Family Day Out: London Zoo
We love Family Days out and last weekend we had the opportunity to go to London Zoo.
My little boy has been asking me to go for a long time, so I’m glad it finally worked out.
It was definitely worth the wait and we were not disappointed.
London Zoo is part of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), an international scientific, conservation and educational charity.
As a biologist, I appreciate the mission of ZSL which is to promote and achieve the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats.
There is a lot to see at London Zoo, certainly there will be something for each member of your family.
Once we arrived at London Zoo, we went “Into Africa” where we saw Africa’s most unusual animals such as hunting dogs, giraffes, zebras, warthogs and okapis.
We then moved to “Rainforest Life” which was had monkeys, tropical fish, sloth, armadillo and tamandua, and other rainforest species including cockroaches.
By the rainforest exhibit, there is a “Nightlife” section where you can see bats and other night animals. It offers an amazing noctural experience.
Little man really enjoyed the “Penguin Beach”, he’s never seen them before, so he was very excited to see them.
It’s a cold day, so they were all out of the water sunbathing and making the most of the sunshine.
The Penguin Beach is England’s biggest penguin pool. Before you visit, check out what time the penguin show will be so you can see their performance.
Our next stop was “Butterfly Paradise” has free flying butterflies and a selection of pupae.
It features species from several major regions including Africa, South-east Asia and Central and South America.
It was quite exciting having the butterflies flying over us.
There was even a couple of butterflies mating while we were there.
The “B.U.G.S” was full of little creatures.
B.U.G.S stands for Biodiversity Underpinning Global Survival, and it is the zoo’s cutting edge biodiversity and Conservation exhibit.
B.U.G.S. is where invertebrates are displayed, including insects, spiders, millipedes and other creepy crawlies.
I’m aware that might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I like insects and bugs in general.
In “Meet the Monkeys”, there was a breeding group of black-capped squirrel monkeys.
The little monkeys were jumping from tree to tree in a habitat designed to recreate the Bolivian rainforests.
Then we went to “Animal Adventure” where we found coatis, yellow mongooses, aardvarks, porcupines, meerkats, sheep, pigs, llamas and alpacas.
Animal Adventure is the new children’s zoo.
It gives kids the chance to immerse themselves in the sights, sounds, smells and experiences of life in the animal kingdom.
It was a nice feature to have a little farm so kids could touch the animals, little man enjoyed touching the sheep.
Our next stop was “Big Cats” with lions and tigers.
There is a family of Asian lions and pair of endangered Sumatran tigers.
It was followed by the “Aquarium” with a large selection of sea and river fish, coral reefs and Amazon fish.
There are several different types of fish, including exotic, beautiful and even weird fish.
The “Reptile House” has a collection of reptiles and amphibians.
It includes snakes, lizards, frogs and crocodiles.
It also has some of the biggest and most venemous snakes on earth.
We had a lovely day out as a family.
We are busy working during the week while little man is at nursery, so it was nice to have some quality time together while looking at animals and admiring their beauty.
I really like the fact that the animals were separated in different sections and there was an information sheet with details of each one of them. So you can check out where they are from and their eating habits.
There is a wide variety of animals at London Zoo, from little bugs to giant Galapagos tortoises.
We spent 3 hours at London Zoo, however we could have spent another hour there. I would recommend to allow 4 hours for your visit, so you can make the most of your day out.
Even though it was quite cold when we went, we had a lot of fun and little man’s dream of going there has finally come true.
A full price family ticket for the London Zoo is £72 in the peak season. I know family days out are not cheap, so Days Out Vouchers are a great help.
MoneySuppermarket has a range of discounts to make family days out more affordable.