karoocheetah
Well-Known Member
Phew another warm day for the continued exploration of Exercise Wandering Cheetah - it's at least 24°C today - tshirt weather and it's nearly October, happy days! 
OK on to the visit - I have never been to YWP before but I have heard very good things about it from friends and fellow Zoo Chatters so a visit was called for.
Arrived about 10 minutes before the park opened - second car in the carpark and I'm seriously struck by how new everything looks, I'm very aware that this is a young zoo in essentially a zoo starved area so it has massive potential, I'll admit that I was rather excited about the prospect of visiting somewhere totally new for me.
Adult Entrance Fee is £12.00
Safari Trail Guide is £2.50
Map and feeding info is free
The site is an old farm and this is noticable from the buildings and the rural surroundings and generally how peaceful the area is, no descernable traffic noise and surprisingly not lots of jet noise either considering Doncaster Airport (old RAF Finningley) is right next door, and I do mean next door, from the land of the tigers exhibit you could watch take offs and landings quite clearly.- what it does provide is lots of space and land for expansion which I will come to later!
So map in hand and camera gear primed I set off to explore, first up after the cafe and toilets courtyard area is a meerkat enclosure - usual type of thing, sandy block, pit type enclosure with logs for thm to stand on and sand to root around in.
From here I followed a path to the left past the Giant Rabbit (and they don't exagerate here, it's a whopper) and the world's farm which exhibits domesticated animals - Zebu, Donkeys, Llama as well as Goats & Sheep in the contact yard (sort of a petting zoo area for kids) and onwards onto a woodland path but before entering the Old Spring Woods you get to the Racoon Dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) - a new species for me and they were rather phototgenic too, I think they are a pair and even though the temperature had begun to rise and they sport a luxuriant thick coat they remained active for a while before seeking shade.
Onwards through the Old Spring Wood - nice old woodland and a great idea of the park to retain it as an area for native wildlife - for me ambling through a sun dappled woodland listening to countless birds singing and animals rustling in the undergrowth is quintessentially english countryside - so top marks for YWP retaining this and encouraging people to sit and enjoy and see what they discover. Signage around the park by the way is excellent and very informative.
Heading from the woodland you find Lemur Woods with it's double gated entry & exit system and a roped pathway through the exhibit you feel real close to the Lemurs and since it was sunny luckily for me they were all out and sunbathing - it's an image I have always wanted to capture - so it was even better that all three species of Lemur were out and about and were oblivious of the people present. Species here are: Ring Tailed, Black & White Ruffed and Brown Lemurs
From here (still really in a woodland area) you head past the Red River Hogs, again a pair (Buster & Bella) through the Birds of Prey - today the chappie from an external company who provide displays (Icarus) had a 16 month old Bonelli's Eagle, A Black Eagle and a Harris Hawk. I didn't see the display as I wanted to see the rest of the park.
Heading into South America Viva you can't help but admire the vison behind the exhibit - again a double lock system that via electromagnetic release catches ensures that you cannot open the inner door until the outer door is latched firmly - nothing can escape via the doors!
In here there are species endemic to South America, all free ranging and no bars in sight
lovely grassed enclosure with a deep pool and a great monkey climbing area in the centre. Species here are:
Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)
Mara (Dolichotis patagonum)
Common or Greater Rhea (Rhea americana)
Agouti (Dasyprocta azarae)
Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri boliviensis) - stock ex Cricket St Thomas if I heard the ranger correctly - they are a mised group of Black Capped and not with some more due in.
Fantastic exhibit - it's great to get up close and personal with a wide variety of different animals in here - I loved it.
Just outside the viva enclosure are Marmosets that live in the Oak tree - they are Common Marmosets and had twins in August of this year - they were all outside right in to top of the oak tree enjoying the sun.
I trekked from here past the Gunaco (Llama guanaco) & Bactrian Camels (Camelus bactrianus) and the Wetlands area that overlooks the airport in the distance at the bottom end of the park towards the Land of the Tiger newly opened in the summer of this year, again beautifully presented exhibit with a long raised wooden walkway leading along the two enclosures housing Sayan & Vladimir the pair of Amur Tigers - Vlad the male is about 2 years old and arrived from Highland Wildlife Park in Feb 2011, Sayan the Female is a year older and from Howletts and arrived in May 2011. They are currently separate but both have large enclosures with plenty of trees as cover. Vlad has a pool and small waterfall in his but remained asleep in the shade for the whole of my visit unfortunately - Sayan on the other hand was more active and got up to find out what we were chatting about as I was talking to one of the rangers here for a while about the Park and it's plans for the future.
Behind the tigers exhibit heading back into the park is the new area being constructed for Amur Leopards - they have already arrived at the park - 3 sibling brothers and are currently in quarantine ready to move in soon. Next to that is another building area that will probably house the Giraffe that are planned. After that there are plans to bring in Baboons and hopefully Gorilla - but that obviously is a wish and nowhere near definate at the moment (although the vison of the owner of this park is impressive so I wouldn't pooh pooh the idea in the slightest)
As the path is cordoned off due to building work it was back round past the Camels and Gunaco to the Wallaby Walkabout & African Plains area.
The Wallaby were all congregated in the shade and are Bennetts wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus) and several had Joeys, again you can go into this area to be part of the wallaby exhibit - popular with the children but I decided to leave them in peace as I was seriously in need of refreshment by now and still had several exhibts on my way back to the cafe to enjoy.
African plains is a large field area that houses:
Ankole Cattle (Bos taurus)
Ostrich (Struthio camelus)
Chapman's Zebra (Equus burchelli chapmani)
and
Kafue Flats Lechwe (Kobus leche kafuensis)
Next Up was the snoozing pack of African Hunting Dogs (Lycaon pictus) - I'm sorry I can't call them painted dogs, call me old fashioned but they are Cape Hunting Dogs to me so African is OK but painted?? ridiculous!
Anyway I digress - it's the heat you know!!
Last two exhibit areas to enjoy are the Lions in Lion Country if you are not familiar with the story of the rescue of these 3 prides from Oradea Zoo in Romania Feb 2010 then follow the link for details - it's a great story. www.LionRescue.co.uk
Fantastic new home for the Lions and they look to be thriving - a real success story and one that YWP can be very proud of.
Addax (Addax nasomaculatus) & Flamingo (Phoenicopterus Phoenicoparrus) are in enclosures next to each other and a new Male Camel recently arrived and currently being kept separate fropm the herd for a wee while.
Last up was a mixed exhibit of Meerkat & Yellow Mongoose alongside the first Meerkat enclosure I saw when I arrived.
And that's it - into the cafe for a sandwich and a vat of Tea and several pints of water to rehydrate and I reflected on what a great young zoo this reall is. The staff are at pains to say that it's early days yet but I honestly think they have every right to be proud of the Park and I hope out hope for a very bright expanding future, the region is in need of a decent zoological exhibit and YWP fits the bill. I departed here about 3pm after exiting through the small gift shop - found a button badge but no pin badge unfortunately.
I think YWP has a very bright future ahead of it and I look forward to my second visit when the Amur Leopards have gone on show maybe?
Loved it.
OK on to the visit - I have never been to YWP before but I have heard very good things about it from friends and fellow Zoo Chatters so a visit was called for.
Arrived about 10 minutes before the park opened - second car in the carpark and I'm seriously struck by how new everything looks, I'm very aware that this is a young zoo in essentially a zoo starved area so it has massive potential, I'll admit that I was rather excited about the prospect of visiting somewhere totally new for me.
Adult Entrance Fee is £12.00
Safari Trail Guide is £2.50
Map and feeding info is free
The site is an old farm and this is noticable from the buildings and the rural surroundings and generally how peaceful the area is, no descernable traffic noise and surprisingly not lots of jet noise either considering Doncaster Airport (old RAF Finningley) is right next door, and I do mean next door, from the land of the tigers exhibit you could watch take offs and landings quite clearly.- what it does provide is lots of space and land for expansion which I will come to later!
So map in hand and camera gear primed I set off to explore, first up after the cafe and toilets courtyard area is a meerkat enclosure - usual type of thing, sandy block, pit type enclosure with logs for thm to stand on and sand to root around in.
From here I followed a path to the left past the Giant Rabbit (and they don't exagerate here, it's a whopper) and the world's farm which exhibits domesticated animals - Zebu, Donkeys, Llama as well as Goats & Sheep in the contact yard (sort of a petting zoo area for kids) and onwards onto a woodland path but before entering the Old Spring Woods you get to the Racoon Dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) - a new species for me and they were rather phototgenic too, I think they are a pair and even though the temperature had begun to rise and they sport a luxuriant thick coat they remained active for a while before seeking shade.
Onwards through the Old Spring Wood - nice old woodland and a great idea of the park to retain it as an area for native wildlife - for me ambling through a sun dappled woodland listening to countless birds singing and animals rustling in the undergrowth is quintessentially english countryside - so top marks for YWP retaining this and encouraging people to sit and enjoy and see what they discover. Signage around the park by the way is excellent and very informative.
Heading from the woodland you find Lemur Woods with it's double gated entry & exit system and a roped pathway through the exhibit you feel real close to the Lemurs and since it was sunny luckily for me they were all out and sunbathing - it's an image I have always wanted to capture - so it was even better that all three species of Lemur were out and about and were oblivious of the people present. Species here are: Ring Tailed, Black & White Ruffed and Brown Lemurs
From here (still really in a woodland area) you head past the Red River Hogs, again a pair (Buster & Bella) through the Birds of Prey - today the chappie from an external company who provide displays (Icarus) had a 16 month old Bonelli's Eagle, A Black Eagle and a Harris Hawk. I didn't see the display as I wanted to see the rest of the park.
Heading into South America Viva you can't help but admire the vison behind the exhibit - again a double lock system that via electromagnetic release catches ensures that you cannot open the inner door until the outer door is latched firmly - nothing can escape via the doors!
In here there are species endemic to South America, all free ranging and no bars in sight
lovely grassed enclosure with a deep pool and a great monkey climbing area in the centre. Species here are:Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)
Mara (Dolichotis patagonum)
Common or Greater Rhea (Rhea americana)
Agouti (Dasyprocta azarae)
Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri boliviensis) - stock ex Cricket St Thomas if I heard the ranger correctly - they are a mised group of Black Capped and not with some more due in.
Fantastic exhibit - it's great to get up close and personal with a wide variety of different animals in here - I loved it.
Just outside the viva enclosure are Marmosets that live in the Oak tree - they are Common Marmosets and had twins in August of this year - they were all outside right in to top of the oak tree enjoying the sun.
I trekked from here past the Gunaco (Llama guanaco) & Bactrian Camels (Camelus bactrianus) and the Wetlands area that overlooks the airport in the distance at the bottom end of the park towards the Land of the Tiger newly opened in the summer of this year, again beautifully presented exhibit with a long raised wooden walkway leading along the two enclosures housing Sayan & Vladimir the pair of Amur Tigers - Vlad the male is about 2 years old and arrived from Highland Wildlife Park in Feb 2011, Sayan the Female is a year older and from Howletts and arrived in May 2011. They are currently separate but both have large enclosures with plenty of trees as cover. Vlad has a pool and small waterfall in his but remained asleep in the shade for the whole of my visit unfortunately - Sayan on the other hand was more active and got up to find out what we were chatting about as I was talking to one of the rangers here for a while about the Park and it's plans for the future.
Behind the tigers exhibit heading back into the park is the new area being constructed for Amur Leopards - they have already arrived at the park - 3 sibling brothers and are currently in quarantine ready to move in soon. Next to that is another building area that will probably house the Giraffe that are planned. After that there are plans to bring in Baboons and hopefully Gorilla - but that obviously is a wish and nowhere near definate at the moment (although the vison of the owner of this park is impressive so I wouldn't pooh pooh the idea in the slightest)
As the path is cordoned off due to building work it was back round past the Camels and Gunaco to the Wallaby Walkabout & African Plains area.
The Wallaby were all congregated in the shade and are Bennetts wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus) and several had Joeys, again you can go into this area to be part of the wallaby exhibit - popular with the children but I decided to leave them in peace as I was seriously in need of refreshment by now and still had several exhibts on my way back to the cafe to enjoy.
African plains is a large field area that houses:
Ankole Cattle (Bos taurus)
Ostrich (Struthio camelus)
Chapman's Zebra (Equus burchelli chapmani)
and
Kafue Flats Lechwe (Kobus leche kafuensis)
Next Up was the snoozing pack of African Hunting Dogs (Lycaon pictus) - I'm sorry I can't call them painted dogs, call me old fashioned but they are Cape Hunting Dogs to me so African is OK but painted?? ridiculous!
Anyway I digress - it's the heat you know!!
Last two exhibit areas to enjoy are the Lions in Lion Country if you are not familiar with the story of the rescue of these 3 prides from Oradea Zoo in Romania Feb 2010 then follow the link for details - it's a great story. www.LionRescue.co.uk
Fantastic new home for the Lions and they look to be thriving - a real success story and one that YWP can be very proud of.
Addax (Addax nasomaculatus) & Flamingo (Phoenicopterus Phoenicoparrus) are in enclosures next to each other and a new Male Camel recently arrived and currently being kept separate fropm the herd for a wee while.
Last up was a mixed exhibit of Meerkat & Yellow Mongoose alongside the first Meerkat enclosure I saw when I arrived.
And that's it - into the cafe for a sandwich and a vat of Tea and several pints of water to rehydrate and I reflected on what a great young zoo this reall is. The staff are at pains to say that it's early days yet but I honestly think they have every right to be proud of the Park and I hope out hope for a very bright expanding future, the region is in need of a decent zoological exhibit and YWP fits the bill. I departed here about 3pm after exiting through the small gift shop - found a button badge but no pin badge unfortunately.
I think YWP has a very bright future ahead of it and I look forward to my second visit when the Amur Leopards have gone on show maybe?
Loved it.
