On Monday we headed over the the South Lakes Safari Zoo near Ulverston. It’s a long drive from where we live but a beautiful one and well worth the effort.
Entrance was £16.50 per adult and that gets you 4 children in for free (under 3’s are free regardless) which I thought was really good value. One thing I was a little disappointed about was the lack of maps. Last time we went you were handed an A4 sheet with a map of the zoo but this has since changed and now the only way to get a map is to buy a guidebook for £4. That being said, there are plenty of sign posts so you can get round without one, but the layout can be a little confusing if you’ve never been before.
You are no longer allowed to take food with you through the zoo but you can use the picnic area just after admissions, so we arrived just after 11:30am and ate our lunch straight away. There is a great park there for the kids to run around and M and L loved the carved crocodile benches.
All fed and raring to go we headed to Africa. The rhino’s, giraffes and zebras were stunning, although I think we need to brush up on L’s animal knowledge as she got very excited pointing at this rhino and shouting ‘dog!’
Next up we had to leave the pushchair and headed into a large enclosure where the kangaroos, wallabies, emus, lemurs and lots of other animals we couldn’t identify roamed freely. For me, this is the best part of the whole zoo and the kids loved it too, getting so close to all the animals.
The lemurs are the best (although they do warn you not to touch as they have a very nasty bite), and a lot of them were laid out relaxing and enjoying the rare sunshine. The lemur above looked like he was meditating and was a particular favourite with M who decided to name him Chiller.
The parrot aviary was very noisy, but how stunning is this guy? A word of caution, if they are all lined up on one the beams over the walkway I wouldn’t attempt to walk underneath, they seem to enjoy pooing on whoever tries!
How adorable is this family, the baby was fast asleep.
This lion was walking around with a cub in her mouth. The cub can’t have been more than a day or two old as the cord stump was still clearly visible. If I’m honest, although it was great to see I did feel that the mother really didn’t know what to do with herself and was pacing a lot and should maybe have been kept somewhere quieter with her newborn. But then maybe being indoors would have been worse for her, I don’t know.
L loved the Jaguars and got really excited when this one walked right past her. He actually settled down on the grass just round the corner with another one we watched as they gave each other a wash and had a little play. Unfortunately the angle and the glare of the glass meant I couldn’t get a very clear picture but it was lovely to watch.
How cheeky is that grin?!
We sat and waited by the Jaguars until it was close to the feeding time for the penguins as M wanted to have a go at feeding them but when we got there (20min early) the queue was already huge and after waiting around for half an hour and the masses of people getting more and more crowded M decided he’d give it a miss.
To finish off the day we went back to the park for an ice-cream and let the kids run off whatever energy they had left before the long journey home.
It was a very long and tiring day (the zoo is all on a hill so pack light if you are going to need to push a pushchair round) but overall we had a great time and will definitely be going back again.
You can find out more information about the zoo here.
What have you been up to this week?
Looks like a great day out. Love the idea of the animals roaming free enclosure. My mum lives in Lancashire so we’ll have to go for a day trip when we’re visiting #ablogginggoodtime
It’s definitely worth a visit, we all had a great day. Just avoid all the animal feeding times as they get so crowded you can’t see anything anyway, and you stand around for far too long which makes the kids bored.
And #brillblogposts!!
beautiful photos, seems like a fun family day out and your little ones enjoyed themselves #momsterslink
It really was. So much so, I can’t wait to go back!
Such a lovely place!!!! Love your photos of the animals. Its been awhile since we have been to a Zoo and these photos made me miss going. My fave though is the photos of your daughter always having that sunny bright smile on her face =) #ablogginggoodtime
Thank you, amazingly this has to be the first day out ever where she really did smile like that all day (apart from when she fell and cut her knee, but even then the tears were minimal). It really is a lovely place.
#binkylinky I love South Lakes Zoo . It’s a real shame about the council being so mean to them. We have spent many days having fun there . Great blog
It’s lovely there isn’t it? Fingers crossed things with the council get cleared up, I think they have another 5 months for a new management team to apply for the licence renewal, it would be such a shame if it had to close.
It looks great there, I was planning on taking my two boys there but it is a bit of a drive for us and don’t know if I could cope with the crying in the backseat all the way there and back so we’re going to chester zoo next week instead! Will try south lakes zoo next year because it really is good.
#binkylinky
I was lucky and they had their Granny sat in the back with them keeping them entertained! Chester Zoo looks great, I’ve always wanted to go there, hope you have a great time.
Wow, this looks like a great safari zoo! Looks like you all had a great time. Thanks for linking up to the #BinkyLinky
We really did, smiles all day long x
Looks a great place to visit and you all look like you had a fab time Thanks for linking to the #binkylinky come back next week please
It’s a fantastic place, the nice weather certainly helped too!
Thanks for hosting #binkylinky, I’ll definitely be back
This looks like such a lovely family day out. It’s not too far away from us either, we could maybe try it. Do they have tigers though? My eldest is tiger obsessed! The lion with her cub looks gorgeous. #CountryKids
Yes, they have Sumatran Tigers. You can watch them being fed as well but you will need to be in place super early to see anything. I highly recommend the place, we’ll definitely be going back.
Not a big fan of zoos, but that looks amazing! We do have a few of animal sanctuaries around in Cornwall where we live, haven’t actually been to one lately 😉 Glad the weather was cooperating when you guys were in the zoo 🙂 #countrykids
Thanks. I can totally understand what puts people off about zoos. We recently discovered a lovely animal sanctuary near us that we can’t wait to return to. Thanks for stopping by x
L calling the Rhino a dog made me chuckle a little, bless her. What a lovely day at the zoo you all had and you have captured it just perfectly in photographs. Xx #countrykids
Thank you, she does crack us up x
I love the photo of your little ones sat together smiling 🙂 Looks like a good trip out to the zoo! I did visit here years ago and was thinking of taking the kids as they haven’t been to this one yet but it is quite a drive, although sounds like a great deal with the prices. Funnily enough my friend visited here yesterday with her brood, I will be interested to hear how the little cub is doing 🙂 #countrykids
Thank you. It’s a bit of a truck for us too but thankfully the grandparents kept the kids entertained on the way there! Let me know if you have any news on the cub x
oh wow that looks awesome and obviously ice cream is a winner all round too!! Great snaps of the day
Thanks for linking to #ablogginggoodtime
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Thank you. Can’t beat an ice cream on a hot day (or any day really, I’m not fussy)!
Oh what a wonderful place to go to. I would make the drive too! I don’t even know where our closest zoo is around here. We took our kids to the San Diego Zoo but only the older boys remember. The littles were really little. I love the picture of your daughter with all the ice cream on her face. Looks like it was such a fun day and thanks for sharing this with #momsterslink.
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Thanks, it really was. I love that ice-cream shot too, such pure happiness.