Up at seven with the alarm, what a bad night. I was awake often and long, I suppose the warm night and the narrowness of the bed could have something to do with it, or the late mac & cheese.. but I refuse to regret that!
It’s tradition to visit a zoo on these family holidays and the closest big zoo is Longleat. It’s Englands oldest safari park, founded raise money for the house and estate’s maintenance. Tickets are 42£ for an adult to visit the safari park and an extra 30£ to visit the house, so quite pricey. We’ve visited zoo’s all over Western Europe and we’re curious how it will compare. We’re skipping the house, fancy though it may be, since we’ve already seen Highclere and Wilton.
We’re getting the hang of navigating this neck of the woods, so we escape the traffic jam on the A303 near Stonehenge by taking the smaller road through Durrington and Shrewton. We’re hoping to catch a glimpse of a tank – in the distance, or crossing the road, we’re not picky – but are disappointed yet again. Still, it must occur often enough or they wouldn’t have traffic signs warning of it.. we do see some military personnel and a (retired, I suppose) cannon parked outside one of the military bases. Apparently, these are practice grounds.
It’s a smooth drive, the weather is hot and dry and we put on some upbeat music to pass the time: a Spotify radio from Kylie Minogue’s Padam Padam. We arrive right after opening time at ten and decide to do the boat safari first. It’s a bit of a wait, but the 20 minute tour really is fun. There’s the island with Colobus monkeys, which are all out enjoying the sun and a snack. But the real treat is seeing the sea lions swimming in the lake. The tour guide assures us that they are fed a balanced and healthy diet and then proceeds to sell small bins with fish, which you can throw (the fish, not the bins) at them from the boat, luring them near and making them honk loudly. It’s a lot of fun to see them swimming with so much room. To compensate for the crass entertainment trick, she spends the last few minutes pointing out some native inhabitants of the big lake, including a breeding group of beavers who spontaneously moved in, a big victory in the effort to reintroduce the species to the UK.
We have a quick lunch at the orangery, which is amazingly and gratifyingly quiet, before setting of to discover the walking part of the zoo. All in all a bit bland, though it’s saved by a few things I haven’t seen/done before: the humongous castle in the background, the cuteness of the fennec fox pups and the walk through the meerkat compound, with interesting tidbits of info from the guide/guard. There’s also a vast yew hedge maze, very impressive looking, but the five of our group who attempt it make it out in ten minutes or so.
Finally the actually safari part, which you can do in your own car. The Longleat app works very neatly and automatically plays a short introduction for each zone. The animals have large enclosure but are usually easy to see from the car. In case of the large cats there’s even a ranger car parked near where they’re laying. Is that to keep an eye on us, to make sure nobody does anything stupid? Or on the cats? Or is it to help the us to spot the well camouflaged sleepers? The most exhilarating bit is the zone with the macaque monkeys: they’re very much awake, eager to climb all over your car and hitch a ride. At the entrance/exit a ranger has a long stick to nudge them off. Their enthusiasm requires some very careful driving, but the monkeys are having a lot of fun. This must be why there’s a bypass available and it definitely warrants the warning in the app that the monkeys could potentially damage the car.
We exit the park around four. It was a nice experience, but a bit overpriced. We can at least console ourselves with the fact that our money will support their research and conservation efforts.
Back at our cottage around five or so (again without having spotted crossing tanks..), we have appetizers outside while ordering takeaway Indian. The after dinner time is spent with Ticket to Ride, photo sorting and blog writing. Perhaps early to bed for a change!
Febe writes 