South Lakes Wild Animal Park

I remember months ago driving towards Barrow-in-Furness along the A590 in south Cumbria, whilst talking to someone on the phone (handsfree!) and being very confused because I was sure I could see a giraffe, and maybe a rhino.... very odd, but yes it was true - what on earth...?

It was South Lakes Wild Animal Park, a place which started as a conservation charity to save the Sumatran Tiger, and has developed into the most popular tourist attraction in Cumbria.

We decided to pay it a visit this weekend. After a small queue at the entrance gate, we entered down the path (and through the haze of smokers loitering before the "no smoking past this point" sign).

The first animals were the sunbathing cheetahs, visible from a high wooden platform.



Further down the path was the narrow-guage railway which runs the length of the park, suitably loaded with pester-powered kids.

Although most of the animals were caged it was for good reason; most of the inmates were there for preservation reasons, especially the tigers, and the rest were there to make the park more attractive to visitors to raise the money for the conservation projects. We did not see a single uncomfortable-looking creature the whole time we were there. The penned areas were spacious and even in some cases vast fields. Some animals were sheltering and resting inside their cages, seemingly for quiet as much as anything else.

Animals unlikely to eat each other were housed in the same spaces, while ring-tailed lemurs were given the run of the entire place, to comical effect.




There is a special section for Madagascan animals, entered through big high gates so as to not mix the different lemurs.

Some very lazy red-ruffed lemurs: -

(or has there been some lemur carnage)

There was an enormous aviary for macaws and vultures and a condor, the place was big enough for them to fly about at full tilt, which was a sight to see.





There were some black-footed penguins, the type that live on the South African coast so they didn't mind not being cold.



Throughout the day there were set feeding times so visitors could gather round and also hear the keepers (AKA "animal carers") give a little talk and rattle the donation buckets.

Gratuitous funky gibbon:


The Sumatran Tigers' feeding time meant pinning dead chickens up very tall poles and making them work for their dinner!


much chop-licking afterwards...


There was an aviary for fruit bats which had a viewing area inside, so they were flying about inches from our faces, squabbling for bits of carrot and picking fruit from the pile on the floor they shared with the tortoises.





There were some spectacled bears rescued from Peru, again this was another conservation project visitors were encouraged to donate to. Shame we didn't get any pics of them, they were asleep inside.

The White Rhinos were a wonderful red colour thanks to the local mud. They shared their field with the giraffes and a family of Hamadrayas Babbons, the viewing platform gave fantastic views right over to the lions.

(spot the Rhino - and the baboons...)




This was all we could see of the lions when close-up. Later from the rhinos we could see them being fed and being a bit more lively!



Note: all these pictures are clickable...
Credit to Blokey and his smart camera for quite a few of them