Yesterday a good friend, her son, two of his friends and I went to Blackpool Zoo. It was raining heavily, but we didn’t let the rain dampen our spirits.
Blackpool Zoo is a superb Zoo, I can’t believe I’ve never visited it before. It is the perfect size, allowing you to see everything in a day at a stroll.
Blackpool Zoo has all the animals you’d expect in a Zoo (plus a few more) and you can get really close to them. The animals look happy and well looked after. Here are some photos from the day, along with my comments, click any photo to see the full size:
 The Elephants – Indoors sheltering themselves from the rain. |
 The camels didn’t seem to mind the rain or the temperature that was significantly lower than their natural environment. |
 Blackpool Zoo has Amazonia an exhibit where you can walk freely in an enclosure with monkeys and other wildlife from South America. It transports you into a rain forest like environment and is where we saw these cheeky little monkeys. |
 I saw these gorgeous pink birds and just had to take a photo. |
 A white wallaby. I’ve never seen a wallaby in real life, they’re so cute. |
 The kangaroos were all taking shelter from the rain. The first time I’ve seen kangaroos. I don’t blame them for taking shelter from the rain, it was bucketing down at that point. |
 Sea Lions. The photo was a lucky shot, as they were weaving around and in and out of each other quite quickly. As if they were doing some sort of intricate and improvised dance in the water. |
 A giant in the Orangutan world – just look at the size of his face, never mind the rest of him. |
I am particularly proud of this awesome photo:
This photo of a penguin is most probably the best photo I’ve ever taken. The penguin was swimming at great speed, although you wouldn’t have guested. I looked at this photo when I got home and it looks like it was taken by a professional. A total fluke.
Here’s even more photos:
 Blackpool Zoo even has an exhibit of Farm Animals. These animals included two Shetland ponies, goats, donkeys, pigs and sheep (photo is of one of the sheep). |
 A pair of attention seeking otters. Wonderfully fun, playful and liked to upstage one another. I love the spirit of these animals. |
 Look how close we got to this tiger at Blackpool Zoo. In Chester Zoo I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tiger, let alone been able to get close enough to appreciate its stripy beauty. |
 Another of the beautiful tiger. Blackpool Zoo have two tigers from what we saw. The tiger is more than slightly moist because of the rain. |
 Lion: *yawn* |
 This is how close we got to a Lion. Able to look in its eye and see the intelligence, along with the hunter instinct. He appeared to be eyeing us up as a snack. Blackpool Zoo had two male Lions living in the enclosure together from what I saw. They seemed pretty well bonded and one went and groomed the other while we watched. |
 Quickly becoming my favourite animal, the giraffes. What I love about giraffes is that every time I’ve politely called over to one (in different Zoos I might add), they come over. They look at me with their big black eyes and some times, if I’m really lucky, they let me take a photo before they walk off. |
 Another photo of the giraffes. I had politely called out to the one in the foreground. |
Essential Info
- Parking: There is an onsite car park, with overflow parking. It is charged reasonably at £2.50 for the day.
- Opening Times: Vary throughout the year, click here to see opening times.
- Admission Prices: Vary throughout the year, but are cheaper if you buy them online.
- Facilities: Toilets, two gift shops, a cafe, a Starbucks Coffee at the entrance, a small train that takes passengers (for a charge) from one end of the Zoo to the other, an indoor children’s play area (separate to Zoo and doesn’t require Zoo entry), experience days.
Chester Zoo VS Blackpool Zoo
I couldn’t help but compare my many visits to Chester Zoo with my experience in Blackpool Zoo. Chester Zoo could learn a few lessons from Blackpool Zoo including:
- Have more of the bigger and more popular animals. Chester Zoo’s selection of big and popular animals is pitiful when compared with Blackpool Zoo.
- Ensure good viewing opportunities for visitors in enclosures. Blackpool Zoo have done this really well. It makes visitors feel that they can get really close to the animals. Chester Zoo hasn’t got this right.
- Make it realistic to visit everywhere in the Zoo in one day. Currently to see everything in Chester Zoo you need about a day and a half of rushing around.
We had a brilliant time at Blackpool Zoo and I would highly recommend it to you all.
Blog soon,
Antony
