#CountryKids at South Lakes Safari Zoo

My poor son was dragged to Barrow with me far too early on a holiday as I had to go into school to prepare for the children coming back tomorrow. He did enjoy investigating my classroom but I decided to treat him to a free trip to the South Lakes Safari Zoo on the way home! We hadn't been for over a year since September 2015 so it was good to go back - an extra bonus for it being free...

The first new thing we found was the baby giraffe who was born on Christmas Day:

Then I persuaded my son to go through the walk through safari (the emus are quite intimidating!). Luckily they stayed away from us this time and it was only the Rheas who got up close:

The adorable prairie dogs were right up to the edge of the path making the most of the feed that people had put out:

 

Some of the more exotic animals didn't think much of the Cumbrian weather and were staying safely tucked up in their indoor enclosures:

Down near the cafe some of Santa's reindeer were having a post Christmas break:

We timed our walk nicely so that the camels were coming out for their turn in the paddock once the giraffes had been brought in for feeding:

Down in carnivore country plenty of the big cats were obviously wishing it was warmer! The jaguars were snuggled up in their indoor enclosure:

One of the two male lions was trying to decide whether he was hungry enough to climb the pole for his dinner:

Next door the snow leopard was lurking on the rock pile as the weather was more to his taste:

In the walk through condor and vulture enclosure there is quite a scary warning sign:

This is because the residents might think a small child is a tasty snack and swoop down for a bite:

We accidentally arrived at the tiger enclosure as they were preparing for their feed. Not sure I'd want to scoop tiger poop like this lady:

Luckily I had my camera on sport mode as all of a sudden four tigers streaked across the enclosure and grabbed their food:

I was so pleased with the position we were in as one of them leapt almost straight towards us with his share:

It then proceeded to approach the glass in front of us:

It was a brilliant place for a closeup of a magnificent beast enjoying its dinner:

It was quite a change to step over the path to the penguin enclosure:

We went and warmed up with cake and drinks in the cafe before heading back to the exit. One last look at a smug looking tiger on the way past:

A fabulous zoo which allows you to get very close to animals whilst doing plenty of conservation work around the world.