Visit to Chester Zoo

Saturday 15^th July

We are off to Chester Zoo today, it is only about a 10 minute walk from the canal. 

African Bongo

The Islands

It had been raining earlier but when we set off for the Zoo, it was dry but a bit cloudy.  There is a bridle path which goes from the canal right up to the Zoo.  When we got there, it was already really busy and it hadn’t been open half an hour!

Southern Cassowary

Mummy Orangutan

We bought our tickets on line as it is cheaper in advance and they scanned the bar code on my phone, how trendy we are!

Baby Orangutan

Sumatran Tiger

The Zoo is really big and there is lots to see.  Since we were there last, they have made a new section called The Islands and we made our way up there.  It is brilliant, they have made different islands e.g Sumatra, Bali, Papua, etc., with animals from those islands dotted around, grass huts, a permit office handing out permits to the kids.  

We spent ages wandering around here looking at the various animals and then found a nice bench to have our picnic lunch in a quiet spot away from all the crowds.  Being a Saturday the Zoo was very busy and lots of kids everywhere so it was nice to get away from it for a while!

After lunch we made our way out of the islands to explore the rest of the Zoo.  The Orangutans were inside and there was a male who was massive, a female and a baby. The baby was right up the top feeding hanging down, so cute.

Giraffes

Gigantic Python

The Sumatran Tiger was outside feeding so we got a good look of him.  There was a fruit bat forest where you can walk around and the bats are flying freely, it was brilliant and didn’t realise they were so big.  There was a tunnel which you walked through and as you were going through the bats were whizzing by you, I wasn’t so keen when they got really close! 

Lovely Exotic Bird

In one of the houses there was a gigantic python, I think the biggest we have ever seen, gave me the shivers just looking at him.

Living Coral and Nemo

There was also a Tropical Realm where over 30 species of birds were flying around, that was great,  we could have stayed in there all day, so lovely to see them all and some were such bright colours.

We stopped mid-afternoon for a coffee then wandered around again.  We also went in the Aquarium which was really good, they had living coral and lots of fishes, etc.

Two Toed Sloth

The Butterfly house was really good, we spent some time in here looking at the all the different butterflies flying around you.

Beautiful Butterfly

We also went to see the Sloth and he was climbing over our heads on high ropes, it was brilliant to see him so close, amazing how they hang on like that so high up and go so slowly.

The Zoo closes at 5pm and before we knew it, it was time to leave.  We made our way to the exit and walked back down the bridle path to the canal and the boat.

We had a really good day there, it is a great place and the animals have lots of space and they do a lot of conservation work there.  It was very tiring walking around but really worth it, we enjoyed our day very much and will visit again one day when we are back in this area.