Your UK Zoo Rankings

CDavies98

CDavies98

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Before I start, I know this is going to be a highly subjective topic and by no means am I asking for a definitive 'what is the best zoo in the UK?' answer. I'm just interested in which zoos in the UK people prefer and which fall to the bottom of peoples lists and maybe why. I won't be disagreeing withe people's opinions but would be interested to hear them, so discussion of pros and cons is appreciated.

The only rule I will say, and one I'm using in my own list, is you have to have visited the zoo in the past 5 years.

I visited many different zoos as a child but that was much more than 5 years ago and I'm slowly building my list back up so my list won't be as long as others but here goes:

1. Chester Zoo
2. Bristol Zoo
3. Wild Place Project
4. London Zoo
5. West Midlands Safari Park
6. Paradise Wildlife Park
7. Twycross Zoo
8. Noah's Ark Zoo Farm
 
1:Chester Zoo
2:Yorkshire Wildlife Park
2:Whipsnade Zoo
3:Longleat
4:Knowsley Safari park
5:West Midlands Safari Park
6:London Zoo
7:Blackpool Zoo
8:South Lakes

Hope it’s okay to have a joint second
 
1 - Chester zoo
2 - Birdland park & garden
3 - Slimbridge WWT
4 - Birdworld
5 - Cotswold Wildlife park
6 - Hawk Conservancy trust
7 - Blackpool zoo
8 - Cotswold Birds of prey
9 - Welsh mountain zoo
10 - Tropical Birdland

The one's that came very close

11 - Living Coast
12 - The falconry centre Hagley
13 - Bristol zoo
14 - Birmingham Nature Centre
15 - West midland safari park
 
I'm sure my list will cause friction, but mine is based on the VIP days I have had at each zoo, and also considering photography is key to my visits. But these are my fav 8, 1 being the best, 8 the least, but in my top 8 of the many parks/zoos I've visited.

1 - Longleat Safari Park
2 - South Lakes Safari Zoo
3 - Hamerton Zoo
4 - Whipsnade Zoo
5 - Highland Wildlife Park
6 - Yorkshire Wildlife Park
7 - Lakeland Wildlife Oasis
8 - Cotswold Wildlife Park

I appreciate I am probably the only person on this site, who doesn't have Chester, London, Colchester or Blackpool in their top 8.

However as much as the place is impressive, Chester's Vip packages are expensive and not value for money compared to other parks, Colchester is not great for photo's, London is too expensive for what it is and Blackpool is okay, but not top 8 for me, but would make a top 15, whilst the other 3 would not be in my top 20.
 
1.Whipsnade Zoo
2.Yorkshire Wildlife Park
3.Chester Zoo
4.West Midlands SP
5.Slimbridge WWT

Based on the places I’ve grown up near/gotten close to, not just the amount of species held or most immersive exhibits.
 
1. Hamerton Zoo
2. Monkey World for entirely personal reasons
3. Chester Zoo
4. Bristol Zoo
5. Exmoor Zoo
6. Cotswold Wildlife Park
7. Yorkshire Wildlife Park
8. Twycross Zoo
9. Linton Zoo (for the lemur experience alone!)
10. Dudley Zoo

Really numbers 4-10 are in no particular order. I don't necessarily like Exmoor more than CWP, they are just all zoos I really enjoy visiting and there are others I could have included as well.
 
AdrianW1963 said:
1 - Chester zoo
2 - Birdland park & garden
3 - Slimbridge WWT
4 - Birdworld
5 - Cotswold Wildlife park
6 - Hawk Conservancy trust
7 - Blackpool zoo
8 - Cotswold Birds of prey
9 - Welsh mountain zoo
10 - Tropical Birdland

The one's that came very close

11 - Living Coast
12 - The falconry centre Hagley
13 - Bristol zoo
14 - Birmingham Nature Centre
15 - West midland safari park
Click to expand...
Re Living Coasts at number 11 - you've given that a pretty high ranking considering your past comments on it, and that you've probably been to many more than just these fifteen listed zoos. What has changed for you since your 2012 review where you criticised the "very small enclosures for the birds" and how the "collection was a little short of star species", and finished off by giving it a rating of only 4 out of 10?
(Living Coasts - My visit on the 17th August)
 
migdog said:
The lemur experience at Linton is by far the best value for money in the UK, and doesn't involve ringtails. I should really put down my top 5-10.....
Click to expand...

Without trying to sidetrack, what's involved, as I would be surprised if it was more fun and interesting than the 60 minutes you spends with the Lemurs when doing a zookeeper for the day at Safari Zoo.
 
Zooreviewsuk said:
Without trying to sidetrack, what's involved, as I would be surprised if it was more fun and interesting than the 60 minutes you spends with the Lemurs when doing a zookeeper for the day at Safari Zoo.
Click to expand...
With respect, @migdog said it was the best value. It is £10, I don't think you'll find anything similar for that price! All South Lakes' single animal experiences are at least £50 for 20-30 mins. Their keeper experience is £125 which would prevent most people doing it.
Linton's lemur experience is accessible to most people at the price.
 
Thanks Pipaluk.
I looked on Linton's Website and couldn't see any Lemur Experience, the only mention of Lemurs is on their keeper of the day, which only includes two animals but mainly lemurs and they charge £120 for that.

Animal Experiences at Cambridgeshire's Linton Zoo

Their website gives no mention of a £10 Lemur Experience.

There experiences on the website, are some of the most expensive I've seen, yet are the shortest. If they are charging £120 for 2 hours with the Lemurs and one other animal, I fail to see how they would sell any if they are doing a Lemur experience for £10. There is no mention of this on their website.
 
Zooreviewsuk said:
Thanks Pipaluk.
I looked on Linton's Website and couldn't see any Lemur Experience, the only mention of Lemurs is on their keeper of the day, which only includes two animals but mainly lemurs and they charge £120 for that.

Animal Experiences at Cambridgeshire's Linton Zoo

Their website gives no mention of a £10 Lemur Experience.

There experiences on the website, are some of the most expensive I've seen, yet are the shortest. If they are charging £120 for 2 hours with the Lemurs and one other animal, I fail to see how they would sell any if they are doing a Lemur experience for £10. There is no mention of this on their website.
Click to expand...
It's on the home page on the right side
 
Thanks seen it now. Amazed they get many keeper for the days, if they offer Lemurs at £10, and you only get involvement with 2 animals for a maximum of 2 hours for £120.

At South Lakes you get 8.30am - 4.30pm for £125 and do loads, learn loads and get lunch, and they try and get you to work with the animals you're interested in.
 
Try here: linton zoo and gardens

They could advertise it better in my opinion. You get to feed crowned, mongoose, red ruffed and collared lemurs. You're not going to get that anywhere else in the UK that's for sure.
 
1) Chester
2) Colchester
3) Yorkshire Wildlife Park
4) Longleat
5) Woburn
6) Banham
7) London
8) Big cat sanctuary
9) Africa Alive
10) Marwell
 
migdog said:
Try here: linton zoo and gardens

They could advertise it better in my opinion. You get to feed crowned, mongoose, red ruffed and collared lemurs. You're not going to get that anywhere else in the UK that's for sure.
Click to expand...

At South Lakes (in keeper for the day), you get to Meet the White and Black Belted, Red Ruffed, White Fronted Brown and Ring Tailed Lemurs.

You start by meeting them in the pens, help let them out into the woodland walk, then clean their indoor enclosures learning about them, before learning about their diets and preparing they feeds with the keeper, before you go back and help with the public Lemur Display, then after that is finished you get to hand feed some on them, before going on to your next section of the day.
 
Well here's my top 10:

1. Chester Zoo
2. Cotswolds Wildlife Park
3. Colchester Zoo
4. Bristol Zoo
5. Hamerton Zoo
6. Exmoor Zoo
7. Banham Zoo
8. Yorkshire Wildlife Park
9. Whipsnade Zoo
10. Port Lympne
 
migdog said:
Well here's my top 10:

1. Chester Zoo
2. Cotswolds Wildlife Park
3. Colchester Zoo
4. Bristol Zoo
5. Hamerton Zoo
6. Exmoor Zoo
7. Banham Zoo
8. Yorkshire Wildlife Park
9. Whipsnade Zoo
10. Port Lympne
Click to expand...
Interesting, I'm just trying to put my current list in order, but 8 of mine are in your list--I haven't been to Exmoor, otherwise I'm sure that would be in my list too, leaving only Banham that wouldn't.
 
I've done the lemur experience at Linton twice now. Of course you can get far more lengthy experiences elsewhere, but for ten pounds at Linton, it's just amazing. Both times I've had a good half hour with a keeper, discussing all sorts, hand-feeding four species of lemur (including my favourites, the crowned lemurs) as they are let out of their enclosures to meet you, take the food and in some cases climb all over you. The last time I did it was after Christmas last year, when there was treacherous snow and ice and the zoo was closed. However, they opened for my mother and I to do the experience, and we also got added Eastern quoll goodness into the bargain as I had asked about the chances of them being visible. The keeper went in to put food out for them to get them to go out. We also had the entire zoo to ourselves, except for the keepers. Talk about going the extra mile!

I think the next best experience I've done was the Walk on the Wild Side at Exmoor Zoo, which was also absolutely amazing. I am planning on either repeating that or doing their carnivore experience.
 
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