Tag Archives: places to visit

Welsh Mountain Zoo

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Back in late February this year, we had a family day trip out to the Welsh Mountain Zoo, nestled high above Colwyn Bay in North Wales. Despite the time of year, it was a mild day and no rain – so not too bad being out doors. We were keen to explore somewhere different – all of us had been to this zoo before, but not for a good few years.

We climbed up through the back roads of Colwyn Bay to reach the zoo. The site is spread out across the heights with a grand view of the mountains on one side, and the coast on the other. Pretty spectacular.

There were plenty of other visitors on the day, but due to the time of year it wasn’t too crowded. Ideal to get a good view of some of the wonderful species to be seen here. There’s a wide variety of animals to see – including some pretty spectacular favourites – so no need to worry that we wouldn’t be entertained.

The sea lions were the first creatures we found, looking sleek as they zoomed around doing laps in their pool. There were also flamingos, penguins, red pandas, otters and of course, the ever popular meerkats. I particularly liked seeing the otters, we had to wait patiently for them to make an appearance but it was worth it.

The chimpanzees are always a favourite, and there were several other primates as well: tamarins, lemurs and gibbons for a start.

The big cats were the absolute top tier sight of the day though. The snow leopards looked beautiful as they prowled around. The tigers were amazing and my favourite, without a doubt: it was incredible seeing these magnificent creatures in real life. Sadly, I couldn’t get a decent photo, but just seeing them was thrilling enough.

Along with a camel and whole bunch of reptiles and amphibians, there was plenty for us to do before the inevitable trip to the gift shop. The Welsh Mountain Zoo was an excellent day out, it was fun and educational, learning about the impressive conservation work they’re involved in. We’ll visit again. In the meantime, this report and a few photos will commemorate our adventure nicely.

Visit he Welsh Mountain Zoo here.

Chester Zoo

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Recently, I spent a day with some work colleagues doing some voluntary work at Chester Zoo. Despite living fairly close to the zoo, I’d not been there for a good few years. I’ve taken my daughter when she was younger, but haven’t been since.

After a hot day in the fields cutting down and then stripping willow branches for them to be used as food for the animals, there was some free time at the end of the day to have a look round the zoo itself. The sun was burning down that day, but I decided to have a quick look round to see as many of my favourite animals as I could – a “Greatest Hits” tour, if you will.

So I raced around and saw some rhinos – always one of my favourites since I was a little kid. Magnificent, huge animals, they were busy sunbathing or chomping away on food (provided by some other voluntary group?). Giraffes were next: if you didn’t know these creatures were real, you’d swear they were the invention of a crazy mind.

Elephants are always a joy to see, and the Asian specimens at Chester Zoo always remind me of Disney’s The Jungle Book (which I love).

Then it was off to find the lions. I was unlucky here though, sadly – they were all hiding in the shade. Fair enough, really. I was much more fortunate with the jaguars. One of these beautiful big cats was contentedly wandering around their indoor pen and came up really close, providing a fantastic close up.

After quickly checking out the penguins and a Komodo dragon, it was time to split. There was time on the clock, but I really needed to get home for a shower after such a hot day!

As a result, I missed out on some of my other most admired animals, such as the tigers, chimpanzees and the amazing bats in their night zone. But having had such a good time, I decided it won’t be long till my next visit to see what I missed.

Thanks to Chester Zoo for a fun and educational day.

You can check out Chester Zoo here.