Now the cat has swallowed a penny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . there’s money ...
Now the cat has swallowed a penny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . there’s money in my kitty!
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*** How We Got There ***
We were travelling home from the Peak District to Essex recently, feeling a bit sad that our holiday was over. We left our holiday home early in the morning, and started making our way straight home due to the forecast that the atrocious weather we were having was widespread across the country. By the time we got to the M1 in Bedfordshire, the sun had come out though, and I wanted to make the most of it.
“There’s a sign to Woburn Safari Park!” I shouted, so hubby left the M1 at Junction 13 and followed the clear signs.
Sadly, after checking their website, I found out that there is no public transport to Woburn Safari Park. I would imagine that it is a popular destination for coach tours though, so check out your local operator, if that is the best option for you.
We chose first to follow the signs to the Car Safari, as opposed to the Foot Safari, and were greeted my a keeper who relieved us of some serious entrance money. Guidebooks were on display, but we weren’t pushed to buy one, so we didn’t pay the extra – more about that later. We were given, free, a useful leaflet, which included a map and timetable with the events of the day on it.
The sun was still shining as we drove around the various large animal enclosures, among mostly dozy looking animals. Their surroundings encourage the animals to behave naturally, as well as giving visitors the chance to get up close in their cars. Big cats, especially, spend a lot of their time resting, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that that is exactly what they were doing.
The first large enclosures were for the herbivores, including white rhino, giraffe, antelope, buffalo and zebra. Then we went on to the tigers and lions. For all these enclosures hubby drove very slowly and stopped completely when we saw something particularly interesting.
After the big cats, came an enclosure containing bears and wolves, which would have lived near each other in Britain 1,000 years ago. There was a large notice saying Bears Break Wing Mirrors. Now hubby starts to get nervous. “I’m not stopping in this enclosure!” he says firmly. “Hopefully, if I keep going at a steady pace the bears won’t want to get too close.”
Well we came away from that intact, and then he wonders whether to chance the car in the monkey enclosure, or take the by pass to avoid it. We went in despite his concerns and saw cars that had stopped, both in front and behind us, being clambered all over by mischievous looking monkeys. We weren’t in there long, didn’t stop at all, overtaking the
parked visitors, and the car got out of there without harm too. I did see quite a few monkeys, even though none caught us. Other cars were stopped at the exit to the monkey enclosure to have hitch-hikers removed from bonnets, roofs and boots, before they were allowed to move on. Some with monkeys on the roofs, didn’t know they were there, so were puzzled as to why they were being stopped. I thought it was funny – hubby was just relieved when we got out. Animals to look out for in this section are Colobus and Patas Monkeys, and Barbary Apes. While some are curious about cars, others stay in the trees.
We continued our Car Safari at a relaxed pace through some more herbivores, until we reached the end, where you can either go around again, or park and go on the Foot Safari. Hubby parked, got out and used the facilities.
*** Foot Safari ***
The Foot Safari is around the Wild World Leisure Area.
We had our picnic with us, so we ate that before exploring further.
The Foot Safari part of the day was relaxed, interesting and thoroughly enjoyed by both of us.
There is a self-service café, which seemed a good family orientated place. There is a special children’s menu for about £4 for a hot meal. Adult hot meals are about £6, or sandwiches are about £3. We just went in to buy reasonably priced ice-creams, as the little kiosks were shut, because there weren’t enough visitors to warrant them opening on the day we went. We got served quickly and went on our way.
While we were in between animal house, the heavens suddenly opened, and we looked for quick cover. I spotted a building marked “Schools” and ran for it. It turned out that it was a large hall that can be used by schools for picnics, as well as educational reasons. As there weren’t any schools there on the day we went, nobody minded us being there, and we were followed in by a family of ducks, who obviously didn’t like the rain either.
With the weather forecast we had, I’m not surprised visitor numbers were low, but after a while the rain stopped, so we went exploring again.
My favourite part of the whole day was visiting the Rainbow Landings building. At the door, there is a notice telling visitors to wait for a keeper to let you in. This only took a few seconds, and he explained to us that it was free to go through the curtains into the main part of the building, but if we wanted to encourage the inhabitants to land on us, we could buy some nectar for 70p. I declined the nectar, not knowing what to expect, but us soon as I walked through the curtain I was literally surrounded by colour and movement. It was lots of small parrot-like birds, and one very gently landed on my hand. It was delightful, and posed with me, while hubby took photos, until the next batch of visitors come. As far as the birds were concerned every visitor was guilty of having nectar, until it was proved differently. This house was warm, dry and had such lovely inhabitants, so we chose to stage there ages, while other visitors came and went. Most found the birds friendly, gentle and delightful. There was one who was scared though. A little girl, with long wind-swept hair, had a bird land on her head. She squealed and the bird couldn’t make a quick get away, as it took a few seconds for it to get its claws out of her tangled hair. So if you don’t want this to happen to you tie back long hair, and/or wear a hat.
I was most surprised to come up close and personal with emus in the Australian Walkabout. Wallabies I have found sharing public areas at other animal parks, but never emus before. These did all look like small young adults though. Perhaps that’s why these weren’t aggressive.
Lemurs are among my favourite animals, and they have a walk-through enclosure here, where we found them to be very friendly.
Other attractions I enjoyed included birds of all sorts (including birds of prey), sealions, penguins, monkeys, reptiles and elephants.
We took a journey on The Great Woburn Railway, which travels through some of the big herbivore enclosures, as well as the walk-around part of the park. We got on and returned to Bison Halt. You can get off at Elephant Junction, half way round, if you want to. There is no extra charge for train journeys, and various other activities, including swan shaped pedal boats, and adventure playgrounds, situated inside as well as outdoors, designed with different ages in mind.
Near the end of the day we visited the gift shop. They had a choice of reasonably priced souvenirs, as well as more expensive ones. I had a quick look at the official guidebook, which was £4.50, but decided instead to buy a virtual keeper to take on a repeat Car Safari with us. This is a £5 CD, which we put into our car’s CD player, to tell us what to look out for and interesting facts, as we drove around. I chose this, as I have found that in the past, while I had my nose in a guidebook, I was missing something important.
*** Car Safari – Part 2 ***
You can go around the Car Safari part as many times as you like during the day of your visit, provided you don’t mind taking your own car, so we went on a second tour, just before leaving.
I found this more entertaining than the first time. The animals were more active, presumably because the temperature was cooler. We also had the Virtual Keeper CD playing, telling us what to look for.
Woburn advertise that the Car Safari takes about an hour. It didn’t take us that long, but it’s not hard to imagine that it would at peak times. Double gates have to be open and shut every time a group of cars leaves one group of animals to visit another.
*** ADVICE & WARNINGS ***
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS on the site is generally good, with the occasional steep gradient., which can be avoided. Using Woburn's own transport is likely to be a problem though.
Even friendly animals have their off-days,
Pictures of Woburn Safari Park, Woburn, London
Hello, Tiger!
so please treat them all with respect, for your sake, as well as theirs.
Read the Timetable that you will be given on your arrival, to make sure you don’t miss any demonstrations, talks, or feeding times of special interest to you.
Foot Safari
Animals in the walk through enclosures will take your food, given half a chance, which could make them ill, as well as rob you of your picnic.
Tie back long hair before entering Rainbow Landings, and/or wear a hat, to avoid the friendly and inquisitive birds becoming tangled. I didn’t see any problem with birds landing on the heads of those with short hair or those wearing baseball type caps.
Car Safari
Don’t feed the animals, especially don’t let them eat YOU for dinner. Don’t get out of car. Keep doors and windows locked. Sound your horn if you need help. A keeper won’t be far away.
To reduce risk of damage to your car, drive at a slow consistent pace, preferably without stopping, through the enclosures. We did stop to take photos (without opening windows), but not too near the animals, and not in the bear or monkey enclosures. Bears have been known to break wing mirrors. Monkeys have been known to do worse. However, if unlike us, you go at peak times, you may have no option than to remain stationery in traffic jams, at the mercy of whichever animals surround your car at the time. We saw alert keepers, in their vehicles, in all the drive-though paddocks, but their priority is to protect life, not your car.
If you want to go around the large enclosures in Woburn transport, instead of your own car, phone ahead to check if this will be available on the day of your choice. When running, the lorry tours are £3 extra per person.
*** Conservation & Welfare ***
Especially rare animals we saw included Rothschild Giraffes and Przewalksi Horses, both of which have been breed at Woburn. They are hoping for breeding success with other endangered species soon, including lemurs and rare types of deer.
For an overview of their conservation policies see http://www.woburnsafari.co.uk/news/article.php?sID=36
All the animals we saw looked well cared for and happy. This included having keepers in all areas where the public could walk or drive through. I suspect this was equally to protect the animals from the public, as well as public from the animals.
*** Prices ***
High season prices are usually charged during main school holidays and are Adult £17.00, Child age 3-15 years £13.00, Senior Citizen £14.50, with opening times of 10am to 6.30 pm.
We paid £2.50 less each for our June visit, with opening times of 10.00 am to 6.00 pm.
Check http://www.woburnsafari.co.uk/visitor_information/openingtime_prices.php for possible discounts for either booking on-line, going off-peak or visiting Woburn Abbey as well.
There are good discounts for School and College groups during term time. http://www.woburnsafari.co.uk/education/index.php
*** Weather & Timing Matters ***
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this attraction, provided you GO OUTSIDE THE MAIN SCHOOL HOLIDAYS, when it becomes more expensive and less enjoyable because of the crowds. For 2007 I recommend that you avoid 21 July to 3 September. I advise parents to use different odd days off their children may have, wait until half-term, or use week-ends outside peak time.
I went mid-week in June, on a day when flash floods were forecast, which would have kept a lot of potential visitors away. Woburn got some rain, when we found shelter, but was dry for most of the day and quite warm. I wouldn’t normally plan motorway travel with such a weather forecast, but we were forced to travel in this area that day, as explained at the beginning.
With hindsight, we choose an excellent day to go.
Make use of the full opening times, and you will still have trouble fitting in all there is to see and do, for the inclusive price, during one visit.
I hope readers will get the chance to enjoy Woburn Safari Park as much as I did.
I plan to go again next year, when I hope to see the improvements they are planning to make to their animal collection.
Woburn Safari Park Woburn Park Bedfordshire MK17 9QN
A German friend commented that, "GB seems to be full of Safari Parks."
This is a possible explanation, especially for her and any other overseas readers I may have.
In Britain, when inheritors of stately homes are crippled by Death Duty taxes, they often do one of four things.
1 Open their home to the public. 2 Open their land to the public. 3 Do both and build a safari park. 4 Give up owning a stately home, by turning it over to the National Trust charity.
The late 13th Duke of Bedford first opened Woburn Abbey up to visitors 50 years ago, and in the 1970s the safari park was established.
The late 14th Duke, and now the 15th Duke of Bedford are continuing to support their home, Woburn Abbey, in this way.
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Jun 21st, 2007
(Jun 25th, 2007)
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