Seaview Wildlife Encounter, Isle Of Wight > Reviews (3)

On a recent trip to the Isle of Wight, I decided we would visit the many animal attractions as there was no sunshine, it was windy and rainy at some points, so as there was nothing else to do, other than waste my hard earned cash on the amusements I wanted to see the animals (yes I saw other things too - reviews to follow).

On our arrival we drove from East Cowes to a pub that had been recommended for lunch, as we drove we passed the Flamingo Park also known as Seaview Wildlife Encounter (I find all these attractions with two names very confusing). What is even more confusing is this is called Seaview due to its location in Seaview not the Wildlife Encounter with Sea animals.

Anyway, we went down the drive way and found ourselves in a car park, it was empty (just the way I like to be a tourist - by myself). The cost of getting in was rather expensive £7.95 per adult, I must admit with that price in mind I did expect a lot more than what was actually there.

What is at the Park?
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In the park are a variety of animals:
Otters
Penguins
Meerkats
Pelicans
Wallabies
Parrots
Reptiles
Farm animals
And over 100 Flamingo's.

All in all the park is actually quite small and the animals are all very close together. This is definitely an attraction for those with young children rather than older ones. Although we enjoyed the park we did find it a bit small and simple.

There is quite a bit of greenery around the lake and water features behind the Wallaby enclosure and I'm sure if the weather had been good and we'd had a picnic it would have been better and more relaxing, as it was quite cold, we walked around (as it's all outdoors) and decided to see it and leave, not hang around. It took us 2 hours and that was with 2 talks the Penguins and Pelicans.

The best bit was the penguin talk, she talked to us about the Humboldt Penguins and allowed questions to be asked, then the keeper gave fish to everyone surrounding the enclosure and allowed us to feed them. It was a nice hands on experience. After they had all been fed and the crowd had dispersed a bit, the keeper proceeded to get one of the 6 month old ones out and allow people to touch and stroke him.

Unfortunately I did not get a chance to stroke the penguin, and don't get me wrong I would have loved to but there were two young girls in front of me and instead of their parents allowing them to stroke and move out the way for others, they stood at the front the entire time and didn't allow anyone else to have a touch.

Personally, I don't blame the children, but the parents entirely, the girls were also giggling and screaming with delight and while a appreciate them to be excited, what in the name were their parents doing allowing them to scream at an animal, a small, baby animal? The parents were beyond selfish and I ended up walking away or else my mouth would have got me in trouble by asking them to move out the way.

The park is good, and for little ones, but again animals are animals and if children aren't taught to appreciate these wonderful animals they will end up scaring them by banging on cages etc, I think zoo's should be a form of education not totally entertainment, it creates ignorant people.

There are also toilet facilities on site with a cafe and small gift shop. Around the park you will also find sinks with soap and water in case you have been touching any of the animals, there are signs about what you can and can't touch.

Overall this is a nice attraction and the staff were very friendly and knew about the animals, you could see they really cared. My only moan (except the unruly children) is the price, in comparison to the Isle of Wight sanctuary which was £5 roughly each, this is overpriced. I suppose the only good thing price wise, the car park was free, so perhaps it all balances out in the long run. It just seemed expensive for what it was.

Opening Times
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April to November with reduced times open between October and November.
The park opens at 10am and closes at either 4pm or 5pm depending on the time of year.