A great place for kids to get up close and feed the animals. This park boasts a range of animals…read morefrom lama's to roving goats. Druidstone has recently updated its play areas which have picnic benches nearby (great for summer days out). During the summer there are regular free falconry displays.

We spent a good few hours here, really lovely. Not a lot of animals but fine for young kids, my son…read moreis 5. Great play area where we had a picnic. Nice coffee in the cafe. Lovely walk through woodland with things to see and find. Would go back again.

The park itself is nice: it is not aiming to overwhelm with lots of animals in tiny cages but goes…read morefor a moderate number with (reasonable) space. The Q&A sessions help educate kids about endangered species and the parks effort to preserve the ecosystem. Unfortunately, the message seems to end where their own setup is concerned. The vegetarian food options are terrible, the slushies come in throw-away plastic containers and condiments are individually packaged. The worst, however, is getting there: if you go via public transport, you are facing a daunting 500m walk on a country road with no sidewalks. We literally had cars queuing up behind us. This just sends a terrible message: yeah, we are preserving rhinos but we cannot be bothered to support public transport at home. The park desperately needs to work this out (maybe get the council involved).

Wingham Wildlife Park gets better and better each time I visit with new animals / enclosures and…read morechanges to the park. I love this wildlife park it is my favourite places to visit to see and interact with animals and to watch the otters train and listen to the talk. Wingham is a lovely zoo with many different animals from otters to lions, it's a very clean zoo, well laid out, has great areas for picnics next to lovely ponds/lakes, great play areas for kids and staff are always very friendly and happy. The animal enclosures are all very clean and most of the animals look happy. I especially love the otter areas. At present there are baby otters so adorable. The only caged areas I don't like at Wingham is the big cat enclosures I feel they are too small and has not got enough climbing frames/trees for the big cats to enjoy so they do not seem very happy in particular the jaguar but their enclosures are very clean. But saying this about the cages least for instance the lions that where rescued from a circus has got a much better live now at Wingham. Also I feel that perhaps the penguin enclosure needs a update perhaps make it more of beach type area like London Zoo however penguins do seem very happy though in their enclosure and they have had many baby penguins over the past couple of months even the gay penguins brought up a baby penguin that they adopted, so cute. At this zoo you can also interact with quite a few of the animals from feeding (food at a cost) wallabies, goats, reindeer, koi, meerkats etc. Amazing. You can also interact with snakes, spiders and lizards at certain times. They also have many animal experiences that you can pay from such as a penguin encounter. I done a ring tailed lemur experience and it was the most amazing animal experience I have ever paid for and I have done quite a lot of varied animal experiences. The lemurs jump all over you for their food (bananas and carrots). It was amazing I had them on my head, bottom of my legs, on my back just everywhere. I will definitely be doing the lemur experience again next year. The keeper was also very nice and very knowledgable so she made the experience ever more of a joy. As I mentioned before I have visited Wingham time and time again and would still do I highly recommend a visit to anyone.

A bit small really, but very educational and informative, as well as putting a great emphesis on…read moreconservation. They also have some of the local marine life too, being that Southend is a coastal town, which really does touch home for me. Although not containing much of the magic as when I went here when I was young, I do still admire the place, as they always make sure it's clean and tidy, and that the animals are well kept, looked after, and maintained. The staff have some knowledge about the marine life kept, but there are place cards by the aquariums to tell you more. The aquarium also contains a fairly decent sized restaurant/eating area, but charging for a play area for the younger kids so you can look round the aquarium, or eat in peace is a bit of a low-blow, considering you've already paid to get in and possibly for on-site parking too. Saying that, it's definatly a great family time out, and the kids will love getting up-close to the animals, (sometimes being able to touch them too, but best ask for permission first).

Unfortunately I don't agree with the other comment for this site maybe I caught them on an off day…read more It was £6.50 each and you can walk round and see everything within about 30mins. And that really is taking it slow. The inside was damn and condensation was everywhere. There was a talk on the Star Fish which left a lot to be desired, it was over exagerated and a lot of contradictions were made by the man. On the up hand for kids it has a play den but compared to other aquariums this was over full and not in good condition.

We first visited this park at the beginning of the year,and were so impressed we actually bought an…read moreannual family membership! For 2 adults and 1 child (we also have 2 babies but we didnt have to pay for them) was under £80 for the year, if you use a website called discountbritain to get voucher for cheap entry, and also buy a calendar from Howletts when you arrive, which has a voucher for 25% discount on membership in the back - well worth the couple of quid for the calender. As a member you also receive newsletters with money off vouchers throughout the year, with updates on births etc at the park, which is always a welcome item of post in our house! Anyhow, back to the park- there is such a lovely variety of animals here, in generous enclosures, that you feel they are living in surroundings as close to they would in the wild, which I feel is very important. I have been to many animal parks in the past, but never have I got so close to the animals - be sure to try out the lemur enclosure!! The staff are extremely friendly, and always willing to answer any questions you may have. The childrens play area is lovely, with a clean sand pit and lots of climbing apparatus, next to a lovely green to sit and have a picnic.

Excellent animal park, we visited a couple of weeks ago, and really enjoyed it…read more If I were to have any criticisms it would be some of the cages seem a bit overgrown with bushes on the fences which means the view into the pens is limited, other than that the majority of the refreshment stands were closed (I realise we visited out of season) and the ones that were open didnt have much stock (a choice of 2 ice lollies) But they are only small gripes and it certainly didnt spoil our day out there. You can use Tescos deals tokens in payment to get in meaning its a free day out!

the rare species conservation centre is home to several types of animal that need protection from…read moreextinction. birds bali starling cuban flamingo king vulture madagascar teal rhinoceros hornbill scarlet ibis toco toucan victoria crowned pigeon western crowned pigeon mammals asian short clawed otter binturong brazilian ocelot clouded leopard cotton top tamarin crowned lemur fat tailed dwarf lemur fossa goeldi's monkey jaguarundi lesser anteater malayan tapir owston's civet potto pygmy slow loris red ruffed lemur ring tailed lemur sun bear western grey bamboo lemur white cheeked gibbon new for 2008 fishing cat great hornbill pileated gibbon wrinkled hornbill reptiles & amphibians chinese alligator golden mantella radiated tortoise tomato frog

The Rare Species Conservation Centre at Sandwich may not be very big but it contains many animals I…read morehad never heard of let alone seen. Having wandered around once we had a drink in the cafe and then wandered around again and different animals had come out because they were being fed. The 12 year old with me loved the bears and the snow leopards and I was amazed to see binturongs for the first time.

It's a nice enough aquarium, no great change since it's days as the SeaLife Centre so you know what…read moreto expect before you walk in and there are no big surprises. The kids will love it but it's a bit pricey for the time you'll spend there.

As the name suggests this is a site that contains large tanks filled with fish and other creatures…read morefrom the sea. It was originally called the Sea Life Centre. Many of the exhibits have been donated by local fishermen who have caught the fish in their nets. A very interesting place to visit for young and old. Good parking nearby. My only complaint is that it is fairly expensive to get in but you can spend quite a long time looking around.

Ethical and beautiful. The hike trail is amazing but if you take the bus tour a giraffe can come…read moreright up to the bus! The bus has no windows so it could probably reach its head through! If you're not up for that the hike is better. The only thing is there are a couple animals where you can't get your hopes up about seeing them... the tapirs are always hiding and so are most of the smaller cats. But that doesn't take off a star! It can actually be more fun for kids to stop for a minute and look for them! You can make it a game!!! It's a wonderful place to visit!

Port Lympne reserve is a amazing place to see animals in vast open spaces and I do highly recommend…read moreto anyone that particularly wants to see a rhino in a large open area or deer type animals but if you are expecting to see penguins, elephants, lemurs etc then this is the zoo for you. Also the zoo is so vast you cant really walk it as some areas are just for the safari truck tours. However you can easily walk to the gorilla viewing area and pass the rhino area by foot and some wild cats. You can also get to the dinosaur park easily on foot and the dinosaur park is a must to do. Ok you say its just plastic dinosaurs but they are so well done and gives you a real scale of how big a dinosaur was and there are so many dinosaurs even some I have never heard of so I highly recommend anyone to go and see these amazing plastic dinosaurs so interesting. The best I have ever seen however it might be a good idea if they could add some dinosaur noise throughout the woods via speakers. So if you want to go on a mini safari, see rhinos or deer type animals or even have a stay with a difference in a tent or tree house then I highly recommend to go along to Port Lympne.

Adorable zoo about an hour to hour and a half from Central London. If you have the time and a car I…read moredefinitely recommend this zoo over the ZSL zoo. Every exhibit has multiple viewpoints here. There were plenty of opportunities to easily see all the animals here. The enclosures were extremely well kept and I think all had an indoor and outdoor area for the animals. There are multiple play areas throughout for kids here too. My kids also enjoyed the animatronic dinosaurs here (very cute). Food here was reasonably priced but we ate outside the park. Parking was free. They offer a lot of different animal interactions here. The prices for all were pretty high but for a special gift I'm sure they are totally worth it. You can also buy carrots to feed the animals in the petting zoo.

Overall great day out for the family ! I would say 50% animals 50% outdoor play for the kids (with…read moresome indoor) I did find some of the cages quite small for the animals but one of my only criticisms! There were a few extras while you were there so take additional money but to be expected at these places! ( it's set up for packed lunches which is great for families ) There is a good choice of animals to see and you can buy food which a good selection of animals to feed! They also had a lots of showing through out the day and I got to stroke a snake :). The park had a good layout where you can easily walk around and find where you are going plus you get a handy map! There have an indoor soft play at the entrance which is good and bad! Means the kids want to go these straight away instead of seeing the animals and you don't pass on the way out! The soft play was great for all ages and served your average drinks and food - one thing I will say which was disappointing was they charged me for a bit of milk for my baby! I always pay my way but this is the first place that have ever charged me for milk! Worth a visit and tickets are not expensive - look out for groupon deals!