Bioparco Rome - hungry mosquitoes and lively baboons

I was surrounded by wildlife as soon as I arrived at the Bioparco. Unfortunately it was mosquitos, who took rather a shine to my pasty legs. Scratching and cursing we entered the park’s impressive gateway and began wandering around in the Italian midday heat.
The park was attractively laid out, with shaded paths running up and down hills, and plenty of space. The strangest thing was that compared to British zoos, which are usually heaving most days of the week, the park was really very quiet, and we enjoyed long periods without seeing anyone. That said, it was also odd not to see many keepers out and about – perhaps they don’t work over the day’s hottest hours?
The main problem with it was that while there was plenty of space for pedestrians, the same treatment hadn’t been granted to its inhabitants – with tigers perched on narrow ledges, and a pair of Asian elephants failing to escape the sun in their bare enclosure.
It wasn’t the worst zoo I’ve ever seen (that prize goes to Beijing) but it did remind me just how high the standard of most British zoos is.
We saw an enormous colony of baboons, again without enough space, clambering over rope ladders, picking fights with one another (and grubs off one another) and chasing crows away from their food.
It was lovely to see some of the more unusual lemurs kept here, alongside the ubiquitous ring tails, there were black lemurs and red ruffed lemurs all enjoying the hot weather and in good spirits.
I was upset at the hippo enclosure watching a group of people old enough to know better trying to get their attention by throwing twigs at them, and playing their ring tones loudly. It really bugs me when people try to attract the attention of animals, through whatever method. I understand when it’s kids, but so often it’s adults showing off to one another. To me, part of the appeal of zoos is that you never know which creatures will be awake, or interacting, or feeding…and which will be asleep in their ponds, ears flicking above the surface. It just means when you do see an animal that’s a bit more lively, it makes it more special and unusual. I would hate to visit a zoo where animals were too stressed to snooze, or forced to perform, and it strikes me as arrogant to think anything else.
A case in point was when we went to visit the brown bears, who actually had a much nicer enclosure than many of the other animals, and we couldn’t see any evidence of them. Instead of banging on the glass, we went on our merry way to see the wolves, who were lying in the shade, relaxing.
It’s a strange balance for the zoo industry, making appropriate cages for creatures. On the one hand, you want them to be able to hide from the public gaze, and have some privacy, on the other, you need your guests to be able to see each animal to appreciate its role in your zoo. Personally, I’d rather not see a bear or tiger and know it’s lurking mysteriously somewhere in the undergrowth, than see the haunted face of one with nowhere to hide. But maybe that’s because I go to zoos so often – if I don’t see a creature in one, I’m bound to come across it in another!

Whipsnade - parading elephants and galloping wild boar

Whipsnade was developed by ZSL as London Zoo became less and less suitable for some of its larger animals. The Asian elephants, for example, were decamped to the rolling hillsides of Whipsnade, where they have thrived.
One of the highlights of my September trip to the park was the elephant parade, which saw several adults, and one adorable baby, marching back to their overnight shelter, with the tail in front held in their trunks. It was very Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’.
Whipsnade is great for large mammals – there’s lions, tigers, cheetahs, elephants, rhinos and giraffes to name a few – but I really enjoy its native woodland species, such as lynx, boar and brown bears, which I like to imagine roaming Britain’s ancient forests.
The gorgeous European lynx was the proud mother of two new cubs, which fresh from the disappointment of the snow leopard babies (or lack of) at Marwell, it was a real pleasure to see lazing on a log outside.
Bigger babies could be seen further along in the wild boar pen, where a host of lively youngsters galloped around in circles, stomping the earth into thick mud, before collapsing exhausted.
It was really lovely to visit the zoo with my boyfriend, dad and step-mother for company, as I’ve been visiting a lot of them solo, and having company makes it much more fun, not to mention making me feel less of a weirdo!

Whipsnade covers a huge area, which can be driven around (at some cost) or walked without too much difficulty. As the weather held out for us it was really quite pleasant turning each bend and waiting to see which creatures might be behind it.
For lunch we tucked into the biggest piles of fish and chips I’ve ever seen, before waddling off to see the penguins (also having fish for lunch) and to witness the park’s stunning views over the hillsides.
We’d arrived later in the day than most people, which was both good and bad. The ride on the adorable miniature steam train was slightly anticlimactic as most of the animals had gone to bed for the night (although a field full of wild lapwing cheered us up), but it did me we had a private audience with an extremely noisy gang of sealions, two of whom treated us to a most elaborate swimming display.
While I’ll always be fond of London Zoo, for its history and convenience, I’m glad that the larger animals are well catered for at Whipsnade. My only criticism might be the lack of shelter en route for any visitors not wanting to stump up and take their car around, as I imagine a rainy visit isn’t nearly as much fun.

Marwell - friendly rhinos and shy snow leopards

I decided to make the journey to and from Marwell Wildlife Park in a day from Cambridge, which was simple enough on the train, but did mean I got home rather late. Another time I’d be tempted to visit the area for longer, as the surrounding hills and woodlands looked stunning in the August sun.

After a taxi ride with a driver who ‘didn’t believe in zoos’ despite seeming to know an awful lot about the baby snow leopards who had just been born there, I arrived at the park, and wandered down its wide paths to the penguins.

Marwell seems to be part of the trend for hybrid zoos – wide and green enough to be safari parks, but with more traditional enclosures like traditional zoos – like Whipsnade and Port Lympne. As zoos moved out of the cities and further into the countryside, and animal rights issues were raised in the 1970s and onwards, this seems like a natural progression for zoos, and is really rather lovely – although my God you will do a lot of walking.

It was a warm day, with its sticky sunshine interspersed with torrential rain. Baby capybaras dipped into their pool with only their ears visible, an Amur leopard dozed in a sun spot on top of its shed and hundreds of kids gathered round the meerkats, chanting ‘seemples.’

In fact, unbeknownst to most, if not all, of the visitors, behind the charismatic meerkats lurked a much more rare, if not quite so sexy, species. Marwell holds the stud book for both the Arabian and Scimitar horned oryx – both critically endangered species. The Arabian oryx, with its white fur and sweeping black antlers is actually a very attractive beast, and I was sorry to be told by keepers about the difficulty oryx face in their native Middle East, where the land is fiercely divided and guarded by locals, making it difficult for the animals to travel. In fact, the Scimitar horned oryx had at one point gone extinct in the wild, and was only reintroduced as a result of individuals held and bred in zoos. I wonder if the taxi driver knew anything about that?

I was desperate to see the new snow leopards, but the wet weather meant only their mother was outside of the den – looking most unhappy about her sodden fur. Nonetheless, she was a stunning creature, and it was a very special moment for me when a sudden torrent of rain meant I was the only person left in her company. She eyed the rain bouncing from my umbrella, and settled down on her haunches. Magnificent.

Needless to say, when I met up with the park’s PR officer Becky Churcher (a lovely girl who was very patient in answering my hundreds of questions) she told me the cubs had made their public debut only the day before, and had enchanted their audience, gambolling and rolling across the enclosure. Typical!

However, consolation came in the (enormous) form of the park’s three white rhinos, who I was lucky enough to be able to meet.

The three were initially lying down indoors, making gentle snorting and farting noises as they dozed. I was led by their keeper down to the bars in front of them, and stupid as it sounds, it was only then I truly realised how big they are. I’ve seen rhinos before of course, in zoos, on safari and on TV, but until you stand next to one – and when they lumbered grudgingly up to the bars for an ear scratch I realised their shoulders were my height – it’s impossible to get a sense of scale. I was in complete awe of these gentle giants, and their colossal horns which they poked alarmingly through the bars.

There was a distinct pecking (horning?) order, with the two female residents clearly ruling the roost. The poor male would come up for a stroke (behind the ear, and under the ‘armpit’ seemed the most popular spots) only to be nudged out of the way by his female companions.

Their skin felt coarse, and left a huge amount of dirt under my fingernails – as their flesh is actually susceptible to sun damage they roll in mud, like pigs, to protect it. In places where the skin was thinner, it felt deliciously warm.

I could have spent all day touching these fascinating creatures, and it was even more special knowing that they enjoyed the contact – we weren’t feeding them, they just wanted a fuss. And who can blame them?

Paradise Wildlife Park - graceless tapirs and ticklish lemurs (and my birthday)

This blog post is rather late, mostly because I had flu after my birthday, but also because I have been very busy interviewing zoo-type people (very exciting!)

I had the most lovely 25th birthday thanks to Steve Sampson and the other kind staff at Paradise Wildlife Park.

I was treated to several 'meet and greets' with the animals, including cuddles with the ring tailed lemurs, who had two adorable babies! They clambered all over mum and me in a fruit-based fever, their paw pads surprisingly chilly.

The babies were most obliging, sitting quietly on our laps - when mum received an important phone call she put down her fruit bowl, but instead of following the food, one of the babies climbed up her arm to sit on her shoulder. Cute, but rather distracting.

It was interesting for me to see the social structure of the group, as it's very different to Shepreth's all-female gang. This mixed-gender group had a father figure, and then rather down trodden young males, one of whom hid behind my back, allowing me to sneak him pieces of watermelon.

We then went in with a boisterous group of male black and white ruffed lemurs, who leaped around showing off. One of them hung upside down from the roof of his cage by his toes - presumably just because he could...

These boys, who were all named after characters in My Name is Earl, had a weakness for being tickled under the arm pit, but they had to come close enough first. After a few minutes of staring at us, one got onto mum's lap, stretching his front paw out helpfully, to let her give him a stroke. Then one climbed into my lap, which was heaven. His bright little eyes flicked around the enclosure, as his raised one paw slowly. His fur was soft, if slightly tangled, and very thick.

People outside the enclosure stared in at us, until we began to feel like zoo specimens ourselves.

It was then on to the moment I had been most looking forward to - meeting the tapirs. Every time I meet an animal close up, I'm always surprised by them. I assumed tapirs were just gentle giants...which they are, sort of....whilst also being extremely clumsy and short sighted! They staggered around the pen, blundering into us and their keeper without a care in the world. I could begin to see how forest clearings happened with these guys around.

Once we had got used to moving swiftly out of the way went they decided (without warning) to lie down on our feet/hands/bags, we gave them a good scratch on their bellies, which they seemed to love.

Their hair was short, coarse and rather grubby, and they explored us with their long, mobile snouts in a most endearing fashion.

The sun came out, and the three tapirs dozed beside us. What could be a better way to turn 25?

The rest of the zoo was in an excitable mood too, with a tiger catching (and killing) a pigeon which had flown into its enclosure (a bit off-putting while we were having cheese sandwiches in the beautiful treetops cafe).

We bought paper bags of food and were able to get close to some of the park's other animals, such as zebra (who had just had a baby), reindeer and an emu (a bit scary to feed!). Paradise is a great place to meet animals, as well as a really beautifully laid out zoo - I recommend a visit asap.

London zoo, back in the day

Just had to share this. Man I wish I was this little girl! http://www.viceland.com/blogs/uk-photos/2011/07/18/london-zoo-in-the-1930s/

Port Lympne - grumpy rhinos and giraffes on the horizon

A fortnight ago my boyfriend Ross and I went to the wilds of Africa, without ever leaving the Uk, when Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent offered to put us up at the rather swich Livingstone Lodge. This was glamping at its very best. Our decadent tent contained a beautiful four poster bed, electric lamps and a heater, and some lovely bath products and soft dressing gowns. We dragged our chairs on to our private balcony, sipped G&Ts and watched a variety of herbivores nibble the green fields in front of us.

It took some getting used to – watching giraffe arrive over the horizon in front of Dungeness power station, or wildebeest grazing amongst mallards and rabbits, but it was all rather wonderful.
The weather was blissfully warm (a relief, as the temperature in the tents does drop come nightfall) and we were treated to two safari drives – one in the evening and one again after breakfast.
Having been on safari in South Africa before, it was strangely familiar driving around in a jeep with two African guides - Warren and Sandile - filling us in on the different species in front of us.
One of my favourite things about wildlife is that there’s always more to know, and I learnt so much on the drives. For example, you can guess where different species live across Africa by looking at their faces: big ears and small eyes means it’s from a wooded area and relies on its hearing and sense of smell, whereas small ears and larger eyes means it’s probably from the plains.
Warren briefed us on safety, with a typically dry South African sense of humour:
“Save your partner if you can, but leave your children; you don’t need them.”
Both Warren and Sandile were experienced rangers before they joined Port Lympne, and take an unsentimental view on the park’s individual animals (“We don’t know their names, it’s just a giraffe…or a rhino…”) while simultaneously being passionate about conservation.
This is what the park was designed for, as a sanctuary for breeding animals for release in their native countries, which explains its unusual design. While many zoos will have just a handful of one species, such as a pair of rhinos, Port Lympne has numerous individuals in enormous, separate fields. It has the largest collection of black rhinos in the UK, and five have been sent back to Africa.

I hadn’t realised quite how different white and black rhinos were, as aside from their facial differences (white have wide, square mouths; black have pointed lips) we were told that while whites are gregarious, social animals, blacks are rather short tempered and solitary. As Warren put it: “When it gets up in the morning it hates the world and it hates being a black rhino because it has no friends.”
The sense of space makes it perfect to see via a safari tour, as on foot there are quite a few hills and it’s a large space to cover. Also the signposting leaves something to be desired – we spent a while detouring down a steep hill to see the gorillas, only to not see them. It turned out their sleeping quarters were in a different area, but there were no signs to suggest this.
On the plus side, spacious enclosures with plenty of hiding places are good news for the animals, and they all seemed relaxed and comfortable.
Staying at the Lodge is a very special experience (most of our fellow guests were celebrating birthdays or anniversaries) both because there isn't quite anywhere else like it, and also because of its welcoming atmosphere. We shared enormous buffet meals at the llapa (a wooden lodge which also reminded me of Africa) and watched the chef flambe pineapple on huge open flames, as the sun set outside. We snuck off with our wine onto the wooden terrace to get a proper view.

In the morning, unzipping my tent and feeling like a child on Christmas morning, I staggered blearily onto our balcony to see an Asian water buffalo chewing serenly outside, by the watering hole.

After a full English breakfast (except for veggies like me who prefered a continental option) we watched as keepers drove past with biscuits for the herds of creatures, and watched zebras and wildebeest chow down just metres away from us.
It was a truly magical experience - even more so when we were told all the profits go back into conservation - and I will never forget being woken by the sound of a buffalo munching cud, or the sight of giraffes approaching over the hills and scattering rabbits across a very British field.

Colchester zoo - elephant saliva and snail slime

Last weekend, on a very sunny Sunday, I went to Colchester Zoo with my friend Jenna.
Naturally it was very busy, but I was excited to be there as I'd be wanting to visit for ages.
I wasn't disappointed, as the very first animals we saw - a magnificent pair of sun bears - were busying themselves removing fruit from the roof of their cage, demonstrating their ingenuity and long tongues in equal measure. The keeper on duty was very informative, and told me of the zoo's plans to build a new, more appropriate home for them - they are currently in the orangutans old cage, and keep eating the window sealant! The pair were rescued from Cambodia where they were being traded as pets, and thankfully seem to have settled into zoo life very well.
Colchester Zoo is the best zoo to visit if you want to get up close and personal with animals without having to prebook or pay any extra. Whilst the giraffe encounter at Banham Zoo was fantastic, you did have to pre-plan it into your schedule and pay a little extra, and most zoos cost even more (sometimes the best part of £100) to meet giraffes. At Colchester you queue up with lots of pushy parents and nervous children to be given a small twig each. The giraffe was then neatly paraded up and down the line of people, delicately picking each frond from our hands.



It lacked the privacy of the Banham experience, and of course it didn't last long and was rather difficult to photograph with everyone elbowing you, but for a spontaneous (and more importantly free) giraffe interaction it was pretty great.
Even better was the chance to feed the elephants - something I'd never done before. We arrived to see an enormous queue, and thought we wouldn't stand a chance of getting near the two gentle giants, but happily it moved really fast, and in no time I was stood in front of a spectacular grey lady, proffering a cabbage leave.



Obligingly she reached out with her saliva-coated trunk, and plucked it from me. I was delighted. The trunk itself felt rather strange, it was almost like a hand in mittens, with its strong grip - she almost took my hand with her!



For some slightly less pleasant encounters I found some bugs to handle (much to Jenna's disgust) including a giant stick insect, an African snail and a hissing cockroach.



I'd handled a cockroach and stick insect previously on a trip to Blackpool zoo at university, but this was my first giant snail, and I have to say I wasn't much looking forward to it. But, ever the show-off, I knew I had to do it, and actually, looking into its funny little eyes, and seeing its primitive mouth working on my hand it was almost...well, cute. I was especially enchanted when its handler told me to stroke its shell - apparently it soothes it, and persuades it to keep its head out in the open.



After a rather slimy morning of encountering creatures, we cooled off indoors to watch an 'amazing animals' type of talk. I was expecting armadillos (the staple of this type of talk I'm starting to discover) but actually a ring tailed lemur took centre stage, leaping around joyously, before being followed by two macaws. I was really surprised to find out they are actually as intelligent as a 3 -4 year old child - pretty incredible stuff.
We went to see the tigers, who were attempting to detach hunks of meat from large blue enrichment balls, with some difficulty. While the view was great from the surrounding tunnel between the two cages, the heat was intense, and there were around 50 sweaty bodies to contend with, so we didn't stick around for long.



Colchester Zoo is extremely well kept, with hundreds of different talks and activities going on throughout the day. I would definitely recommend it for its encounters alone, and there was so much to do I'm already planning my next visit to finish it all off...and meet my slimy friends again!