Discover Wild Worlds At Chester Zoo
When Paul did the Chester half marathon with his brother earlier in the year we decided to make a weekend of it and visit Chester Zoo while we were there. We absolutely loved it and had an amazing day. Imagine our delight when we were asked to return to check out Chester Zoo’s Wild Worlds Festival.
Hidden around the zoo in some of their quieter spots there are some great new things to see and explore. In collaboration with amazing artists the Zoo are celebrating the incredible animals that live there by hosting the Wild Worlds Festival from June until the end of September 2018. We picked up a map on arrival and off we went to explore.
First destination for us was the Islands, that although didn’t have any Wild World exhibits, had to be done because the tiger was hiding last time we visited and the kids were desperate to see it. No joy unfortunately so on we walked. The layout of Chester Zoo is brilliant. There is literally nowhere you can walk without seeing animals so in terms of keeping the kids entertained from the minute you arrive, they’ve got it nailed.
The elephant house and all of the magnificent elephants at the entrance have got to be a highlight for me. Who doesn’t love a baby elephant right?
The lions are a must see too and both times that we have visited they have either been roaring to each other (very scary) or tucking into their food right in front of us. Feels like you could stand and watch them all day! But, there’s so much to see at Chester Zoo that you have to keep moving. Having enjoyed Secret Life of the Zoo (and we saw the film crew during our visit – very exciting) we are familiar with the painted dogs and their litter of pups so that was one of our definite pit stops for the day.
We’d also seen on social media that a baby rhino had been born just two days before our visit. It was amazing to see the new mother and her baby, so small and incredible that it was running around already.
We took time out to sit in the Wild Worlds talking chairs in the three different locations, each situated within their own mini garden and with their own tale to tell. We also took an audio visual walk through the Awekids Grassland Village which was a mini sensory experience of sights, sounds and surprises.
There are lots of places to take a little break and plan which animals to see next so we stopped for our picnic and a little play in the amazing play park.
Having missed the tiger earlier in the day we set off again to see if we could spot it and just as we were giving up hope for the second time that day, we spotted it! Sunbathing up on the highest point, looking out over everything. The kids were over the moon to have finally seen it. The list of animals to see at Chester is long, I’d struggle to think of what animals they haven’t got!
The giraffes were incredible and the monkeys, as always, were hilarious to watch.
The kids really enjoyed visiting the honey bee garden as well as the dormouse garden. Both have been set up as part of the Wild Worlds Festival. It’s not hard to see that the little nooks of the site have been used really well to exhibit the wonder of nature within an already magnificent zoo.
Chester Zoo is a brilliant day out for all the family and we also managed to rack up 15,000 steps so you’ll all be worn out too, ha!
*Disclaimer: This was a collaborative post with Chester Zoo and we was given free entry in order to give an honest review. All words and opinions are my own.
