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    ZSL Whipsnade Zoo

    4.6 (29 reviews)

    ZSL Whipsnade Zoo Photos

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    Joanne M.

    I had a brilliant time at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. I went along and had a special experience with the elephants and it was just amazing. Me and three others who also paid for the experience got to brush down one of their female elephants (who is pregnant) and feed her after with fruit. Everything was done fairly between us all so first part of experience I was scrubbing his front then second half his back. Then at very end I got to stand next to her and feed her some fruit. Was just amazing one of the best animal experiences I have ever had. The zookeeper and presenter was also very nice to talk to and made the experience a pleasure as well. Thank you. The zoo was very big I am glad that we went around in the car. The zoo is very clean, big, well maintained, very green, has outstanding views and most animals seemed to have massive enclosures to roam around in. The only enclosure that I felt perhaps was a bit on the small side and needs updating was the sealion enclosure but saying this the sealions did seem happy though in fact all the animals seemed happy. The staff around the park are a bit rude and don't look happy to be there in particular a person in a café who was itching to clear our table away even before we had left the table. I don't know why this was because it was not packed that day either so its not like she needed the table to be clear for someone else straight away. Highly recommend but a tip if you don't like walking take your car in so you can drive around the zoo. Also if you like birds don't miss the bird flying as when I went along they flew a Kookaburra and I have never seen one of these flown at a bird demonstration before so was amazing to see and learn about that bird. Another novel feeding experience we attended to watch was the Pelicans again very novel and funny to watch.

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    Caroline C.

    Had a brilliant day out at the zoo. It has amazing views over the county and it's surprisingly open and spacious-not what I expected at all. It was more like a safari park. You can take you cars round at extra cost, but we preferred to park in the free car park and walk round. They have small animals called 'Mia'(?) Around that aren't scared of you at all, but equally will leave you alone! You can also get up close to the lemurs and the butterfly tent is amazing and so calming! We arrived not long after opening at 10.30 and stayed until closing at 6! We saw almost everything but we weren't messing around-it's a full day event! They have a small steam train which is £4.50 for 15 mins. It's quite fun but actually you might as well Walk round. There are also a good number of cafes and toilets and shops. That said, it could all get a bit much at the height of season! The talks are good too-especially the sea lions, but it's not possible to do them all. They have quite a large number of animals though they weigh quite heaving on the grazing mammals such as onyx, antelope, bison, etc. There is only one monkey!:( I thought they could have a few more signs saying what the animals were and a bit more about them, but still I counts find much wrong with the place:)

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    Review Highlights - ZSL Whipsnade Zoo

    There's a free bus going round or you can walk or take your car in (extra cost).

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    Amazing Animals - Lydia (front) and Nero the lion cubs with Jason and me Joanne

    Amazing Animals

    5.0(1 review)
    39.9 mi

    Lion Cubs experience…read more This my third experience now with Heythrop Zoological Gardens and yet again was a magical one. Me and my husband firstly meets Hannah who is such a lovely lady that explains all about the lion cubs and she then takes us around the forest whilst we walk the cubs along with another trainer. So we walked their new bundle of joy Nero and Lydia the lion cubs. It was a once in a life time opportunity and so unique. We walked the cubs in Heythrops private woods. The little cubs just loved to play with each other all the time whilst walking along and when they came across their favourite tree stumps they just loved leaping and playing on them as well as trying to climb up a tree or two. We could also stroke them when they were more relaxed in places and they felt so soft like rabbit fur. The markings on there fur was also so amazing Lydia the female cub had spot type markings and Nero you could see his mane coming about with his punk rocker type hair style going on. Its a tad expensive doing this experience but I highly recommend as it is so worth it and you won't be able to do this experience at any other zoo in the UK. Only reason this experience is allowed at Heythrop Zoological Gardens is because its a private zoo (not open to public however does have special open days to public 2 days in September only) and train animals are bred for TV and film. This experience only has two Saturdays left in June 2016 with a few places left so if you are interested then book asap. They do other animal experiences throughout the year that you can do from penguins to a sloth so check out there website. If you however want to do the more unique one off experiences like the lion cubs that is not available all year round then I advice you email them and ask them to keep you informed of any new additions like lion cubs, tiger cubs, other baby animals etc. The other animal experiences that I have done at Heythrop is the tiger cubs and a monkey (who starred in My Zoo a TV series). I highly recommend to anyone that loves animals.

    Photos
    Amazing Animals - Lydia the lion cub with me Joanne sitting and relaxing after a playful walk through the woods

    Lydia the lion cub with me Joanne sitting and relaxing after a playful walk through the woods

    Amazing Animals
    Amazing Animals - Lydia the lion cub with Jason and me Joanne

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    Lydia the lion cub with Jason and me Joanne

    Paradise Wildlife Park

    Paradise Wildlife Park

    4.3(25 reviews)
    22.5 mi

    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!

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    Paradise Wildlife Park
    Paradise Wildlife Park
    Paradise Wildlife Park

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    Linton Zoo - Baby Tapir

    Linton Zoo

    4.2(5 reviews)
    38.6 mi

    I went to Linton Zoo a couple of weekends ago and I felt like I had to make a review on here…read more Firstly, it was amazing that the attendant recognised and enjoyed the jurassic park stickers on my car, obviously a cool person. Secondly, this zoo was quaint and fun with a wonderful feeling of being in someone's back garden. I felt like I had found something really special that had not been commercialised and was not insanely busy. The weather could have been better but we saw our fair share of animals and the baby Tapir was a huge (tiny) treat. The cafe was small but perfect for the zoo and had a really nice selection of food available and I very much enjoyed my lunch. Before we walked round the zoo twice :) There were talks from very enthusiastic men who worked at the zoo who are a credit to the organisation and obviously respect and admire the animals greatly. The only thing I would suggest would be to have some updated information boards to have a read through here and there, such as I wanted to know the name of the baby Tapir. But not a massive problem and it did not affect my enjoyment of the zoo and its lovely residents. Will definitely be planning to go back again this summer to make use of the picnic benches

    We moved to Linton a year ago and bought season ticlets for the zoo in spring. We have now made…read moremany visits and every time we have been it has been fantastic. The staff are friendly and knowledgable. The animals appear happy and content. For a small zoo there are some great animals there -a lot of big cats - Tigers, Lions, Panther, Leopard, Snow Leopards. The zoo is a breeding zoo, so there are often baby animals appearing - the Tapir is due to drop any day now. It is a great place for children - the talks are informative and aimed at children and adults. The bug talk was particularly entertaining - they bought the animals out and you were able to touch some of them (obvioulsly not the tarantula!). The entrance price is really good - £7.50 for a standard ticket, and the season tickets are more than reasonable. Defiantely worth a visit - takes a couple of hours to go round - a bit longer if the children are distracted by the play equipment. Take a picnic if you want the experience to last a little longer. There is also a little cafe at the zoo which does nice food at a reasonable price.

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    Linton Zoo - Giant tortoise

    Giant tortoise

    Linton Zoo
    Linton Zoo

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    Twycross Zoo - Gruffalo in person!

    Twycross Zoo

    4.0(28 reviews)
    69.7 mi

    Fabulous day, with a private Giraffe experience with our booking for my daughters 5th birthday…read more Absolutely fantastic, best experience whilst learning all about the conservation importance etc . Great informative keeper, very knowledgeable who had been there 26 years !! That shows a great place to work. Had afternoon tea overlooking the leopard enclosure. So much good fabulous spread and THE best tasting scones we've ever tried! Had to have boxes to take all the food home that we just couldn't finish. Amazing day with lovely people looking after and caring for the animals there. Thought the apes looked very sad and made us a little sad seeming them in the enclosures

    A fun afternoon spent at the zoo is always a fun afternoon! Especially when you see giraffes trying…read moreto mate and all the little kids look horrified! We spent a few hours walking around the entire zoo and there were plenty of animals to keep my little guy entertained. The best part was the playground across from the gorilla sanctuary where all the little kids seemed to congregate. The highlight of the day was the Gruffalo section. It was just a series of animatronic animals and rooms with snippets of the cartoon playing but it was fun and passed the time well. Got hot dogs from the hot dog stand; although there was a restaurant on site... we just needed a quick snack and the service for it was quick and efficient.

    Photos
    Twycross Zoo - Just brilliant

    Just brilliant

    Twycross Zoo - Fabulous

    Fabulous

    Twycross Zoo - Feeding time for Brad and his mate

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    Feeding time for Brad and his mate

    ZSL Whipsnade Zoo - zoos - Updated May 2026

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