For my birthday this year, my boyfriend and I visited Paradise Wildlife Park for the afternoon. Although somewhere I’ve been more times than I could count, I always enjoy going to Paradise because for me, it’s a form of nostalgia. It’s a place my parents used to take me when was I very little and although obviously it’s been updated a lot over the years, the majority of the format of the park is the same. It’s cute and quaint and a lovely day out – so although it wasn’t an extravagant birthday (just a zoo and a Dominos!) I really enjoyed it and wanted to share some photos and a little bit about the park with you today!
Paradise Wildlife Park is in Hertfordshire, so only about a 40 minute drive from my house. As zoo’s go, it’s pretty small. It only takes a couple of hours maximum to get around (especially as an adult because there’s a lot of children’s play areas in the park) but there’s plenty to see and do and a big variety of animals, talks and feeds that you can watch too which go on throughout the entire day. If you’re planning on a full day there, it’s well worth checking the map for the feed times so you can plan when you need to be at each enclosure. I’ve watched a few of the feeds before and they’re very good – especially the Tigers.
Unfortunately when we arrived it was raining so a lot of the animals situated in the “Woodland Walk” area of the park were hiding from the rain. But then you enter the “main” area of the park where the enclosures are a lot more open and visible to the public. Thankfully at this point, it stopped raining too. We spent ages watched the cute little Meerkats and the small monkeys in the indoor “rainforest” enclosure. It was also nice to see they had some new areas, like a walk through to get closer the wallabies and the emu’s and an indoor area that housed a large anaconda and various other snakes and lizards.
The main attractions at Paradise Wildlife Park have to be the impressive selection of big cats. We were lucky enough to see the male Lion roar and my gosh, it is loud! And we also saw two Snow Leopards having a play, which was nice! They also have this lovely little cafe which directly overlooks the Tiger enclosure, so we stopped their for a drink and found a seat right at the front, where we could see the Tigers sleeping. Another new part of the park was the stunning statue of “The Clockwork Lion”, which symbolises the rapid decline in Lions in the wild, due to poaching and the fact that time is running out for them. It really packs a punch, as it’s made with all clock parts.
I know some people are opposed to zoo’s and wouldn’t visit one and I appreciate that and I appreciate everyone’s views. Personally, I love the zoo and would only ever visit a zoo I knew was up to standard. The staff at Paradise are so knowledgable (as demonstrated by the girl who did the Red Panda talk) so I trust Paradise Wildlife Park and always have a lovely day out there whenever I go.