On a dull, cloudy Sunday we all got up early to drive two hours to the West Midlands Safari Park. It had been about 20 years since we last went and Craig had been wanting to go since we went to Knowsley Safari Park a couple of years ago. It ha certainly changed a lot form the last time we went.
We arrived with about 15 minutes to spare before our allotted time to drive through the park. It gave us a chance to nip to the bathroom as notice boards near the entrance were saying that it would take about 2 hours to drive around, which indeed it did.
There were plenty of animals roaming around and so used to cars they were just wandering between the two lanes of cars. The only animals which were a bit more elusive were the painted dogs and the white lions, both of which you could see but they were up against the fences some distance away.
There is also the section you can walk round where you can see the likes of penguins, sea lions, hippos, fish, reptiles and birds. My favourite, the Red Panda proved to be the most elusive and I did not catch sight of them at all, though there were plenty of stuffed ones in the Red Panda gift shop next to the enclosure.
There is also a very good fairground with plenty of rides for all sizes of children and compared to the theme parks was good value at £10 a wristband if bought online (£14.90 on the day). In fact I felt the whole park offered good value for money compared to similar places we have visited especially for food and drink (once inside the park not at the vendors by the car park). We did take a picnic with us however and ate it on the grassy area near the car park as it luckily stayed dry. I did buy a Coke which you had to get in a souvenir cup. It was £4.00 for the drink and the cup and if you wanted a refill using the same cup it was only £2.00. The meals averaged out at about £10 for an adult meal but I did not see the portion size and there were a couple of restaurants you could eat in.
We all agreed that the park was much better than Knowsley Safari Park and we would go again, however we would do the walk-through part first and then the drive through as I noticed it was a lot quieter in that part after 1.00pm.
