Shorts - We went straight up to the Aardvarks at first opening, although they where in their darkened pen they where moving about so got a decent view of them which was good.
Bele, Pertinax - Oh how correct you both where about school visits!!!!, however as usual with zoos and safari's, the early visitor gets the quiet periods.
A brief summary of the visit.
On the whole I was impressed with just about everything about AA. The whole place is clean, grass, plants and trees very well maintained. Enclosures again where all very clean and the signs and the information provided regarding each species informative and clear.
We arrived 10 mins before opening time (9:30) and where let in straight away which was nice and made our way to the smaller enclosures first of all (see map on their website you will see what I mean). Of course all animals are interesting one way or another, but for me it was great to see Aardvarks, Porcupines (not seen them for years) and especially the Fossa.
After one and a half hours viewing around here we went to take our trip into the largest section of AA.
To take a trip into the White rhino, Giraffe, Zebra, Blesbok and Sitatunga costs an additional £15 each, but is very worth while in my opinion as you get driven into the 'paddock' by a keeper and you can chat and get all the information you require and more. The keeper who took us around was excellent and very knowledgeable. You get right up to the animals and for us it was great to see Bud the ex knowsley breeding rhino again, however he is not interested with the AA females yet, could be several reasons and factors for this.... (another dicussion in itself). Also we where lucky to see out for the first time a new baby Chapmans Zebra (until we noticed it was male it was unsexed until then, again getting so close we where able to do this). During this trip in the back of the open topped jeep we got to feed a giraffe (by the name of Snippet). She poked her head over the jeep and right over my shoulder to take carrots and greens off me, she was so delicate too, again a great experience to hand feed a giraffe in this way. This excursion and conversation with the keeper lasted just over half an hour (seemed like 5 mins to me!). when we pulled up at the end, we parked by the Somali Wild Ass who recognised the jeep and/or keeper and gave us a good view and also a listen to their great voices.
After this was over and a quick coffee (decent place for a brew and looks Ok too for a bite to eat) we went for a walk around the rest of AA. However by now the school trips had started to invade and the tranquillity was lowering, hi-viz school youngsters zooming about in packs competing with the Ass's in terms of decibels at times, but give me school trips over 'free range kids' with parents any day as there is some kind of order to it. By half one we had finished and the last viewing was of the cheetahs, again a tidy, clean and good looking enclosure/exhibit.
I was impressed with Africa Alive and recommend it to anyone local or holidaying in that neck of the woods, although it is an extra cost on top of the entry fee, paying to get close to the rhinos, giraffe & co is value for money and will be the highlight for many a person visiting.