Made my first visit here yesterday and just thought I’d do a little mini-review.
A few little moans first of all.
Firstly, I found it a bit awkward to find the place as if you don’t approach from Broxbourne itself there is scarcely a single signpost. Not really the zoo’s fault, but a definite annoyance! Then, the arrangement with the main entry road running between the two halves of the zoo is a big problem if (like me) you have to use the overflow car park. This is because you then have to walk the whole length of this narrow road of two-way traffic which has no pavement at all. Why isn’t there a gate for access from the overflow car park near that end of the park?
There was a bit too high a percentage of non-animal attractions for somewhere billing itself simply as ‘Wildlife Park’ – maybe Wildlife and Fun Park would be more accurate. I don’t particularly object as it clearly pulls in the punters.
The other things that just let the place down a bit were the shows. I went to two of these (and freely admit it was just because, however unlikely, there was just a chance they’d bring out an opossum!). The first was the Animal Olympics show (to tie in with Broxbourne (the town) hosting the Olympic canoeing in 2012). This was heavily reliant on a DVD show as well as the live animals, and opened with a painfully long video montage of all the modern summer Olympic logos/posters going back to 1896. This was not capturing the attention of the roomful of small children! The video then continued with a tour of Greek antiquities with a member of zoo staff, before the focus was somewhat tenuously shifted to the animals. This show used an albino python (Strength), Green-winged Macaw (Agility) and a miniature pig (High Jump!). The animal bits were fairly standard. The show was brought to a close with a long drawn out voting process based on predicting the outcome of a race (on DVD) between scale-equalised cheetahs, roadrunners, tiger beetles etc lifted wholesale from the BBC’s Animal Olympics programme. In all, the ‘live animals’ part of the show was very brief.
The second show was the Weird and Wonderful show. Now, I don’t pretend that my opinion of what is a weird animal is likely to be the same as the general public’s, but this show was entirely based on pet shop animals – Hissing Cockroach, Bearded Dragon and some hybrid Lovebirds (none of which could really do anything except be brandished at the audience – so not particularly suitable for a show!). In particular, when the presenter asked if anyone knew what the Bearded Dragon was, several young children shouted back 'Bearded Dragon'. Just dull.
On a more positive note, the place overall was probably nicer than I expected, given the almost theme park style. There were some very nice species, including Chinese Alligator, Zorilla, Corsac Fox and Black-throated Magpie Jay (though all of these just as singles as far as I could tell). Finally managed to break my Pallas Cat duck for the year, as well! Good to see Monocled Cobra, Hog Deer and Lesser Hedgehog Tenrecs too – though I failed to see the Three-banded Armadillo or European Beaver (unsurprisingly!).
The general feel of the main animal area was a little bit ‘toy zoo’ – exhibits on the small size due to the restrictions of the site but never too small and generally very well planted and shaded for the cats. Interesting to note that both groups of lions, the tigers, jaguars and cheetahs all had similar public houses with effectively the entire indoor area on show. Can’t say I’m a fan of white lions and tigers, but the wolves put on a good show and there was a pair (I think) of tiny Snow Leopard cubs (and white lion cubs). I think ‘good but not outstanding’ would sum up the exhibits – I’m hard pressed to think of a bad enclosure (though the Emu yard is probably the contender for this). The Zorilla enclosure is interestingly designed, but ugly. There are new enclosures for lemurs and gibbons which are pretty standard but quite nicely done (the gibbon ones are very new – hopefully they will become a bit more leafy with time!). There are good numbers of marmosets and tamarins too. I liked the large number of raised platforms, allowing a variety of views without ever becoming as intrusive as those at South Lakes. The Reptile Temple is not really to my tastes.
There is also a woodland walk area with Red Fox, owls, and the Red and Hog Deer and beavers – very pleasantly cool in yesterday’s hot weather.
Definitely a place I’m glad to visit, but probably not one I’ll hurry back to until there are new things to see!
A few little moans first of all.
Firstly, I found it a bit awkward to find the place as if you don’t approach from Broxbourne itself there is scarcely a single signpost. Not really the zoo’s fault, but a definite annoyance! Then, the arrangement with the main entry road running between the two halves of the zoo is a big problem if (like me) you have to use the overflow car park. This is because you then have to walk the whole length of this narrow road of two-way traffic which has no pavement at all. Why isn’t there a gate for access from the overflow car park near that end of the park?
There was a bit too high a percentage of non-animal attractions for somewhere billing itself simply as ‘Wildlife Park’ – maybe Wildlife and Fun Park would be more accurate. I don’t particularly object as it clearly pulls in the punters.
The other things that just let the place down a bit were the shows. I went to two of these (and freely admit it was just because, however unlikely, there was just a chance they’d bring out an opossum!). The first was the Animal Olympics show (to tie in with Broxbourne (the town) hosting the Olympic canoeing in 2012). This was heavily reliant on a DVD show as well as the live animals, and opened with a painfully long video montage of all the modern summer Olympic logos/posters going back to 1896. This was not capturing the attention of the roomful of small children! The video then continued with a tour of Greek antiquities with a member of zoo staff, before the focus was somewhat tenuously shifted to the animals. This show used an albino python (Strength), Green-winged Macaw (Agility) and a miniature pig (High Jump!). The animal bits were fairly standard. The show was brought to a close with a long drawn out voting process based on predicting the outcome of a race (on DVD) between scale-equalised cheetahs, roadrunners, tiger beetles etc lifted wholesale from the BBC’s Animal Olympics programme. In all, the ‘live animals’ part of the show was very brief.
The second show was the Weird and Wonderful show. Now, I don’t pretend that my opinion of what is a weird animal is likely to be the same as the general public’s, but this show was entirely based on pet shop animals – Hissing Cockroach, Bearded Dragon and some hybrid Lovebirds (none of which could really do anything except be brandished at the audience – so not particularly suitable for a show!). In particular, when the presenter asked if anyone knew what the Bearded Dragon was, several young children shouted back 'Bearded Dragon'. Just dull.
On a more positive note, the place overall was probably nicer than I expected, given the almost theme park style. There were some very nice species, including Chinese Alligator, Zorilla, Corsac Fox and Black-throated Magpie Jay (though all of these just as singles as far as I could tell). Finally managed to break my Pallas Cat duck for the year, as well! Good to see Monocled Cobra, Hog Deer and Lesser Hedgehog Tenrecs too – though I failed to see the Three-banded Armadillo or European Beaver (unsurprisingly!).
The general feel of the main animal area was a little bit ‘toy zoo’ – exhibits on the small size due to the restrictions of the site but never too small and generally very well planted and shaded for the cats. Interesting to note that both groups of lions, the tigers, jaguars and cheetahs all had similar public houses with effectively the entire indoor area on show. Can’t say I’m a fan of white lions and tigers, but the wolves put on a good show and there was a pair (I think) of tiny Snow Leopard cubs (and white lion cubs). I think ‘good but not outstanding’ would sum up the exhibits – I’m hard pressed to think of a bad enclosure (though the Emu yard is probably the contender for this). The Zorilla enclosure is interestingly designed, but ugly. There are new enclosures for lemurs and gibbons which are pretty standard but quite nicely done (the gibbon ones are very new – hopefully they will become a bit more leafy with time!). There are good numbers of marmosets and tamarins too. I liked the large number of raised platforms, allowing a variety of views without ever becoming as intrusive as those at South Lakes. The Reptile Temple is not really to my tastes.
There is also a woodland walk area with Red Fox, owls, and the Red and Hog Deer and beavers – very pleasantly cool in yesterday’s hot weather.
Definitely a place I’m glad to visit, but probably not one I’ll hurry back to until there are new things to see!
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) as in when your up there you can walk all around and not just at every enclosure! I have a problem with steps and found it quite scary as they were very steep in places and no ramped access!
