ZSL London Zoo had been on my wish list to go to for quite a long time. And finally this Friday I got the chance to book in and go and see some wildlife. I was excited when I came to know that I will be able to see Tigers, Lions, crocodiles and other deadly predators. I booked my tickets online from the London Tour Package website which offers great packages for families and individuals, I was able to save time and book the tickets for the two of us without much hassle. You can book your ZSL London Zoo tickets here: “Click Here”
We reached ZSL London Zoo around 12 in the afternoon. I wanted to make sure that we don’t miss any of the sights and be there all day so that we see and cover all that ZSL London Zoo has to offer. Make sure you keep the ticket printouts ready, they won’t allow you to enter if you have booked your tickets in advance and have not brought the printed-out tickets. It was a sunny day we showed our ticket printouts and entered the Zoo, without queuing up. Generally, ZSL London Zoo gets crowded and the queue gets long, as went on Friday early afternoon we didn’t face much discomfort.
After entering inside we came across a giant Gorilla made of copper. We came to know later that the statue was actually made in the name of “Guy the Gorilla” who moved to ZSL London Zoo in 1947. We moved on and saw the Aquarium and Reptile house on the right. We looked at the map, which we were provided at the entrance. At first instance we felt that we won’t be able to see all the animals today, so we decided to go with the big animals first, the more exotic ones. The ones, we have not seen in our lives, so the nearest one was the Gorilla Kingdom which went to see first. Seeing the gorilla for the first time, I was simply staggered by how massive they are and so humble. When we came close to their enclosure, we saw them lazing and hanging with the branches, not bothered about the celebrity status they have got. School kids look at them with sheer excitement. We watched the small monkeys too playing around.
Tiger Territory
And then in front of us awaited the Tiger Territory. We were super excited to see our first Sumatran Tiger. As far as I remember I never saw a tiger in my whole life, I once saw a Lion in the Delhi Zoo that is my old memory. We went straight in and my god what we were about to see was something I have never felt and seen with my eyes. We saw a tiger named JJ first and my god he was beautiful huge and unbelievably real walking in front of our eyes. We loved it so much that we spent around half an hour just to get a closer glimpse of JJ. We then came to know from the keepers that there are 3 more young cubs of about year-old each in the enclosure. We also got the chance to see tigers feed. And man it was a treat seeing these tigers.
We then moved on to the Outback where we saw Ostrich and Kangaroos. By the time we reached there, it got very windy so we spent a few minutes and took some pictures and moved on to see some more exotic animals. We then arrived at the Reptile House, where we saw varied types of small to big lizards, and venomous snakes. Viewing wildlife from my eyes in real was a great experience and was excited to look more good we saw two tortoises at our exit. We came to know they were very old about 80 years old already. Tortoises can live up to 150 years old. It was a great sight to see some animals living longer than humans. We then moved on to bugs life, cattle farms and so many other wildlife creatures there.
There were few noticeable animals, which just took my breath away Meerkats were one of them. After seeing the butterflies, insects, owls, and pigs, we went to see Penguin beach. It was an amazing sight, we saw them playing on their own beach-kind of themed area with a nice glass-walled pool. We stayed there for a while and enjoyed and observed the penguins. Ahead we saw so many other animals and birds whose names were completely new to us. This made us realise that they all are exotic and rare.
We came to know that there are almost 1000 species being exhibited in the zoo and more than 20,000 Animals living there. 982 species and 20185 animals to be exact. These are some biblical numbers and imagine we had so much to see in a day. Well while looking at the map provided to us we came to know they also have African themed park where they had Giraffes, Zebras. You have to cross the bridge either from near the entrance or next to the Terrace Restaurant. As we were close to Penguin beach we went through the bridge near to us next to Zoo Shop & Exit and The Terrace Restaurant.
We came across the Reindeer on the right-hand side and then don’t even know these cuties’ names, oh yes the Giant River Otters they were playing around in a small transparent water pool. Essentially the area was called the Happy Families.
Nightlife and RainForest Life
Then we came across the Nightlife and Rain forest Life. We first went into the nightlife, it was a pitch-black dark place. We came across all the wildlife, which lives way deep in the water and unknown world. It was pretty freaky out there.
We moved on to the Rain forest Life. It was a completely different setup enclosure for all the wildlife, which lives in rain forests of Pacific temperature, Amazon rain forests, and Congo rain forests to name a few. When we entered the enclosure was maintained like an actual rainforest. The water was drizzled all around the place with an automatic system, like every 5 minutes or so. This was pretty impressive. We saw numerous types of monkeys and lizards lazing in their enclosures. We saw Costa Rica Capuchin Monkeys, Golden Lion Tamarin, Sloth, Emperor Tamarin, Brown Howler Monkey and squirrel monkeys to name a few which we saw there.
African Wildlife
We then moved on to the Africa Area, surely we all know the biggest animals are found in Africa, and to our delight yes we saw 14 feet Giraffe, Zebras, Hippopotamus, and Okapis. We were simply amazed by the height of the Giraffes, we saw 3 of them and they all were looking very healthy and tall touching 6 meters or 20 feet, we spent some time there as it was about 4 pm and they were feeding giraffes with evening snacks. We then saw the Zebras and Okapis; they both were busy grazing here and there. Okapis is a unique animal though, having stripy legs like a zebra and a head like a giraffe.
After seeing the African wildlife we moved on to the exit and to do that we had to go to the Happy Family theme park through an underground tunnel and on the left.
The Terrace Restaurant and Zoo Shop
Before we went out we had a snack and tea at The Terrace Restaurant and then looked around the Zoo Shop, they had a pretty nice collection of stuffed toys and stationery themed around wildlife and ZSL London Zoo. All in all a fantastic trip to the ZSL London Zoo, and we were very pleased. If planning your visit to London, I believe it’s a great place to hang out with kids and family. So don’t think much when you have read my blog article all the till now, m sure you are excited and want to book your ZSL London Zoo tickets soon. You can also book your tickets here: “Skip the line ZSL London Zoo Tickets“.
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