of the park. It’s also important to note here that the Woodland Walk offers a suitable pathway for visitors but be careful if you are a little unsteady under foot as there are lots of little rocks and stones littered about the path and – as it’s got like a muddy quality to it – the path could become a little bit slippery during the autumn and winter months I fear.

THE SERVICES AND STAFF
I’m a bit of a shop-a-holic and have seemed to turn wasting my money on rubbish mementos into an art form, so going into the gift shop is a must and Knowsley was no different! The shop itself is huge and there is a vast array of souvenirs, ranging from literally hundreds of cuddly toys to simple stationary stuff and even ornaments and kitchen sets. I must have been in the store for ages before finally deciding on this cute little pencil with an elephant on it (which, may I point out is totally cool, in spite of being aimed at five year olds) and a wind up elephant toy (same applies here). Both of my elephant inspired prezzies were cheap, costing £1.25 for the pencil and £2.00 for the toy and have since found a permanent home in a draw somewhere in my bedroom. My folks got our neighbours – who had kindly agreed to look after our very own ‘big’ cat – a box of the shortbread, which was also very reasonably priced and had a lovely picture of some grazing zebras on the box. Awww.

One of the things I am keeping in mind for future birthday and Christmas presents is the animal adoption packages that Knowsley offers. With a wide range of animals to choose from, including elephants, meerkats and tigers, there are 18 species to pick with prices starting at £25 for the Bronze package. The adoption packs can be purchased either in the Knowsley Safari Park store or online and, even the Bronze packaging seems to offer good value for money; my friend kindly bought me a WWF ‘Adopt A Panda’ gift set for Christmas last year but Knowsley’s pack seems to be a lot more focused on the animal in question, with various fact books for both young and old adopters, and special days at the park for those who do go on to purchase the packs. The adoption certificates can take 28 days to be delivered and last 12 months, like the WWF packages available.

There is also a cafe/restaurant at Knowsley for people who would be tempted to spend the entire day at the park. We didn’t eat there because for one, it was only an hour or two until our evening meal by the time we got there and two, the food smelt quite greasy which is never a good sign. My Mum purchased a coffee to take away but later claimed it was among the worst that she’d ever tasted! The staff in the restaurant weren’t as friendly or as quick as those in the gift shop and, although it was getting near to closing time, there were still plenty of people waiting patiently to be served and the staff didn’t (surprisingly) get a move on because it was near to closing time!

If you were thinking of visiting Knowsley for an entire day and thus eating at the restaurant, prices range from £4.50 for fish and chips and £2.85 for burgers. There is a variety of sandwiches on offer, each in the price range of about £2.65 and jacket potatoes with prices starting from £3.35 depending on your filling. Mum paid £1.50 for her coffee and tea is priced the same but soft drinks can be purchased from either inside the store or the vending machines outside for approximately 90p. There was also a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream vending machine and a Microchips vending machine directly outside the restaurant so if you got a whiff of the burgers and felt your stomach turn, it might be a good idea to stay outside and save yourselves with the help of a vending machine!

Or, of course, you could just do the sensible thing and bring along a picnic and eat it in the amenity areas...

The loos weren’t too bad; there was plenty of soap and everything but some little kid nearly slipped over on the wet patch on the floor where water had sloshed over the basins. Although there was a sign up, and the cleaning staff obviously can’t be everywhere at once, it was still a little bit of a hazard and something to be aware of if you aren’t altogether steady on your feet.

CONTACT DETAILS & GETTING TO KNOWSLEY
Although it is about eight miles away from Liverpool, to get to the Safari Park, you’d need to follow exit number two at the junction, which is just off the M57. The address for the beloved Sat Nav – which we certainly needed because we went a weird way out of Liverpool – is L34 4AN.

If you want any information for the parks facilities, such as disability access or anything, there are three ways of getting in touch with the park:

Telephone – 0151 430 9009

Address – Knowsley Safari Park,
Prescot,
Merseyside,
L34 4AN

Email – safari.park@knowsley.com

There are a number of special features that the park have to ensure that everyone can enjoy the park, including wide doorways for pushchair and wheelchair access with tarmac paths although I did find some of the paths to be a little bit wonky or laced with stones, which wouldn’t be good if you aren’t a steady walker. The park did manage to get voted into the top 100 accessible attractions in the UK for its disabled admission and I would say that is a fair evaluation of the pathways at Knowsley. Do you want to visit Knowsley, even though you don’t own a car? Sorry but this seems to be an impossibility as you must take your own because Knowsley do not rent out vehicles. If you happen to want to take your dog to view some even bigger - and perhaps cuter animals - they much stay locked up in the kennels for a deposit of £5.00. The money is refundable once you have returned the padlock to the kennel keeper and you can take your doggy around the amenity areas of Knowsley, just so they don’t feel too left out.

OVERALL: THE ‘MANE’ ATTRACTION OR JUST MONKEY BUSINESS?
Overall, Knowsley Safari Park is an excellent attraction; it’s clear that the animals are looked after and well fed, and kept in clean and stable environments that they may not find out in the wild. The terrain in which some of the bigger animals like the rhinos and buffalos could run about in was vast and allowed space that animals of that size no doubt desire. The dedication to care for the animals, however, can be a bit inconvenient if you visit the park later on in the day. As we were walking back to the car, I obviously couldn’t help myself and had to go and talk, I mean look, at the elephants once again. Although there is a sign up warning visitors that the elephants may not be visible away from the hut after 5.00pm, it was only 4.45pm and the keepers were already locking the elephants away! I was a bit upset about it because the animals should have been more accessible for a little while longer, especially as there was a sign up informing visitors when the elephants would be put away for the day.

The conservation plans at Knowsley are very thorough indeed; in spite of my uneducated evaluations when it comes to species of deer, there is a particular breed that came close to extinction in the late 20th century and Knowsley’s collection of the creatures is apparently one of the largest in the UK. Knowsley is also offers a ‘Safari School’ for younger visitors who are at a school age, where pupils can learn about efforts to preserve the planet at such a fragile stage in its life as well as respecting the animals that are also a part of the world. Obviously, I cannot comment on the quality of the Safari School but – like the ‘Adopt An Animal’ scheme, Knowsley appears to be a park that is trying to maintain a healthy population of different animals for future generations via both funding and teaching devices.

My only wish was that we had spent a whole day at Knowsley, rather than just the afternoon as we would have gone on the safari ride again and I don’t think there were any signs up saying that you couldn’t do that. The different displays, such as the otters, birds and sea lions do vary throughout the day with many beginning mid to late morning and mid to late afternoon so if you were interesting in doing everything Knowsley had to offer, it would be a good idea to get to the park early and explore it perhaps more thoroughly than we got the chance to.

So, is Knowsley the ‘mane event’ or just ‘monkey business’? For all ages, I’d pretty much say it’s the ‘mane’ attraction!

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT KNOWSLEY SAFARI PARK
www.knowsley.com/safari
 

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