West Midland Safari and Leisure Park West Midland Safari Park 2024

Kates89 said:
We went on the same day :) picture of the baby rhino at the vehicle and the elephant with his trunk up and some of my favourite pics.

We come from right down South so it was my first time visiting but it was such a lovely wildlife park, although the drive though was wild to what Im used to with Longleat, quite a few broken down cars and we even had a car going the wrong direction at one point .
Click to expand...
You must’ve been not far behind me by the looks of it, as I remember seeing those exact views on the drive-through. As for the car going in the wrong direction, I still have no idea what was going on with that, they had quite a long conversation with one of the gate people first right in front of the entrance to the painted dogs.
 
pendraig_milnerae said:
You must’ve been not far behind me by the looks of it, as I remember seeing those exact views on the drive-through. As for the car going in the wrong direction, I still have no idea what was going on with that, they had quite a long conversation with one of the gate people first right in front of the entrance to the painted dogs.
Click to expand...

Yeah you must have been just in front of us because we were queuing for the painted dogs when they drove back past us. We were so confused because it wasn't even a soft topped car or anything.
 
Kates89 said:
We went on the same day :) picture of the baby rhino at the vehicle and the elephant with his trunk up and some of my favourite pics.

We come from right down South so it was my first time visiting but it was such a lovely wildlife park, although the drive though was wild to what Im used to with Longleat, quite a few broken down cars and we even had a car going the wrong direction at one point .
Click to expand...
Those are nice pictures :)
 
Spent day practicing my photography skills at the Safari Park for when I got to Kenya later this year, so was able to get a few amazing pics, including of the newest little baby rhino having a rest.

Did have a tense moment when I noticed one of males rhinos galloping towards a car that had broken down all the way from the Rhino Lodges to the dip between the hills, thankfully patrol jeep got in his way. But sure was something seeing him moving at that speed.

Sadly wasn't able to catch glimpses of Lestari (tiger cub) out, only Nakal the dad sleeping. But from the looks of it, work is going really well on the Hippo and Wild Dog lodges and is already looking better than the current hippo house. Though am serious wondering how they're going to get 5 hippos to move there.

(Sorry for posting again, tried uploading the images I took. But didn't know that I can't due to anti spam policies. So my bad for not reading that.)
 
SSLees said:
(Sorry for posting again, tried uploading the images I took. But didn't know that I can't due to anti spam policies. So my bad for not reading that.)
Click to expand...
I think you should be able to send them on this thread instead.
 
Olek said:
I think you should be able to send them on this thread instead.
Click to expand...

No still can't, need to make a certain amount of post before the 'upload file' options pops up beside 'post reply'.

Nothing to fret over ^^
 
Okay, finally can post images at last! So posting the pics i got of the new baby. And a few of my fav pics from the weekend
 

Attachments

  • DSC_0001.JPG
    DSC_0001.JPG
    163.2 KB · Views: 11
  • DSC_0011.JPG
    DSC_0011.JPG
    144.4 KB · Views: 10
  • DSC_0016.JPG
    DSC_0016.JPG
    196.2 KB · Views: 9
  • DSC_0040.JPG
    DSC_0040.JPG
    119.5 KB · Views: 8
  • DSC_0050.JPG
    DSC_0050.JPG
    134.3 KB · Views: 10
Pertinax said:
Is there any likelhood any of the West Midlands females may be pregnant?
Click to expand...

Sadly no.

I did ask one of the keepers about Ernie being brought in to breed when he came couple years ago from Flamingo Land (if I remember right). And they said no, he's been castrated.

And even then, they felt the females were too old to breed. Which, given how the oldest if I recall is close to 30, I can see why they felt that.

Odds are he was there as a temporary resident until they could find a permanent home for him so that they could avoid him getting into conflict with his father?
 
SSLees said:
Sadly no.

I did ask one of the keepers about Ernie being brought in to breed when he came couple years ago from Flamingo Land (if I remember right). And they said no, he's been castrated.

And even then, they felt the females were too old to breed. Which, given how the oldest if I recall is close to 30, I can see why they felt that.

Odds are he was there as a temporary resident until they could find a permanent home for him so that they could avoid him getting into conflict with his father?
Click to expand...
Ernie's father died back in 2006 and he never lived with him. Also, the female hippos are NOT too old to breed, they are all only between 19 and 26 years old so they are still breedable.
 
Nile Hippo Expert said:
Ernie's father died back in 2006 and he never lived with him. Also, the female hippos are NOT too old to breed, they are all only between 19 and 26 years old so they are still breedable.
Click to expand...

Oh alright, my bad on that. But thanks for correcting me

Although on the subject on breeding the from them, I think even if they want to breed them. They're probably gonna hold that off until they've moved into their new paddock, you don't want to throw any stress on the females when they're pregnant with something like moving paddocks. Even if the new one is literally on the opposite end to their current paddock.
 
Pertinax said:
I think WMSP have missed a trick in not having underwater viewing for the new Hippo area, it's quite common in Europe but none in UK. With the lodges they are building around this exhibit I'm surprised they didn't incorporate that as well.
Click to expand...
It would’ve been very cool, but I also think there’s merit in allowing the hippos to ‘hide’ in the water, and the costs of keeping a massive pool clean aren’t insignificant, especially for a British zoo.
 
pendraig_milnerae said:
It would’ve been very cool, but I also think there’s merit in allowing the hippos to ‘hide’ in the water, and the costs of keeping a massive pool clean aren’t insignificant, especially for a British zoo.
Click to expand...

Would so be cool yeah, but like you said it gives the hippos their own privacy.

Not to mention hippos will naturally drop and flick their dung about in water to mark their territory. And land too so they can find their way back to the water at night.
Plus there's 4 hippos in there, that's a lot of dung to clear out on a daily basis or even every few weeks.
 
pendraig_milnerae said:
It would’ve been very cool, but I also think there’s merit in allowing the hippos to ‘hide’ in the water, and the costs of keeping a massive pool clean aren’t insignificant, especially for a British zoo.
Click to expand...

It would certainly be impossible to filtrate a large pool area to keep it clean enough to even see them. So underwater viewing is usually limited to smaller areas, perhaps too small for four hippos, so they have gone for the simpler larger water area option. Still a missed opportunity IMO but I can see reasons. I certainly hope the water can be kept cleaner than the foetid black soup they often live in at present- the adjacent lodge dwellers would no doubt complain about the smell too!.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top