Hello again!
So yesterday I told you that over the weekend I went up North to visit Shvonne (one of my best ladies from uni).
On Saturday we went to York and took some ridiculous selfies.
On Sunday we got up to walk the dogs (it was raining so no pictures I’m afraid!) and then headed off to Yorkshire Wildlife Park for the day.
Now y’all know I love zoos. I’ve waxed lyrical (isn’t that a great line?) about Prague Zoo and Dublin Zoo multiple times.
So when Shiv’s brother, Jamie (who works at YWP) kindly offered to guide us around on a VIP Tour* and show us some behind-the-scenes magic, you can imagine I was there with bells on!
How’s that for a starter picture!
Pallé is the small giraffe and Jambo is the fully grown one.
You can buy Wildcard Experiences for Yorkshire Wildlife Park from their website. Prices start at £100 and offers you the chance to feed the carnivores and get a full-on personal guided tour from one of the really friendly and knowledgeable Rangers.
They also offer Mini Experiences: use interactive toys to play with the Baboons or feed the Meerkats for just £25, or you can feed the Giraffes for £65 (the info on the website isn’t quite up to date so I’d give them a quick ring in advance if you’re interested in any of these packages.)
I think it’s definitely worth the money. Jamie gave us so many insider tidbits of information about all the individual animals. We learnt all their names, their histories and some of their quirky habits.
And obviously getting to feed some of the animals was a massive highlight!
This is Kala. She’s a lioness in one of the three prides at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Isn’t she GORGEOUS?
I couldn’t believe how close we were. She’s bigger in real life than you can ever imagine in photos and just so beautiful.
We fed her horse-meat using tongs to poke it through the barrier. She was pawing at the bars and growling a lot while I prepped, but as soon as I put the food within her reach she was very gentle taking it off the tongs.
A really, really, incredible experience. Probably my favourite of the whole day!
And then came these little buggers…
See that face?
That’s the face of a poor old lifestyle blogger who’s just had three lemurs launch themselves at her head…
I was very proud of myself for feeding Kounany the giant anteater. Mainly cos it involved putting squiggly, live meal-worms in my hand.
And I don’t deal with squiggly things very well.
Kounany was a cutie though!
How adorable is this little guy?
Wallaby Walkabout was one of my favourite spots in the Park. These adorable miniature-kangaroo-lookalikes hop around their little enclosure and anyone can pop in to pet them.
Such a happy girl.
Thank you so much to Jamie and the staff at Yorkshire Wildlife Park for such an incredibly fun day. We had a blast and I’m already planning my next trip back!
If you’re ever in the area and get the chance, I highly recommend a visit. And take a peek at the VIP Packages on their website as well. It’d make a perfect Christmas or birthday present for an animal-crazy friend!
Have you ever been to YWP before? Or have you ever fed a lion/giraffe/lemur?
I’d love to see your pics and hear your stories!
As a little extra: you might have seen over the news that Victor the Polar Bear arrived in Yorkshire over the weekend and is now the UK’s only polar bear.
Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for the great reveal yesterday but Jamie sent me some pics to share with you guys. And doesn’t he look beautiful!
I love polar bears so I’m definitely going to drag Gary up there next time we’re nearby.
MORE POSTS FROM YORKSHIRE
Postcards from North Yorkshire
*Shvonne and I were gifted free entry and the VIP experience at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
As always, this didn’t affect my review :)
**All 4 polar bear photos were taken by and used with permission from Amy Stripes Wright. Thank you!
