South Lakes Wild Animal Park, Dalton

A wonderful animal park lurks in the small village of Dalton in Furness, cumbria within the Lake District.
It was started in 1993 By David Gill and what a wonderful way of keeping animals. All the animals are in or near as possible to its natural habitat. The zoo is so clean and easy to follow. This zoo has got everything just right.
There are special features during the day and events are listed on a board. The day I went we wathched the tigers, lemurs and cats being fed. The zoo keepers give a very detailed account of the animals with a lot of information.

They feed the tigers up high poles so they excercise their muscles, most zoos I have seen just throw the meat straight in. Still these tigers are very special, they are Sumatran tigers and this zoo has been raising money for the conservation of these tigers.
The way round is easy to follow and there is a large amount of animals, some unusual like the Hutia, a tree rodent, babirusa, a rare and unique creature which is pig with a hippos inside, and the agouti.

One of my favourites was the Australian compound, where you walked round and all the animals were free to wander where they liked, kangaroos, emu, and wallabies. I stroked a kangaroo who had been born at the zoo and was really tame.

But the best feature by far were the lemurs. They all crowded round the kitchen on the roof and the roof of the van when it was near eating time. They were trying to get into the kitchen for the bananas. They are sliced up and handed round to the audience to feed them. I took some and fed them, they take off the skin and threw that away, the're not daft.
These lemurs are free to roam as well.

There were alot more animals, monkeys, bats, zebras, gazelles,, meerkats, giraffes and the unusual white rhino.

The price was fair and the guide book is exceptional.

The only disappointing feature was the small menu at the cafe, just a few sandwiches and cakes, nothing substantial. A gift shop is also on site.
A lovely day out which might be missed by many as it isnt advertised well

Good value at £7 per adult and £1 for the guide..