I made a trip to Noahs Ark last week and for me it was a mixture of positives and negatives, and was the first time I had visited in a year. There was a couple of things which I feel lets the collection down;
The price. £28.50 to visit a collection which can only be described as relatively few species of animals feels very expensive. Aside of Bears, Giraffes, Elephants, Rhinos and Lions, the majority of animals are found at smaller zoos, or farm parks in the area, and it is very similar in pricing to Chester, London or Whipsnade which are far better collections in my opinion.
The lack of phone signal, may not be a concern for many, but it is frustrating that there is literally no phone reception across the whole zoo. I appreciate this may not be a concern for most, but in this day and age, the zoo could easily provide free wifi across the park, or at least in certain areas, or have signal boosters put in, as you get signal in the car park, but nowhere else on the site.
New Otter enclosure is large, and makes an interesting view of them having the bank and the high section of grass, before the drops down into the water area. I did wonder there was to stop them creating their own holt in the bank, given the enclosure actually gives the view of like an actually river bank ' river setting.
Lion enclosure improvements are much more viewer friendly and the removal of the viewing platform for a massive window is good. It's very similar to Hertfordshire Zoo's Lion enclosure now. Only downside is I am not sure why they built a play area right next to it. The area does open up to give a good view of the elephant plantation setting. Only downside, is the area for the play area, is where they initially said they would set up a viewing platform to see the Elephants in the plantation area of the enclosure, so it feels like opportunity missed.
South American paddock is very good, and nice to see all four species mixed together. There is still boarding up for Emile the Anteater, who has recently arrived.
There seemed to have been a number of Prairie Dogs born, with several youngsters on show.
The fence is up for the new Tiger enclosure, but there looks to be a lot of work needed on the inside of the enclosure before a Tiger can arrive. It does sign on the signs, that this enclosure is due to be completed this summer, but I can't see it myself judging by what work needs to be done.
Can confirm, Coati's do share with Rasu's side of the of the Andean Bear enclosure, and I saw 4 Coati's all out in the enclosure with the Bear. Bears are split into three groups. Mother and Daughter on the right, Rasu on the left, and the young male, behind Rasu. The young male is believed to be moving soon, and then mother and daughter can be split up, whilst she is looking for a new collection. They plan to pair Rasu and Madidi back together when the youngsters have moved on, to try and breed again.
All four elephants were out in the main enclosure together.
There is a good number of Highland cattle in their enclosure, but there didn't appear to be loads of grass, it's a shame they have so many domestic animals using the paddocks, as it limits rotation. Personally the Highland Cows and Camels could swap in my opinion, as the Camel paddock is larger and has far more grazing, whilst the Cow paddock is a lot smaller with far more animals living it it.
Not sure if the Giraffe have access to the main paddock, the Zebra have access to, or are shut in, to a smaller paddock by the house, but they were locked in that smaller area on my visit which is a bit of a shame, as it's not much space at all.
Some of the exhibits in the reptile house were good, and whilst the Crocodile enclosure has always been small, when it was for West African Dwarf it seemed okay, but now it houses a Nile Crocodile, it feels far too small for a species that can get to quite a size.
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