Paradise Wildlife Park

I recently bought a Groupon for Paradise Wildlife Park.  It was a great deal with the restriction that we had to use it by April 30.  So we set off on the hour ride around to the north side of London yesterday.  It was 38F out, but it wasn't raining so that was an added bonus!

We were SO pleasantly surprised by this little zoo.  We had kept our expectations pretty low, not knowing what the place would be like.  And we have definitely learned that low expectations mean less disappointment!

We really loved getting up close with all the animals.  Usually the animals were only a few feet away, separated by glass or a fence.  The keepers were right there too, so we heard all about the cheetahs and wolves.  (I didn't take my zoom lens, so the pictures really show how close we were.)

A helpful hint about Paradise Wildlife Park...going "off-season" was perfect for us, despite the cold weather.  This place would get sooooo crowded in the summer!  I asked a worker if they got crowded, and she replied that they had up to 5,000 visitors each day.  So my advice would be to NOT go during summer or school holidays!!

I took lots of pictures, so I'll let the photos do the talking!

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The first stop was Bunnytown.  These big bunnies were so friendly (of course, waiting for little bites of carrots from the visitors.)  They were really big with lots of floppy ears.  Each little rabbit hutch was set up like part of a village.  The bunny below was the friendliest of them all, and he was set up in the Marriott.

There was no shortage of photo ops.  And Grace and Jack were in the mood for picture taking.  So we got lots of shots like the one below.

The meerkats were a big hit.  They were really entertaining, and just seem to have their own personalities.  This meerkat seemed to be posing with Jack.

They had lots of pigs, ponies, sheep and goats to pet.  Grace is a little horse-crazy right now, so she loved these furry white ponies.

They had several lions...so big and majestic!  We saw a female pacing around anxiously.  My first thought was, "Oh no, a neurotic caged lion pacing in her enclosure."

But we soon found out why she was so nervous.  The keepers were cleaning her den, so it was closed off.  And inside her den was a one-month-old white lion cub.  We walked around to the other side of their den where you could see through a glass window.  We saw when they opened the gate and she ran inside to reunite with her cub.  She was such a good mama - making sure baby was ok, licking it, checking out all the new hay.  It was really one of the coolest things I've ever seen!

Next we saw 3 cheetah brothers at feeding time.  You can see in the first picture how he is waiting for his food.  They know the routine.  The keeper said since they were brothers who were raised together, they didn't fight over the food.  It was interesting to see them around their 10 pounds of meat.  Later we kept seeing a little robin waiting for some scraps.  He was fearless!  Can you see him in the picture?

This tiger was dozing peacefully and got up to stretch as we were watching.  Jack had just opened a Slim Jim beef jerky stick, and the tiger seemed to be smelling it.

We saw white tigers too.  Most of the animals came from other "private collections."  Are these the folks that get a tiger cub and think they can raise it as a pet?

This "temple" held all sorts of reptiles.  We enjoyed the blast of heat as a break from the cold weather!

The wolves were a favorite for us.  These European wolves are 11 year old sisters who were rescued from a flooded den.  They were absolutely beautiful.  We saw the keepers in their enclosure, cleaning things up and petting them.  Then a keeper came out and told us all about them.  They are no longer found in Great Britain, but can still be found in parts of continental Europe.

Next we had some lunch.  They had a cafe with a giant indoor playscape.  Perfect for preschoolers, but Grace and Jack went old school and played on it too.  Then we found a mini-formula one racetrack.  The kids had lots of fun zipping around the track.  In the last picture you can see there was some serious competition going on!

Next we went on the Woodland Walk.  Here we strolled along, looking at owls, foxes, and deer.  Along with the forest animals, we saw a Kung Fu Panda statue (?) and lots of dinosaurs.  There was also a little train, but our kids were way too big for it.

LSU Tigers....grrrrrrrroooowl!

And we wrapped up our day with lots of playgrounds and obstacle courses.  They had a really cool fire truck and train engine you could climb around in.

Yea...burn off more energy before the car ride home!