Hannah Millbank and her family spent a day visiting the animals, climbing great heights and getting lost in a butterfly maze
We had our own private tour guide during this trip. Having recently visited the Bristol Zoo Project (formerly known as Wild Place) with his class to celebrate the end of Infant school, our youngest clearly felt this gave him Attenborough level status.
“The meerkats are this way,” he piped up. “No, the wolves generally like to hang out in this corner of the enclosure,” he declared with confidence, despite there being not a whiff of wolf pack in sight. Still, he enjoyed every second of being in charge for a change!
Despite the slightly unsettled weather forecast, there were plenty of people milling around when we arrived, taking selfies in front of Wilder, the towering wooden gorilla greeting visitors. We collected our Hungry Caterpillar trail map, snapped a photo of the list of expert talks on offer throughout the day and headed off to find our first animals.
A slightly surreal sight against a slightly grey British sky, two long-necked and long-tongued faces peered over the fence as we approached Giraffe House. Cleverly designed so visitors can come eye-to-eye with these elegant creatures, we hung out on the indoor mezzanine, mesmerised by the animals slowly munching away on bundles of food hung high above the ground. There’s something very weird but very beautiful about giraffes, but the main thing I noticed was just how long their eyelashes are!
Bear Wood was next on the tour. We wound down the pathway that took us into the wooded area, with warning signs building tension along the way: ‘DON’T CLIMB THE FENCES, ‘DON’T DROP ANYTHING INTO THE ENCLOSURES’. The journey took us along a raised wooden walkway, through tree canopies from where we looked down on various enclosures housing animals that once roamed freely in the UK. To avoid disappointment, I’d warned the boys that animals don’t appear on demand and sadly, the lynxes lived up to my expectations with not a glimpse in the undergrowth as we passed by.
But the wolverines made up for the reluctant lynxes. Sighs turned to gasps as a group of these furry black animals came jostling into view chasing and playing and splashing into the ponds right below us. Next door, three bears stomped slowly around, looking pretty chilled out and cuddly (although, I’m not sure I’d put that description to the test!). Finally, we reached the event that my eldest had been holding out for: the wolf pack.
He was determined to see them. And so, we sat staring through the glass waiting for a sign of life. It wasn’t until a lady kindly pointed out that the white rocks just ten metres in front of us were breathing! Clearly making the most of the sun’s warmth, we enjoyed watching the bundle of wolves, as they lazily looked up from their slumber before curling back up for a longer doze.
It’s fascinating watching children at a place like this. They’ve been spoiled by memberships to Bristol Zoo before its Clifton site closed last year, but they never tire of seeing exotic animals like those at the Bristol Zoo Project.
As we entered the lemur enclosure, they were excited by the ring-tailed Madagascan lemurs who blinked at us through the sunlight. My eldest keenly spotted the swinging tusks of the Red River Hog, an animal both beautiful and ugly. When the meerkats carried out their synchronised routine, our youngest grinned with delight. And both boys high-fived the monkey who sat with his feet against his window, escaping one of the downpours that have punctuated many a summer’s day this year.
Between ticking off the animals, we made sure to step inside the fruit installations and swing in the giant cocoons that make up the Hungry Caterpillar Trail on through the summer. The boys swiftly made their way through the Butterfly Maze, clearly less disorientated than we were by the multiple changes of direction! But as we headed back towards the entrance, our tour guide declared that we’d not quite finished yet.
“We need to do that.” Our heads slowly followed his pointing finger skywards where children were leaping from the top of tall ladders and climbing walls that were over double the height of the neighbouring giraffes. I had to swallow my own fear as my two children were strapped into harnesses and clipped onto wires so they could safely jump from great heights above us. Luckily their big grins made the stomach churning (almost) worthwhile.
A 25 minute drive from Bristol city centre, the Bristol Zoo Project has great plans to grow and introduce more animals over the coming months and years.
Book tickets online for 10% off. www.bristolzooproject.org.uk