Visit
I was wanting to post this on the 'South Lakes' thread but that's closed so this may seem random in that it's not replying to any of the above posts...
Oh and please bear with me re: the length of this post.
I visited South Lakes at the weekend, for the second time - the first being about seven years ago now, and undeniably it’s changed a lot in that time.
The thing I remember most clearly from the first visit is seeing the tiger feeding. My parents say that a man spent about half an hour lecturing the visitors on how the zoo was saving the world’s tigers… they weren’t impressed.
However, they were quite impressed on this visit; mainly by the fact that you can get so much closer to animals here than at many other zoos.
I actually like the fact that many species are in walk through areas, primarily because the sheer number and variety of ‘walk-through animals’ is unusual in the UK.
I did notice a few lemurs running around people eating at the picnic tables outside the café, and walking past a rhea or red kangaroo… or for the matter a condor (!) does provide ample opportunity for unfriendly contact between man and beast.
Now, the mixed exhibits. Interesting. The pygmy hippos and mandrills was probably the oddest one to see, and there was a little clash between species. The big, male mandrill attacking the hippos face with his hands, the hippo opening it’s mouth and almost charging at the mandrill…. The hippo took care of itself, both stood their ground, and it just fizzled out. Later, I saw two young mandrills on a hippo’s back and it didn’t seem too bothered.
The exhibit with the spectacled bears, tapirs, capybara and otters is possibly a little too much, I’m not sure how the giraffes and baboons get on because the giraffes weren’t on the paddock, but the baboons kept their distance from the rhinos.
In terms of husbandry, the animals seemed well cared for, and the exhibits generally seem pretty good in terms of size, planting etc. I’m not sure about all the walkways. There are a heck of a lot of them. They give very good views for the visitors, but I’m not sure the animals will like the public being above them. And many exhibits have paths all around them.
For the public, the restaurant is the big improvement from seven years ago. This second visit was the day after Halloween, and they possibly went a little overboard on the ‘decorations’… cramming ghosts, witches and spiders into the space. Oh and Harry Potter was being shown as well. I must say the surround sound was very impressive.
Well, those are the main points I think.
South Lakes is impressive in its own way, but, shall we say, needs tweaking.
And I was shocked to read of the rhino escape in the ‘90s on the 'South Lakes' thread.
