monkey

Yesterday was my niece Nina’s Birthday so we decided to go to Longleat Safari and Adventure Park. Though I think I have been there once in my childhood, I certainly don’t have any memories of going there.

Saturday really was a lovely and sunny day to start with but as we got further to Longleat (situated 45 minutes outside of Bath) the weather grew a little colder and cloudier which was a bit of a shame. Due to the Easter holidays this meant that every man, woman and child had also up and left their nests early in the morning to go and explore the Great British outdoors. Unfortunately for us that meant the queues when we had arrived at the Safari Park were overflowing like no tomorrow!

We had four cars full of people and as usual we had to park up on some grassy knoll near the African Village and wait for them. Apart from the fact that we were eating out cars, it was actually not a bad picnic spot and there was plenty of scrummy food to go around (and lots of snacks too!). Once the final car had turned up and we had a chance to chow down, we went on our way into the Safari.

There was an immense amount of traffic through the park that stretched for miles on end. This also meant that the line was slow moving and I don’t think I touched third gear the whole time I was in there. As you can imagine, the hold up wasn’t helped by the fact that cars would want to stop and take pictures of all the animals they could find, my car included!

One of the best areas of any Safari drive would have to be the Monkey Drive Thru! Though, you are warned prior to entering the area that not only do the monkeys climb on the cars but that they will cause some sort of damage. Of course, this didn’t put anybody off. My little sister and cousin were quite disappointed that no monkeys wanted to climb on my car (maybe they have a thing against Nissan Micras?) but I did get some great shots otherwise. Can you spot the monkey in the first picture?

I always find it quite cool to see exotic animals just roaming about minding their own business, and though safety is imperative you can see that the animals are so used to seeing humans and cars that it has become the norm for them to be ogled at.

The longest of the queuing was spent in the Big Cats section. Everyone wants to see a big, beautiful and powerful animal in the flesh. Of course you are warned that you are strictly not allowed to open your windows or get out of your cars (though some people did sneakily open their windows) because tigers, lions and cheetahs are dangerous and unpredictable.

The thing I was the most excited to see was the penguins! They are by far my most favourite animal. They are awesome! When I found out you were allowed to feed them we went and inquired but they had run out of fish to sell us! How could they run out!? I was almost tempted to kidnap a penguin… But don’t worry, I didn’t! Pretty sure that’s a felony (please don’t go kidnapping penguins!).