A Wonderful Summers Day Out.
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Recommendation added: 23/04/2006 01:12
By: dewberry (YSUK rating +649)dewberry has been thanked 6 times for this contribution
"Every year we go to the West Midlands Safari Park as soon as the weather starts warming up, last week we made our first visit of the 2006.
As soon as you arrive you queue up in your car to pay your admission of £8.99 per person, adults and kids pay the same here, although under 4's go in for free. This is paid at a row of kiosks just before you go into the park, also available here are souvenir booklets and small animal feed which you'll need to feed the goats, deer and giraffes. The feed is cheap at £1 a box and its well worth buying as I guarantee once your children see Bambi looking at them through the car window they'll be screaming to feed it! A quick tip though, instead of buying the souvenir booklet just ask for a printed route of the park which is supplied for free. The booklet is nice for the kids, but is basically a map of the park with a few glossy animal photos and not really worth the £6 price.
This admission price includes a voucher for another free visit before the beginning of November, providing the same amount of people go and you visit in the same car. This is brilliant, as we'll go three or four times during the summer and only pay for two visits. An average saving of £36 when a family of four goes back and uses their free ticket, not an amount to be sniffed at!
As you drive past the paying-in kiosks you're on route for the Animal Reserves which cover 150 acres, staying (obviously) to the roads this is roughly a four mile drive. The Reserves are superb, my kids practically wet themselves with excitement as we drive through the gates and they get their first glimpse of the animals inside.
I'm not going to list every animal to be found at the Safari Park because there isn't room, there's a huge variety of animals from all over the world including a selection which are new this year and haven't been included in the safari before. Unfortunately, the monkey enclosure at the Safari Park had to be removed a couple of years ago after a mystery virus hit them but the park has coped admirably with the loss of their (up to then) best and biggest attraction.
A lot of the animals are allowed to overlap their various enclosures and for this reason most of the park is one huge field (for want of a better word), only a couple of the more predatory groups of animals are sectioned off. Well, you can't really have wolves mingling with antelopes can you? It'd be a more natural (and bloodier) Safari than you were banking on! To see these animals you have to drive through some heavy looking gates which are opened and closed quickly after each car, you immediately know you're in an enclosed space with dangerous animals when you look up to see several park rangers keeping a very close eye on them and you!
The Animal Reserves are as close to a natural environment as can be expected. The grazing animals are the ones which are allowed to wander around as they like, these go along munching the grass and pretty much minding their own business. There are plenty of shrubs and bushes around for them to eat, and the Safari Park ensures there's adequate shade and water pools/drinking troughs. All in all, I'd say these animals have a good life. The tigers have a swimming pool with rocks alongside, which looks very similar to a watering hole they'd experience in the wild.
The route through the Reserves is a straightforward one way system; you can't go wrong providing you follow the car in front. The road is wide enough to allow you to stop and get a better look at the animals, and most times an impromptu queue occurs at the more popular animals and you're forced to sit in a line until the rest of the cars have taken as many photos as they want! This is no hardship, however, because while you're sitting waiting there's other things to look at and you're aware that you'll get your turn with the llama (or whatever) soon.
The animals are grouped depending on which continent their species originates from. I simply adore the African Big 5 which shows off the larger animals in the Safari Park, this place actually has the largest collection of African animals in the UK. The thing I love about the African Reserves is the sheer size of some of the animals – the two white rhinos are the scariest animals I've ever seen. They roam around with the gnu's and just look plain mean – there are plenty of park rangers driving around this area in little jeeps, giving the rhino a nudge with their bumper if it looks like its going to make a dash at a car. I saw one start scraping its foot and snorting once; I was convinced someone was going to be rammed, but luckily the rangers shooed it away with some pretty hard bumps from the front of the jeeps!
You should allow at least an hour and a half to complete the drive around the Animal Reserves, or longer if you can bear to be cooped up in the car for so long. We can easily spend three hours driving through the reserves, and often stop off at various points along the route and eat part of our picnic in the car just taking in the gorgeous animals. During the summer there are a few drive-thru ice cream kiosks which stock ice cream, cold drinks and snacks – this is a godsend on a hot day when you're sitting in the car with all the windows wound up. As you drive around you'll see numerous rangers driving around in highly visible orange jeeps, if you get into trouble the drill is to do a few short blasts on the horn to attract their attention and they'll drive over.
My ultimate favourite animal in the Safari Park is the newest addition of white lions. These are fascinating creatures; they look so friendly and cute that it's unbelievable that they'd rip your head off if they ever got the chance! Also, a small group of white tigers live at the Safari Park which are also wonderfully beautiful animals. Both the white lions and tigers are very rare, with only a small few in England so I really feel privileged to be able to see them so closely.
The children love the final part of the Safari where they can feed a wide variety of deer, antelopes and even giraffes will bend down and grab some of the special animal feed from your hand. This is really up close and personal to the animals and although my kids are usually a bit apprehensive about putting their hands out of the window, they calm down once they see how gentle these animals are.
After you've finished in the Reserves, head down to the fair. There's a good selection of rides for children of all ages; from the Twister which is basically a waltzer ride on a rollercoaster track to the calmer Tea Cups and Congo Carousel. The Log Flume (or Zambezi Water Splash as it's been renamed here) is brilliant, three decent drops and I didn't get too much of a soaking so that was a bonus! You're photographed on one of the drops, so when you get off the ride look out for the picture kiosk where you can buy a reminder of your bravery in fridge magnet form. The fair's great fun and although it gets very busy, it's organised brilliantly so there isn't too much queuing.
You need to buy either a wristband or individual tickets to go on the rides. You know what? The wristbands are the only criticism I have about the Safari Park, the standard price for a band is £8.75 which is a flat rate for everyone. This is a reasonable price but they're issued depending on how tall you are so while three of us in our family get our moneys worth, my seven year old is very small and we end up paying the same for her band when she only gets to use it on roughly a quarter of the rides. Only a minor niggle, but the Brit in me hates to feel like I'm being ripped off!
There are places to buy food inside the Safari Park; we usually buy a hot meal from The Explorers Café. Here there's a good menu of the 'chips with everything' variety – which is great, you're on a day out after all! This is a sit down café and is a welcome rest from walking around the fair. My partner loves the fact that this place is licensed so he can have a bottle of Bud in the sun while me and the kids eat our meals. There's also an ice cream bar where you can choose from around 20 different flavours of ice cream and an assortment of cones, this is possibly the only place in the Midlands which still sells my favourite coffee ice cream so I have to have a double cone of this.
Souvenir shops are available in the arcade which leads back to the car park. Here you can buy cuddly toys designed for the animals which are seen in the Reserves, books about wildlife and all sorts of other gifts and souvenirs of your day at the Safari Park. Prices start from £1 for 'pocket money' gifts such as stationery sets and go up to over £100 for some of the larger and more unique pieces. Cheap and cheerful is my motto, so I'll buy a selection of bits and pieces such as fridge magnets and small versions of the cuddly toys.
Overall, I'd definitely recommend the West Midlands Safari Park if you're planning a day out this summer. We usually spend in the region of £100 which includes admission, wristbands, meals and any bits and pieces we want to buy in the shops. Money well spent in my opinion as everyone has a fantastic day, and more importantly the children get to see some animals they're never going to see in the wild and I believe this is a good educational visit as well as a fun day out.
To get to the West Midlands Safari Park, head into Birmingham City Centre via the motorway network and take the A456 through Hagley and Blakedown. The Safari Park is clearly signposted from roughly ten miles away and by following the signs it's very simple to get to. The park is open seven days a week from March – October including Bank Holidays, it opens at 10am and closes at around 6pm.
West Midlands Safari and Leisure Park
Spring Grove
Bewdley
Worcestershire
DY12 1LF
Tel: 01299402114"
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