Photographic Zoo Tour
The front of the main entrance building. Welcome! The Zoo is built on the site of the old Stanley Park Airfield used up to and during World War II. You can still see the aircraft hangars and control tower for which we proudly display a blue Heritage Site plaque.
The first animals you see are the tortoises. This is Darwin, an Aldabran tortoise, who is thought to be about 90 years old. He’s the biggest one! Our tortoises live in luxury with underfloor heating, air conditioning and a pool! Now, follow the path to the right into the Zoo.
You’re now passing the display arena where you can watch the Parrot Display, see the Birds of the World and some new friends, brown rats! You’ll be amazed at their intelligence. These displays are great favourites with the children.
At the crossroads, turn left towards Giraffe Heights. As you enter the park, you'll enjoy the landscaped gardens, extensive lawns and scenic lakes. There's plenty of room for the kids to burn off some energy, too!
On the left is the Primate House and the Howler monkey enclosure. These fluffy primates always have a very grumpy expression! The males are black and the females a creamy colour. If you take the path through the house, on the opposite side of the path are the Spider monkeys, very energetic and entertaining.
The next enclosure belongs to Zambar, our stunning Amur tiger. He’s very good at hiding in the long grass! We hope to find a suitable mate for him very soon, but he loves human company. Do go into the Big Cat House and look out for the meerkats - their enclosure is set between the tiger and the lions. Simples!
Next door, meet the Pride of Blackpool, our family of four, stunning African lions. These are Wallace (pictured), Rachel, Gillian and Jasmine. Three female cubs, Luna, Kimya and Nikita, were born in 2009 and now live in a newly established pride at Longleat Safari Park.
A recent addition to the park is Giraffe Heights, home to six female giraffes, five adults and a youngster, O'Grady, who was born here. The high level walkway means that, for once, you can look down on them, but you can also stand at ground level and marvel at their sheer size! They share the paddock with three blesbok, a type of African antelope with attractive white facial markings.
Leaving the big cat and giraffe “corner”, turn left past the owls and you’ll hear the singing of our family of Asian small-clawed otters. They’re great fun to watch. There are a breeding pair, Barry and Jasmine, and their three female offspring which are just over a year old.
Keeping to the left hand path takes you past the tapirs and capybara to the llama and rhea paddock. These species cohabit well and the Zoo has been successful in breeding both over the past few years. There is also a small house here containing mongoose and various types of birds.
Just across the lawn from the paddocks are great favourites with all our visitors, the Bornean orang utans. These hairy, almost orange apes are closely related to humans and it’s interesting to watch them explore the paddock and interact with visitors. They are Vicky (26 years old), her daughters, Cherie and Summer, and male, Ramon, who was hand-reared in Leningrad Zoo.
Again, keep left past the children’s play area to the fantastic Children’s Farm, opened in Spring, 2011. An interactive exhibit housing donkeys, cattle, goats, sheep, a pig and much more, the farm has proved a huge hit with adults and children alike. You can meet some of the animals during the educational sessions during school holidays, and even try your hand at milking Daisy, the cow!
When you leave the barn, go straight ahead past the sitatunga paddock and Red River hogs and you’ll come to our reindeer paddock. These delightful and familiar animals are very popular with children at Christmas! We have several calves each year which leave us for other collections.
Next door to the reindeer, you can’t miss Active Oceans, the adjoining sealion pool and penguin enclosures. The sealion pool is the largest in the UK and now boasts a 300 seater arena to allow visitors to enjoy the daily displays of training and health checks. Vast panes of glass allow a great view and photographic opportunities. The trainers now swim with the sealions during some of the sessions, but only in the warmer weather!
From above or underwater, the only Magellanic penguins in the UK are a delight to watch as they potter on land or dive gracefully into their pool. Two chicks were successfully hatched in 2011.
Directly opposite the penguins is the Ape House where our family of Western Lowland gorillas reside. Currently, we have five – a male, Bukavu, three females, Miliki, Njema and Kena, and a year old baby, Meisie. We hope to have more babies in the future.
Turn right from the Ape House and bear left by the Active Oceans sign. On your right is our flamingo lake, always colourful – try to spot the terrapins sunning themselves on the edge of the water. An amazing array of waterfowl also share this lake, as well as a wild heron which seems to have taken up residence and joins the flamingos and pelicans at feeding times.
At the next crossroads, look up and spot our stunning Red Pandas in their tree. Sleeping is what they do best! They are also known as fire foxes. A baby, Scarlet, was born in 2010, but she has now left us to join a young male at the Cotswold Wildlife Park.
Carry straight on and you’ll find our zebras, Fernando, Bette, Helene and her 2011 foal, Tebogo. These “horses in pyjamas” are, in fact, critically endangered in the wild, so our foal is a vital link to their preservation. Tebogo is the first Hartmanns foal to be born in 9 years in the UK.
Return to the crossroads and turn left by the bongo. Here you’ll see our stunning Eastern white pelicans. Make sure you catch their feeding time and admire their skill at catching fish!
Here at Blackpool Zoo we aim to offer all our visitors a truly interactive experience and our Wallaby Walkabout enclosure is no exception. Accessed by turning left at the end of the bongo paddock, the path takes you through to the new wading bird enclosure, lorikeets and ...
... Laurel and Arnie, the amazing aardvarks. These fantastic creatures have one purpose in life – to dig! They rearrange their outside space on a regular basis but also are experts at sleeping!
From the aardvarks, proceed past the rabbits and guinea pigs towards the Small Primate House opposite which is a paddock containing vicugna, members of the llama family and Patagonian hares or mara. These very unusual animals are also new to the park in 2011 and have settled well with the vicugna, a pair of capybara and some black swans.
The Small Primate House contains several species of monkeys including de Brazzas, Red Titis and King Colobus (pictured). They are all very different in looks and behaviour so take time to carry out a “mini study” and see the differences for yourself. You could also spend some time trying to spot the Mouse lemurs!
Turn right on leaving the Small Primates and right again. As you proceed along, you really can’t miss the Asian elephants on your left. Kate, Indra and Marcella are favourites with many of our visitors.
Follow the path round the elephant enclosure into the house, then turn right. You are now in Amazonia, a walk through experience with South American (very cheeky) monkeys and birds. These delightful squirrel monkeys love nothing better than meeting the public at very close quarters.
On leaving Amazonia through the small gift shop, look straight ahead and you’ll see our camels. They’re Bactrian camels which are also critically endangered in the wild, but we’ve been successful in our breeding programme over the years. We currently have two camel calves, a male and a female, which have been hand-reared.
Turn right and go round the side of the camel paddock and you’ll come to Lemur Wood for yet another close encounter. There are ring-tailed, red-ruffed and red-fronted lemurs in the enclosure. You can even feed them as one of our Animal Experiences.
You must be ready for a drink and something to eat by now! So, turn right from the exit of Lemur Wood and walk back round the camel paddock until you reach the Lake View Cafe. This newly refurbished and extended restaurant serves everything from fast food (burger meals etc) to salads and full roast dinners. Meal deals can be booked online when you book your tickets.
Sadly, we’re almost at the end of our tour, but don’t forget to pop back in time in our fantastic Dinosaur Safari. Check out animals from millions of years ago and wonder at the plants which have survived the Ice Age. There are many more animals, birds, reptiles and invertebrates living at Blackpool Zoo besides the ones we’ve visited on our virtual tour, so make a day of it and Learn, Enjoy and Discover! See you soon!
