West Midland Safari and Leisure Park Thinking of Visiting

LeeMac13

LeeMac13

Well-Known Member
Im thinking of Visiting WMSP in the near future just wondered if it would be worth trying to visit before Christmas or wait till the new year and the warmer weather as I know places like Knowsley are better visited in the Spring. Just wondered if WMSP is the same or will the majority of the animals be out all year round?

Also had a quick look on the parks website and to find you what animals they have you have to click on every letter of the Alphabet and go through them individually. Would anybody happen to know what species are at the park?

Also is it worth a visit? Have been trying to increase my number of zoo visits this year as im usually just a Chester regular but have managed to do Blackpool, Twycross, Trentham Monkey Forest & Knowsley.
 
I suggest that you do go to WMSP whenever as the animals are usually active and out regardless of the weather, (unless it snows, they keep the rhino's and giraffes in). In the cooler weather the 2 lion prides usually seem a lot more active, same goes for the wolves.
They also have a lot of all weather attractions in the theme park:- A nocturnal house including an aye aye, a "seaquarium", a bug house and a great reptile house with a varied collection!
Species kept at the park include blackbuck, red lechwe, addax, burchells(?) zebra, rothschild giraffes, nilgai, barasingha, axis deer, African elephant, white and Indian rhino, ostrich, Cape buffalo, Asiatic water buffalo, anoa, gemsbok, common eland, Philipine spotted deer, Pere Davids deer, Epsilen waterbuck, Barbary sheep, common hippo, ostrich, llama, reindeer, Bennetts wallaby, cheetah, "Bengal" and Sumatran tiger, African lion (white and tawny), timber wolf, African hunting dog, Seba's and Rodriguez fruit bats, aye-aye, meerkats, Californian sea lions, three types of lemur, four species of crocodilian, pygmy goats and a host of fish, inverts and reptiles.
That's just off the top of my head, may have forgotten some. Hope this helps and I hope you make the trip down as it's well worth a visit!
 
Well I'd say to go as WMSP is on my list of enjoyed places - it's bigger than Knowsley and has more species present I think - yes the walk around section of the park is largly full of amusement rides and kids stuff but that is offset nicely by Hippos in the lake at the top end, an Aye-Aye exhibit in the twilight realm which includes free flying fruit bats & Sebas - not as big as Chester but nice all the same. They also have a Sealion Pool and a Reptile House in this area and a fairly new walk through Lemur exhibit with Meerkats just outside in a pseudo African Village (quite nicely done I thought).
Out on the Park they do have a strange obsession with 'white animals' so they have White Wallabies, Tigers and Lions, there are several herds of Ungulates and Deer - White Rhino, Indian Rhino, Reindeer, Tigers, African Lions, Cheetah, the only drive through African Hunting Dog exhibit in the UK that I know of - worth the trip from Cheshire alone for me that one - African Elephants, Barbary Sheep, Giraffe - I bet I've forgotten something too.
Give it a go Lee I liked it :O)
 
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In addition to Brum's thorough list, I'd like to add Javan Banteng.
Take a look in the gallery for photos of particular species.
If you've never visited, it is well worth doing so. You automatically get a free return ticket as well, valid for the rest of the year.
 
Not to everyone's interest but they also have a sizeable selection of Asian Deer and Antelope with the largest herds of species such as Blackbuck and Nilgai to be seen nowadays in the UK, plus Swamp Deer, Sika, Phillipine Deer etc.
 
Bwassa said:
In addition to Brum's thorough list, I'd like to add Javan Banteng.
Take a look in the gallery for photos of particular species.
If you've never visited, it is well worth doing so. You automatically get a free return ticket as well, valid for the rest of the year.
Click to expand...

Knew I'd forget something, quite a rarity in the UK these days as well. Oh the shame... :o

EDIT:- Also forgot the Bactrian camels, pretty sure they no longer have the dromedary in the Africa reserve anymore but am willing to be proved wrong. They also have Przewalskis wild horse in a field next to the Africa section and yak in some woodland behind the Asian reserve as well. All these forgotten species are making me feel even more like a fool than before! :D
And the sika deer! Thanks Pertinax!
 
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In a different world, if you could get rid of the amusement park and develop the lake behind the hippos (has it ever been used?), what would you do at Bewdley?
 
IanRRobinson said:
In a different world, if you could get rid of the amusement park and develop the lake behind the hippos (has it ever been used?), what would you do at Bewdley?
Click to expand...

I would have to think about that. It is lovely undulating Parkland, particularly the Asian reserves and around the carparks, and with the central Lake system etc but the boundary and reserve fencing and indoor stock buildings are very ugly and detract from the overall effect. The carnivore reserves' fencing is particularly ugly. Contrast with e.g. Woburn where the fences and indoor stock buildings seem far less intrusive to the landscape.
 
IanRRobinson said:
In a different world, if you could get rid of the amusement park and develop the lake behind the hippos (has it ever been used?), what would you do at Bewdley?
Click to expand...

In an ideal world I'd have used the wooded area, (I assume that's where you mean), to house the Amur leopards and maybe add snow leopards, red panda, Francois langur, Pallas cat, takin and if space allows Asiatic black bears. An Asian Highland complex would be infinitely more preferable than the bloody over-priced theme park! ;)
 
Thanks everybody for the info. Will definetly be paying a visit before to long. Quick question does anybody have any tips on photographing through car glass as found that on my recent trip to Knowsley that in the Lion section having the car window up made some of the pictures look really soft.
 
Take a rag with you to clean the window before photographing through it, also wear dark clothes as this will reduce reflections in the glass
Put your camera lens as close as you can to the window, not at an angle though.

Hope this helps a little.
 
everything Adrian said and - I stop before entering the park and wash the side windows and squeegee them dry.

Forget trying to shoot through the windscreen as it's already curved and the images will be distorted.
 
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