Yorkshire Wildlife Park is brilliant. I have some nitpicks that prevent it from being one of my all time favourites but this was a really strong zoo I had been wanting to visit for a long time.
The main appeal of the zoo, at least for me, comes in the form of the terrific enclosures. The enclosures are mostly very large, have lots of enrichment and the animals generally seem very happy.
Outside of the polar bears, none of the species present were animals that I had not seen before, but the presentation is fantastic so I don’t mind. I was able to see pretty much every animal, despite the bad weather.
Highlights are the aforementioned polar bears, remarkable animals, most of them were incredibly active (turning a corner and seeing such a rare and magnificent animal so close is something I will never forget) the sea lions, who provided great entertainment in their suitably large exhibit (I’d like to salute the keeper for these animals, who was very talkative and friendly), and the black rhino because I’m biased and love rhinos. The amazon walkthrough was really nice, think this is the first walkthrough I’ve been to with a capybara? Big cat enclosures were great too. I do not think there was a single dud enclosure, some are better than others, but overall the presentation here is outstanding, and all the animals seemed happy and active.
On the more negative side, I did not care for the more “showy” side of the zoo, coming in the form of the animatronic dinosaurs and the pretty large “Hive” section, which linked up to the zoo. This all jarred with the zoo itself and while I know the animatronics appeal to children, I found them distracting and would prefer if these were separate from the zoo itself. Sometimes just seeing wild animals is enough y’know?
Second complaint is the lack of birds and reptiles. Aside from some presumably wild waterfowl I didn’t see any. I understand the focus on large mammals though, and this is more of a me thing. If you are not interested in birds or reptiles you will not mind.
Overall Yorkshire is great despite these minor flaws. Great enclosures, solid roster of animals, nice staff, and seeing a polar bear in the flesh will never not be awesome.
