Sorcery, Safari & Swimming - A Short Sojourn to the South - Part 2

[Nimbus]

After visiting the Harry Potter Studios tour (see part 1), the next day we visited nearby Whipsnade Zoo.

Apparently it's the largest zoo in the U.K. And, yes, it's definitely big and spread out. You can take your car inside it (this costs extra) but we left the car outside and walked around it. On the one hand, the size of the zoo meant the animals had lots of space. On the other hand, it meant a lot of walking.

After passing through the entrance we were a bit lost. The first thing you come across is a road! We went right and found ourselves going into the European section.

Above is a brown bear.

Lots of these maras just wandering around. People seemed to think they were wild hares.

Penguins! Michelle's favourite animals.

Reindeer. In July.

It was a sunny and hot day and the poor reindeer looked very hot.

Blurry photo of some rhinos.

The views were very good.

Here we are above the chalk lion (I think) carved into the hillside.

Antelopes? I can't remember.

There were a lot of school trips when we visited. Lots of them. The only problem with them was that they'd all go round in groups. So one moment it would be quiet with only a couple of people nearby. Then the next moment there would be several dozen excited kids and teachers crowding around to look at the animals.

Otherwise, due to the size of the zoo, the park wasn't busy.

Zebras.

Giraffes being fed.

Hello!

You could get a good view of the giraffes (at least when the school kids weren't crowding around).

Elephants.

There was a little elephant who was having a great time in the sun. He played a bit of football and ran around the larger elephants. At one point the keepers switched on some water sprays and the elephants began drinking from them with their trunks - whilst the little elephant played in the spray.

Rhino getting a shower.

Buffalos.

We saw lots more animals and also each had a melting ice cream. Our feet were killing us after all the walking and it was very hot.

It's an excellent zoo and well worth a visit. Although it's bigger than, say, Chester Zoo it doesn't have the same variety of animals. The animals are far more spread out. We spent about 5.5 hours here.

Next - in part 3 it's over to the City. (London, that is, and to the Olympic Park).

[app]

New Photo Added by Nimbus - 8 Jul 18 10:31 PM.

[Jake71]

A good day, beautiful weather and some good animal photos.