Now December is here I must spend some time getting ready for Christmas but will try to keep up here...
Now December is here I must spend some time getting ready for Christmas but will try to keep up here too. seasons greetings to all! x
Member since:07.09.2009
Reviews:63
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A recent school holiday saw us going on a trip to Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire. We arrived at 10 o,clock which was opening time and saw quite large queues at the toll-booths which seemed to move extremely slowly but that may well have just been the begining of the day hold up and would probably ease after our arrival. For one adult and two children it was £45 which I thought was a bit pricey but I had gone armed with Tesco Day Out vouchers so at least I didn't have to pay!
After passing through the tollgates you enter the Road safari. I didn't feel this was particularly good. We found it nearly impossible to see the Rhino as the enclosure was so far from the road. We saw one tiger very close to the car which was lovely, one bear and two wolves. Obviously we saw a fair few Zebra, elands etc but those don't tend to excite my children much! The most impressive safari area was the lion enclosure where there is a good size pride of lions and lots of oppotunity to view them. If you drive a soft-top car you are not allowed in the carnivore enclosue (no surpise really!).
I didn't enter the monkey enclosure as I have a towbar which monkeys seem to delight in playing with the electric wires which can be expensive so I can't comment on them.
After the drive through area (which you can complete as often as you like on the day) you park by the Foot safari area. On the day we were there it was very hot so we were able to spend the rest of the day here. There are enclosures of Lemurs, penguins, wallabies, sealions and monkeys. Several of theses allow you to walk through in contact with the animals. When you arrive you are given a timetable of all the talks, demonstrations and feeding. This should be used well and can give you a really interesting day. I particularly recommend the feeding of the wallabies as the children are encouraged to hand feed the animals which they loved. There were hand washing facilities. The Birds of Prey demonstration was also very good with several members of the audience participating. My daughter held one of the birds and that made her day. I held one of the large owls which was quite an experience as it was amazingly heavy!
In this area there are also recreational facilities. There is a GoApe course which is a high ropes course which has to be pre-booked and has a seperate charge. There is an outdoor adventure play area suitable for older children. There is a toddlers play area outside the restaurant. There is a lrage astro-slide and there are also swan boats. These tend to develop a bit of a queue but they weren't too bad even in the school holidays. There is an aviary where you can feed the exotic birds a syrup mixture. I think this costs about £1.50 but it was not available to do on the day we were there as we were told the birds were resting. One of the best parts for the children is the large indoor play area. They managed to spends ages in there which was great as us mums sat on the terrace outside drinking tea.(The advantage of older children!) All children who want to use the large slides inside this area must wear long trousers, long sleeved tops and socks, we always take some clothes like this for them to pop on as they would be very disappointed to miss out. It does however get very hot inside this play area so luckily(?) there is an ice-cream kiosk not far away to help cool them down. When you are in need of a rest you can hop on the railway which runs every half an hour and takes you through a couple of enclosures, slow and sedate.
There are restaurants, kioskes and places to buy gifts. There are also lots of places for picnics. You can find a table or just put your blanket by the swan-boat lake. It is all very informal and easy. Considering how much was covered by the admission charge (all of the above except the bird feeding, eating and spending) I felt in the end it wasn't bad value. The talks are educational as well as entertaining and even though it was alovely day in the school holidays it didn't feel too crowded. The car safari was a bit of a traffic jam but the road is wide enough to allow you to drive past stooped vehicles if you have seen enough.
An ideal day out for the family, lots to see and do without exhausting little ones with too much walking or having to put your hand in your pocket every five minutes for an activity.
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Oct 1st, 2009
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