Zooreviewsuk
Well-Known Member
There's Not Much To See Or Do At Knowsley!
15th November 2018
Living in the north west has it's perks, one of them is being within a two hours of four of the five popular Safari Parks in the UK. Knowsley on the outskirts of Liverpool in Prescot, is often a busy place and it has often surprised me how busy it is out of peak times.
Today was no different, and having been aware in the past of it only takes a couple of hours to do everything I aimed to get there around 1pm.
Arriving slightly earlier than expected I headed out onto the Safari drive.
The normal winter problem with Knowsley was back in abundance, yes by that I mean pot holes, and more pot holes, in fact I sometimes wonder if there is a pot hole for every hooved animal in the park (and by heck there's a lot of hoofstock).
Heading through several sections of the Safari drive, which is very spacious and winding, you are greeted by no less than 8 species of Deer or Antelope, which is why I often call the place Knowsley Deer Park.
In recent visits the Zebra have been out, but not today as they were locked up on their hard standing. Also one of the Rhino's was kept in but it was pleasing that for once, the majority of the Rhino were on the Safari drive, of which there were at least 5 out on the paddocks.
As you go through the monkey exhibit, they now share their drive through exhibit with a species of Deer and a form of cattle.
Upon leaving the Monkeys, you drive through another massive paddock of ungulates, with another species of deer to gaze at.
Before you get to the Lions, you drive through a section of European Bison, who are now accessing the woodland area. I looked on both drives for the European Elk but to little avail and whilst the Elk appears on the website, given there is a species of deer in with the Bison as well now (they weren't there earlier in the year) I am of the opinion that the Elk must have left the collection as it most definitely isn't in the drive through safari and in the area it used to hang out, the Bison were.
I personally feel when the Elk were in the Woodland Trail it was great, and that area of the park is now wasted, which is a shame.
The Lions were not accessible today by car, as the main drive through section was locked up, and you had to bypass driving by the old Wolf and Tiger pens. You could see the Lions in the pens on the side, but disappointingly the pens which once held the Wolves and Tigers remain empty and even the Vicuna which were briefly in the collection have now left.
As you leave the Lions section, the final two paddocks hold Cape Buffalo (a pair, but fenced off and no access to the drive through) Camels, Kiang and Wild Ass.
I enjoy this paddock as there is a range of animals and a good chance to get some nice photo's.
For me Knowsley's drive through Safari is the worse of all the Safari parks. For me it's too many species of Ungulates, and without Giraffes, Addax, Blesbok, more carnivores and so forth it can never compete with the likes of Woburn, West Midlands and Longleat and it's questionable whether it's as good as Blair Drummond.
Don't get me wrong, they have a large pride of Lions, and they have a good herd of Rhino, and whilst the Forest Buffalo and European Bison are nice additions, it all feels a bit too much deer, deer and more deer. In fact it's like a drive through visit of the Scottish Deer Park, which actually has a better range of Deer!
Once again I failed to see the Wildebeast, and given the Cape Buffalo have been removed from the website, I suspect they will soon be leaving the collection, and they don't have access to the drive through anyway.
Knowsley always leaves me disappointed that for so much space, the species they have on the drive lack any real excitement and I feel the Carnivore section now it's just Lions is most disappointing. You could easily go for Cheetah in the old Wolves section now it's been mown right down and in the old Tiger exhibit, there is no reason why you couldn't adapt it somewhat to house Lynx or something like that. Either addition would be welcomed and offer something a bit more exciting to view.
I still feel that Giraffes should be on the drive through safari, rather than the walk through as well.
This brings me nicely on the foot safari as they call it, or the Pathetic funfair and a few animals as I like to call it.
This was my first visit since the new Amur Tiger exhibit was finished and I will give Knowsley one plaudit, it's the best Tiger Exhibit I've seen. It's massive, with two sections (currently using the right hand side) and there are many information sections on the walk round, and opportunity to watch little video shows, and there is even a Tiger training camp which would appeal to the kids to partake in activities. It takes about 5 minutes to walk all the way around it, and whilst the left hand pen is empty the Tigers do seem really happy.
Another thing I like about Knowsley is the Bush Dogs exhibit which is very big and the dogs are always really playful.
There are two Giraffes in their section, mainly occupying the house, but for me there paddock isn't that big, and there is absolutely no enrichment or anything for them inside or outside. I feel it's a very boring exhibit, and could have been designed so much better.
With the Elephants gone, work has started on the paddock behind which is expected to be a paddock for Giraffe and Blesbok, an addition I welcome at Knowsley and in a way I'm not disappointed they aren't becoming the 14th species of Ungulate out on the safari drive.
The Meerkats and River Hogs are what they are, whilst it always annoys me the only real way to see the Sitatunga, Tapir and Capybara is via the little train which doesn't run in the winter, so you've no real way of seeing those animals.
I think for the fact the park has 4 Sea Lions, their outside pool is far too small and I personally feel they should have access to the inside at all times, as the outside section really isn't big enough. The Sea Lion show is OK, but it's repetitive and I think Blackpool's is presented better.
The Birds of Prey seem to have had a make over, as the pens seem to have more in them and I do like seeing the Bald Eagle and the species of Vulture.
The Wolves new wood is a big exhibit for two wolves and they are always bombing around, but it disappoints me to see the Woodland trail absolutely wasted, what used to house Elk, now is just a second view point of the Wolves and that great Ravine sort of section is now empty, which is a great shame.
The big lake is also wasted, as the boats use it in the summer but again the rest of the year it's something that is empty and could be so better used.
At £17.50 entry or £20 per car, I don't think Knowsley offers any value for money, add to it a very expensive cafe (meals are £8+ and even a sandwich is £5) and I just don't enjoy coming here.
For me there are a few positives;
Amazing Tiger Exhibit
Great Bush Dogs exhibit
The Safari drive is massive
Nice to see a big herd of Rhino
I enjoy the Bison
But there are too many negatives for me;
A Safari drive flooded with deer
Only one carnivore on the drive, with 2 empty decent pens
Elk nowhere to be seen
Zebra locked away
Cape Buffalo pretty much off show
Pot holes everywhere
Sea Lions too small exhibit
The wasted Woodland Trail
No enrichment for the Giraffes
A great lake which would make a great foot safari exhibit wasted
An outdated funfair which is actually more of a joke than anything (should be knocked down and do away with the rides, and make better use of the land)
Food too expensive
Entry at £17.50 is not value for money, £20 a car is better especially for a family day out, but if you're a single person, it really isn't good value.
So what would I do to make it better?
Here's how I would have the Safari drive.
Driving into Zone one, there is access to see the Camel, Wild Ass and Kiang as normal, this is a good opening and closing section of the drive through.
Zone two would be the only deer/antelope section.
I would have only Axis, Fallow and Lechwe in this section.
As you head into Zone 3 it's the Rhino.
Zone four continues Zebra and Rhino at present, but I would have this Zebra and Giraffe, and Rhino, so the Rhino have access to two zones. I would also move Eland into this section as they can all live together.
Into Zone 5 and 6, we have the Wildebeast and these can share with the Bongo for me. I would also have the Forest Buffalo in this section as you exit.
The monkeys remain zone 7, and as you leave, you're back onto zone 8, but it shares with Zone 2 where the deer and antelope are. I would have in this section by the water section the Siatunga moving them off the foot safari into an area that would suit them.
Zone 9 is the woodland and I would have the Bison as already there, these are impressive. I would also move the Pere Davids Deer into this section as well.
Another option would be the wooded area, I would be tempted to fence around and have some form of Bear, with preference to Black Bears like Woburn have.
Into section ten I would look to keep the Lions, but use the old Wolves section for Cheetah's and the old Tiger section for Lynx or something similar.
You exit into zone 11 which is the same as Zone 1, but where you see the Ass, Camels and Kiang.
My plans would mean adding Giraffe, Siatunga into the safari from the foot Safari, whilst adding new species of Cheetah, Lynx and possibly Black Bears to the collection.
The foot Safari now;
Tigers, Wolves, Bush Dogs, Meerkats, and Red River Hogs to stay.
The Tapir section, scrap the train. Use the area where the train is for Prairie Dogs, Capybara and possibly Anteater.
The old Giraffe section, make into a section for Blesbok, on the sand area, converting the house into stabling.
Keep the Tapir out on the section where the train goes, but give better viewing and run a path down the side. I would also add Maned Wolves to this section.
The big paddock where Elephants were, I would turn this into a Kangaroo / Wallaby walkthrough, which then heads into a Money Walkthrough with Squirrel Monkeys and also have Mara and Agouti in the exhibit. This exits on the top of the walkway which heads down the side of the Tapir and Maned Wolves.
The Sea Lion show area, I would scrap, and I would make this one big exhibit for them, much in the design of Blackpool so they have access to the whole pool at all times, Shows can be held outside.
I would leave the Bat Cave as it is.
Where the funfair is, I would knock it all down and build a massive Reptile and Troipal house, with Lizards and Snakes, including a snake walkthrough the you walk over a bridge looking down on Crocodiles, in a amazon feel, with free flying birds, entering into the tropical house, where there would be species like Sloths, Potoroo's, Toucan's and Butterfly's and Fruit Bats.
I would turn the Woodland Trail into a Bear Ravine, with European Brown Bears, Plus I would arrange the lake to hold Hippo's with access to walk around the lake and view.
In doing this I feel Knowsley would be a top attraction and make far better use of it's facilities.
Sadly right now, there is a lot of land, flooded with deer, and a foot safari which aside of a couple of impressive exhibits, is very boring and at certain times of the year you can see little.
So much potential to make it the best Safari Park with an amazing Foot Safari, but sadly it just keeps going backwards for me, and at it's current price, it's really not worth it.
15th November 2018
Living in the north west has it's perks, one of them is being within a two hours of four of the five popular Safari Parks in the UK. Knowsley on the outskirts of Liverpool in Prescot, is often a busy place and it has often surprised me how busy it is out of peak times.
Today was no different, and having been aware in the past of it only takes a couple of hours to do everything I aimed to get there around 1pm.
Arriving slightly earlier than expected I headed out onto the Safari drive.
The normal winter problem with Knowsley was back in abundance, yes by that I mean pot holes, and more pot holes, in fact I sometimes wonder if there is a pot hole for every hooved animal in the park (and by heck there's a lot of hoofstock).
Heading through several sections of the Safari drive, which is very spacious and winding, you are greeted by no less than 8 species of Deer or Antelope, which is why I often call the place Knowsley Deer Park.
In recent visits the Zebra have been out, but not today as they were locked up on their hard standing. Also one of the Rhino's was kept in but it was pleasing that for once, the majority of the Rhino were on the Safari drive, of which there were at least 5 out on the paddocks.
As you go through the monkey exhibit, they now share their drive through exhibit with a species of Deer and a form of cattle.
Upon leaving the Monkeys, you drive through another massive paddock of ungulates, with another species of deer to gaze at.
Before you get to the Lions, you drive through a section of European Bison, who are now accessing the woodland area. I looked on both drives for the European Elk but to little avail and whilst the Elk appears on the website, given there is a species of deer in with the Bison as well now (they weren't there earlier in the year) I am of the opinion that the Elk must have left the collection as it most definitely isn't in the drive through safari and in the area it used to hang out, the Bison were.
I personally feel when the Elk were in the Woodland Trail it was great, and that area of the park is now wasted, which is a shame.
The Lions were not accessible today by car, as the main drive through section was locked up, and you had to bypass driving by the old Wolf and Tiger pens. You could see the Lions in the pens on the side, but disappointingly the pens which once held the Wolves and Tigers remain empty and even the Vicuna which were briefly in the collection have now left.
As you leave the Lions section, the final two paddocks hold Cape Buffalo (a pair, but fenced off and no access to the drive through) Camels, Kiang and Wild Ass.
I enjoy this paddock as there is a range of animals and a good chance to get some nice photo's.
For me Knowsley's drive through Safari is the worse of all the Safari parks. For me it's too many species of Ungulates, and without Giraffes, Addax, Blesbok, more carnivores and so forth it can never compete with the likes of Woburn, West Midlands and Longleat and it's questionable whether it's as good as Blair Drummond.
Don't get me wrong, they have a large pride of Lions, and they have a good herd of Rhino, and whilst the Forest Buffalo and European Bison are nice additions, it all feels a bit too much deer, deer and more deer. In fact it's like a drive through visit of the Scottish Deer Park, which actually has a better range of Deer!
Once again I failed to see the Wildebeast, and given the Cape Buffalo have been removed from the website, I suspect they will soon be leaving the collection, and they don't have access to the drive through anyway.
Knowsley always leaves me disappointed that for so much space, the species they have on the drive lack any real excitement and I feel the Carnivore section now it's just Lions is most disappointing. You could easily go for Cheetah in the old Wolves section now it's been mown right down and in the old Tiger exhibit, there is no reason why you couldn't adapt it somewhat to house Lynx or something like that. Either addition would be welcomed and offer something a bit more exciting to view.
I still feel that Giraffes should be on the drive through safari, rather than the walk through as well.
This brings me nicely on the foot safari as they call it, or the Pathetic funfair and a few animals as I like to call it.
This was my first visit since the new Amur Tiger exhibit was finished and I will give Knowsley one plaudit, it's the best Tiger Exhibit I've seen. It's massive, with two sections (currently using the right hand side) and there are many information sections on the walk round, and opportunity to watch little video shows, and there is even a Tiger training camp which would appeal to the kids to partake in activities. It takes about 5 minutes to walk all the way around it, and whilst the left hand pen is empty the Tigers do seem really happy.
Another thing I like about Knowsley is the Bush Dogs exhibit which is very big and the dogs are always really playful.
There are two Giraffes in their section, mainly occupying the house, but for me there paddock isn't that big, and there is absolutely no enrichment or anything for them inside or outside. I feel it's a very boring exhibit, and could have been designed so much better.
With the Elephants gone, work has started on the paddock behind which is expected to be a paddock for Giraffe and Blesbok, an addition I welcome at Knowsley and in a way I'm not disappointed they aren't becoming the 14th species of Ungulate out on the safari drive.
The Meerkats and River Hogs are what they are, whilst it always annoys me the only real way to see the Sitatunga, Tapir and Capybara is via the little train which doesn't run in the winter, so you've no real way of seeing those animals.
I think for the fact the park has 4 Sea Lions, their outside pool is far too small and I personally feel they should have access to the inside at all times, as the outside section really isn't big enough. The Sea Lion show is OK, but it's repetitive and I think Blackpool's is presented better.
The Birds of Prey seem to have had a make over, as the pens seem to have more in them and I do like seeing the Bald Eagle and the species of Vulture.
The Wolves new wood is a big exhibit for two wolves and they are always bombing around, but it disappoints me to see the Woodland trail absolutely wasted, what used to house Elk, now is just a second view point of the Wolves and that great Ravine sort of section is now empty, which is a great shame.
The big lake is also wasted, as the boats use it in the summer but again the rest of the year it's something that is empty and could be so better used.
At £17.50 entry or £20 per car, I don't think Knowsley offers any value for money, add to it a very expensive cafe (meals are £8+ and even a sandwich is £5) and I just don't enjoy coming here.
For me there are a few positives;
Amazing Tiger Exhibit
Great Bush Dogs exhibit
The Safari drive is massive
Nice to see a big herd of Rhino
I enjoy the Bison
But there are too many negatives for me;
A Safari drive flooded with deer
Only one carnivore on the drive, with 2 empty decent pens
Elk nowhere to be seen
Zebra locked away
Cape Buffalo pretty much off show
Pot holes everywhere
Sea Lions too small exhibit
The wasted Woodland Trail
No enrichment for the Giraffes
A great lake which would make a great foot safari exhibit wasted
An outdated funfair which is actually more of a joke than anything (should be knocked down and do away with the rides, and make better use of the land)
Food too expensive
Entry at £17.50 is not value for money, £20 a car is better especially for a family day out, but if you're a single person, it really isn't good value.
So what would I do to make it better?
Here's how I would have the Safari drive.
Driving into Zone one, there is access to see the Camel, Wild Ass and Kiang as normal, this is a good opening and closing section of the drive through.
Zone two would be the only deer/antelope section.
I would have only Axis, Fallow and Lechwe in this section.
As you head into Zone 3 it's the Rhino.
Zone four continues Zebra and Rhino at present, but I would have this Zebra and Giraffe, and Rhino, so the Rhino have access to two zones. I would also move Eland into this section as they can all live together.
Into Zone 5 and 6, we have the Wildebeast and these can share with the Bongo for me. I would also have the Forest Buffalo in this section as you exit.
The monkeys remain zone 7, and as you leave, you're back onto zone 8, but it shares with Zone 2 where the deer and antelope are. I would have in this section by the water section the Siatunga moving them off the foot safari into an area that would suit them.
Zone 9 is the woodland and I would have the Bison as already there, these are impressive. I would also move the Pere Davids Deer into this section as well.
Another option would be the wooded area, I would be tempted to fence around and have some form of Bear, with preference to Black Bears like Woburn have.
Into section ten I would look to keep the Lions, but use the old Wolves section for Cheetah's and the old Tiger section for Lynx or something similar.
You exit into zone 11 which is the same as Zone 1, but where you see the Ass, Camels and Kiang.
My plans would mean adding Giraffe, Siatunga into the safari from the foot Safari, whilst adding new species of Cheetah, Lynx and possibly Black Bears to the collection.
The foot Safari now;
Tigers, Wolves, Bush Dogs, Meerkats, and Red River Hogs to stay.
The Tapir section, scrap the train. Use the area where the train is for Prairie Dogs, Capybara and possibly Anteater.
The old Giraffe section, make into a section for Blesbok, on the sand area, converting the house into stabling.
Keep the Tapir out on the section where the train goes, but give better viewing and run a path down the side. I would also add Maned Wolves to this section.
The big paddock where Elephants were, I would turn this into a Kangaroo / Wallaby walkthrough, which then heads into a Money Walkthrough with Squirrel Monkeys and also have Mara and Agouti in the exhibit. This exits on the top of the walkway which heads down the side of the Tapir and Maned Wolves.
The Sea Lion show area, I would scrap, and I would make this one big exhibit for them, much in the design of Blackpool so they have access to the whole pool at all times, Shows can be held outside.
I would leave the Bat Cave as it is.
Where the funfair is, I would knock it all down and build a massive Reptile and Troipal house, with Lizards and Snakes, including a snake walkthrough the you walk over a bridge looking down on Crocodiles, in a amazon feel, with free flying birds, entering into the tropical house, where there would be species like Sloths, Potoroo's, Toucan's and Butterfly's and Fruit Bats.
I would turn the Woodland Trail into a Bear Ravine, with European Brown Bears, Plus I would arrange the lake to hold Hippo's with access to walk around the lake and view.
In doing this I feel Knowsley would be a top attraction and make far better use of it's facilities.
Sadly right now, there is a lot of land, flooded with deer, and a foot safari which aside of a couple of impressive exhibits, is very boring and at certain times of the year you can see little.
So much potential to make it the best Safari Park with an amazing Foot Safari, but sadly it just keeps going backwards for me, and at it's current price, it's really not worth it.
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