West Midland Safari and Leisure Park West Midland Safari Park 2024

Olek said:
Is there a confirmed date for when the Pairi Daiza elephants arrive?
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There's no confirmation dates from either WMSP or Pairi Daiza on when they will arrive as far as I recall, but anyone who does feel free to prove me wrong.

Personally I think they're still sorting out transportation, medical records and paper works. It's not easy moving any animal overseas, let alone two of the biggest land animals.
 
Official confirmation of the new arrivals

WELCOME, SUZY & GITANA!

We're thrilled to have welcomed two new African elephants, Suzy and Gitana, to West Midlands Safari Park!

They’ve joined our herd from Pairi Daiza Zoo in Belgium to be companions for our elephants, Five and Coco. Since arriving, they've settled into their new home, consisting of outdoor pools, mud wallows, dust baths, indoor sand beds and enriching feeding areas

You can come and see the herd on the Safari Drive, from the African Walking Trail viewpoint or even from our beautiful Safari Lodges.
 
Embu said:
Only if Five conceives with Coco but yes having 2 more mature females should help create a more natural herd for Five.
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I believe it was stated (either on here on by WMSP itself) that they were waiting for Suzy and Gitana to arrive and mix them with Five before mixing Five and Coco to breed, possibly to stop hormones getting in the way if Five conceived before introductions to the other cows. Their arrival will also create a more natural herd structure as you stated, which is I think the main reason why they have obtained the new cows and held off breeding until all 3 females are happy together.
 
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Rajang-GOAT said:
I believe it was stated (either on here on by WMSP itself) that they were waiting for Suzy and Gitana to arrive and mix them with Five before mixing Five and Coco to breed, possibly to stop hormones getting in the way if Five conceived before introductions to the other cows. Their arrival will also create a more natural herd structure as you stated, which is I think the main reason why they have obtained the new cows and held off breeding until all 3 females are happy together.
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From what I've heard talking to others who work there, when Coco and Five are meeting from the fence, they're fine and everything is well. But when the two are in the same paddock together, Coco gets aggressive with Five.

So like you said, bringing Suzy and Gitana not only makes it possible to create a natural herd. But also means that if Coco starts acting aggressive with Five when breeding, that she'll the other two to keep Coco on his best behaviour.
 
Alwaysevergreen said:
Haven't they referred the arrivals as companions? The same as they said when Coco arrived. So has there actually been any posts from WMSP which actually suggest plans to breed within the herd?
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I believe they wanted to breed from Five again as she is potentially genetically important(elephant database states she's from the wild) add the genetic importance to her age and that she's not bred for 10 years and I believe that's why Coco was brought in before it's too late.
Suzy & Gitana are late 30s or early 40s so are possibly past breeding age considering only one of them has bred previously and not for a while.
Worth noting however IF relationships between the 3 girls is successful they would play a vital part in raising any future calves.
 
Embu said:
Official confirmation of the new arrivals

WELCOME, SUZY & GITANA!

We're thrilled to have welcomed two new African elephants, Suzy and Gitana, to West Midlands Safari Park!

They’ve joined our herd from Pairi Daiza Zoo in Belgium to be companions for our elephants, Five and Coco. Since arriving, they've settled into their new home, consisting of outdoor pools, mud wallows, dust baths, indoor sand beds and enriching feeding areas

You can come and see the herd on the Safari Drive, from the African Walking Trail viewpoint or even from our beautiful Safari Lodges.
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This is wonderful news that the girls settled in well in their new home
 
Visited 04.06.24

Very expensive and feeding from vehicles much restricted from prior visits (understandably so with the window smashing incident) but feels like a missed opportunity to not have giraffe feeding from a platform on the walking trail...
Also only being able to circuit the safari potion once even on a quiet day seems ridiculous, i would have stayed for lunch and had another circuit but went to Hoo Farm instead.

Lodges looked incredible from the walking trail but appeared to have low occupancy rates. spoke to a couple who were guests in the lodge and they said there was a TV channel in the lodge showing you CCTV from some enclosures so they could dash down and see the Tigers for example who were showing infrequently in the drizzle which I thought was a nice touch.
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Construction of African Wild dog and Hippo enclosure and accompanying lodges scheduled for completion this month, unclear what the hippo extension entails for the 4 hippo but they seemed unfazed by nearby construction and virtually any change would be welcome from the current enclosure.
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Cost for lodges seems prohibitive looking on the website for the average visitor.

Sumatran Tiger enclosure is absolutely tip top, lush, well planted, good sight lines, good signage etc. Youngish cub was still interacting with visitors etc through the window.

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Baby blesbok in "Grasslands" area, so must be a 1.1 pair plus calf and not two females unless there have been transfers.

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Visayan spotted deer in the area with camels and Pere David's deer as well as the wire pens on the Asia section was a nice surprise to hand feed.

Fantastic numbers of some hoof stock, 6/7 white rhino, 4 hippo, 2 Indian rhino, 4 African elephant, lots of giraffe, eland, female blackbuck etc

White lions still going strong (7 seen) . Good numbers of tawny lions across the two exhibits.

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Some also starting to fade away, 4 Congo buffalo, 1 waterbuck, 2 ankole cattle etc.

Lots of great wildlife also, stock dove, pheasant, jays, rabbits, squirrels etc.

Lemur enclosure still fantastic, positively enormous, unrestricted access to very tall trees.

On balance ok value in the end, being a mammal lover a good day out for me!

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Skukuza said:
Baby blesbok in "Grasslands" area, so must be a 1.1 pair plus calf and not two females unless there have been transfers.
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Aww they look so adorable! Planning to go on Monday to try out my new camera lens, so will try to catch images of the new arrival
 
1:0 giraffe calf born last week

Giraffe calf cuteness

Mtembei is now just over a week old and can currently be spotted in the giraffe yard, next to their house. He'll be out and about, meeting his neighbours on the Safari Drive in the next few weeks!
 
Embu said:
1:0 giraffe calf born last week

Giraffe calf cuteness

Mtembei is now just over a week old and can currently be spotted in the giraffe yard, next to their house. He'll be out and about, meeting his neighbours on the Safari Drive in the next few weeks!
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Oh amazing! Man WMSP is really having a baby boom this year.
 
Can the elephants only be seen from the driving safari or is there a footpath to see them as well? Only being able to do the safari drive once is terrible.
 
Yassa said:
Can the elephants only be seen from the driving safari or is there a footpath to see them as well? Only being able to do the safari drive once is terrible.
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Yes, there is the African Trail you can walk up to as you go down to the Theme Park area. It also takes you to the viewing area for Giraffes, Rhinos (and the other animals in the paddock) and soon to include Cheetah, Hippo and Wild Dog view areas.
 
Yassa said:
Can the elephants only be seen from the driving safari or is there a footpath to see them as well? Only being able to do the safari drive once is terrible.
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There are ways to do the drive safari again and again, last time I was there we did the drive in the morning then went on there bus tour later in the day. Ok I think it was an extra fiver or some thing like that but you do get a tour guide and can still feed the animals if you like, if you don’t want to they can overtake off road the other cars also so you don’t have to wait in the traffic.
 
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