Sunday was a cold and frosty day but the sun was shining, so we
wrapped up warm and headed off on the almost 2 hour journey to Woburn Safari Park.
When we arrived we decided to do the road safari first, as
the great thing is you can go around as many times as you like within the day,
so if you miss something the first time round there’s always a chance you’ll
spot it next time.
We saw many animals including Rhino, Giraffe, Buffalo and
Zebras before entering the world of the carnivores.Here there were Amur Tigers, Canadian Timber Wolves,
American Black Bears and African Lions.Unfortunately we didn’t spot any tigers, we saw two wolves from a
distance and the very top of a bear’s back as he slept in his shelter.
However, we did see plenty of lions roaming
free in their reserve.Some were walking
along the road in front of the car, some to the side of us enjoying the
sunshine and one was playfully rolling around on the grass.
We also saw the new male lion who is being
introduced to the pride.
And of course,
no visit to a safari park would be complete without a monkey or two climbing on
the car!The Pickle found this very funny
and kept saying “Naughty Monkeys” and shaking his finger at them for leaving
muddy footprints on the windows!
The road layout was done very well, it snaked around a lot
so you could usually see the animals at some point from each side of the car,
which is great if you have two little ones in the back.
We’d packed a few sandwiches so we had a bite to eat before
wondering around the foot safari.
We
watched the indoor Sealion show followed by a 3D film called Deepo’s Ocean
Adventures.This cost an extra £2 per
person which I didn't think was too bad.The talk by
the keepers was very informative and the Sealions were very clever and showed
the audience how they are trained and how the keepers do their health checks
.The film was great for the kids and it
didn’t last for too long so it held their attention well.
Next we walked through Monkey Business and the Australian
Walkabout amongst the Wallaby’s and Greater Rhea (as you can see The Princess
and The Pickle were far too interested in the animals to stop and pose for a
photo!), before heading over to the new Elephant Meadow to listen to the talk
and find out more about The Pickle’s favourite animal.
As it was a fairly quiet day and not many
people had braved the cold for the talk, we were able to stand right up to the
barrier and stroke the elephant as she walked past us – it was amazing to be
able to do this and The Princess is excited about telling all her friends
tomorrow at school that she stroked an elephant!
We had planned to finish with a visit to the Mammoth Play
Ark (indoor soft play area) but the excitement was a bit much for The Pickle
(who was rubbing his eyes by this point) so we decided to do one more loop of
the road safari before heading home.Unfortunately we missed the penguins and lemurs, but we did get to see
the wolves a little closer the second time around.
We almost missed this fella lurking in the
bushes, until The Princess pointed him out!The Pickle was already fast asleep and the lions were all cuddling up
for a nap too!
Overall we really enjoyed our day at Woburn.We hope to visit again next summer when
everything is open, such as the Tiny Tots outdoor play area (with bouncy
castle) and the swan boat ride (which was completely frozen today!) and
hopefully we’ll be able to catch a glimpse of the tigers next time too.
I was given a complimentary family pass to review this attraction as part of MoneySupermarket.com's Britain's Best Days Out campaign. They have a great range of vouchers for family days out.
