A Wild Day Out

A Wild Day Out

Penguin at West Midlands Safari ParkA drive over the Welsh border and through the wilds of South Shropshire took us to West Midlands Safari Park in Bewdley, Worcestershire yesterday. We were there for The Tourism & Attractions Show, but also intended on making the most of our free entry into the Safari Park.

When you arrive at West Midlands Safari Park you can either head straight to the safari or park up and head for the rest of the park. We got there for 10 am (opening time) and parked up first, but next time we’ll head straight for the safari before it gets busy.

West Midlands Safari Park is much more than a safari park as there is so much to see and do. As well as the safari park with its lions and tigers and giraffes and elephants etc, there’s a small theme park (with rides suitable for all kinds of ages), the Land of the Living Dinosaurs (which I need to take my dinosaur-mad nephew to see) and smaller creatures like penguins, meerkats, lemurs, goats, lorikeets, reptiles and creepy crawlies (*shiver*).

I love penguins, so headed straight to Penguin Cove to see them. I think they’d only just got up as they seemed a little tired and not very active at all. However, I popped back to see them a little later and they were full of beans, racing through the water and having fun. Keep an eye on the boards for feeding and show times.

Lorikeet at West Midlands Safari Park

I was slightly more wary of the Lorikeets as we entered their enclosure as one or two of them were flying around. Visitors are given the opportunity to feed these strikingly beautiful birds too.

Next, we entered the Land of the Living Dinosaurs. I took a number of photos here for my 4-year-old nephew as he’s a big fan of dinosaurs and would absolutely love this area of the park. The dinosaurs are animated and make sounds, so are quite realistic for the younger ones.

Lemur at West Midlands Safari ParkWe didn’t go on any of the rides in the adventure theme park (maybe next time!), but we walked through it and headed to the African Village area to see the meerkats, lemurs and goats. Here you can get up, close and fairly personal with these animals, especially the lemurs and goats. The meerkats were their usual funny selves!

We then headed back to the car and onto the safari park itself. You have the option of driving through the safari park yourself or you can go in the Safari Bus (this needs to be booked at the main reception).

Some of the animals are quite laid back, whilst others like to get as close as possible to the cars in the hope of some food.

We found the traffic flowed quite nicely at the beginning of the safari, but got quite jammed the further on we went. There are two lanes of traffic and we found some drivers swapped between lanes to get a better view. These were also usually the same drivers who would stop for ages and block the road. I think the safari park could do with laybys in some of the enclosures so those who wish to stop for ages can do so without disrupting the rest of the traffic through the park. I was also amazed at the amount of cars which had their windows wound down in the lion and tiger enclosures, and parents who had their children sat (unrestrained) on their knees in the front seat.

I think it took us around 2 hours to get around the safari park in the car and it was great to see the animals in an environment which is as close to their original habitat as they can get in this country. There is a wide range of animals at West Midlands Safari Park and they seem happy and content, if occasionally a bit stubborn when it comes to letting the cars past (but who can blame them!).

Cheetah at West Midlands Safari Park

Last entrance into the park is 4 pm and it closes at 6 pm, but I’d advise reserving most of the day for your visit as there’s so much to see and do.

The bonus about a visit to West Midlands Safari Park? They give you a free return ticket to use in the same year, so if you didn’t have time to do everything you can go back again!

18 comments

  1. Jo says:

    What a great day out. I can’t say I’m a fan of keeping animals in captivity but most of these type of parks, in this country at least, are involved in breeding programmes for endangered species or take animals which wouldn’t be able to be released back in to the wild for one reason or another, so they do a good job. They’re really good at educating visitors too. I like the idea of the safari park where the habitats are as close as can be to how they’d live in the wild. You’ve taken some great photos, I especially like the meerkat.

  2. Kelly says:

    This sounds like a wonderful place! I’ve never outgrown my love of dinosaurs, so I would enjoy that part of the park quite a bit. We raised goats for a few years, so I know they can be quite entertaining and interactive. Beautiful bird!

  3. Leslie says:

    I’m so jealous! That looks like so much fun, I want to go to the Zoo this year. There is a lemur habitat only a few minutes from me, they are my favorite.it seems like ya ya fun.

  4. Barbara says:

    Hi Nikki-ann, what a lovely day you had, I wish I lived closer as I would really like to visit. All your pictures are excellent, but my favourite is the one of the meerkat he/she looks so relaxed!

    • Nixy says:

      I’m thinking of using my return tickets to take my niece & nephew there for the day as we’d only need to pay for their tickets then.

  5. Sabrina Fox says:

    That first picture of the meerkat got me! They’re my favorite animals and they’re so adorable. It sounds like you had an amazingly fun time! Thanks for sharing. 🙂

  6. Hi Nikki,

    It sounds as though you had a great day out and your pictures are lovely.

    Having just heard and applauded the announcement that the Sea World parks are to stop breeding Orca whales, I guess it is a little hypocritical of me to enjoy animal parks as much as I do, however these days, the traditional zoo never really calls to me.

    We are quite spoilt for choice as far as animal parks go … ‘The Cotswold Wildlife Park’ is about 90 minutes away; ‘Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre’ about 60 minutes; ‘Marwell Zoological Park’ about 60 minutes; and Longleat Safari Park about 10 minutes (yes, we really are that close to ‘The Lions Of Longleat’ and yes, animals do escape on a fairly regular basis.

    I am pleased that you considered your much longer journey worth while and thanks for sharing. I hope that you manage to make time for your free return visit 🙂

    Yvonne

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