Ever since I heard about the birth of Mbula the gorilla (born on 10th March), I have been longing to visit Chessington. The problem is that I only want to see the animals, I'm not interested in the rides anymore, so it is extremely expensive to do that outside of the Zoo Days winter opening. However, thanks to a BOGOF offer, my husband and I decided to go this weekend. Of course, it was incredibly busy, but the weather was fantastic so we took our chance. Here is my review of the visit: The first place I headed for was the gorilla end of the Trail of the Kings (surprise, surprise!). En route though I stopped to watch the Californian sealions swimming around in the Sealion Bay exhibit, then looked at the smaller meerkat enclosure. I knew that the gorillas had been split into two groups, but I wasn't sure what their living arrangements would be. It appears as though each group is let out into the enclosure on rotation. It was Kumba's group that was out when I got there. I just saw him disappear inside and, unfortunately, he didn't come back out. This left Kaja, Bafia, Kumili and Kumi in the enclosure. Bafia was lying on her back near the left-hand viewing windows, whilst Kumili and Kumi were playing together in the far right-hand corner of the enclosure and Kaja was sitting near them. When I moved on, I followed the path round to the next enclosure which houses the Sumatran tigers. The female Ratna was out with the 15-month old cubs Kabus and Kelabu. I don't know where the male Batu was; he didn't have a name-board up, so I can only assume he was offshow. Opposite the tigers is the enclosure for the Asiatic lions, Ashok and Kalinga. The first time I went past, Ashok was waiting to be let indoors and I couldn't see Kalinga, but the second time (after a keeper had cleaned the inside of the viewing windows), Ashok had a big piece of meat in his mouth and Kalinga was sitting round the back. At the bottom of the path are the two enclosures for the Persian leopards. I'm not sure, but I assume the smaller enclosure is for the male Kalaf, whilst the bigger enclosure is for the female Shakira and her 11-month old triplets Cyrus, Soraya and Tahmine. There is a TV screen in between the two enclosures which shows inside the den. The first time round, Kalaf (I think) was outside, whilst the bigger enclosure was completely empty, but the second time, he was indoors whilst Shakira (I think) was outside on the top of the rocks in the bigger enclosure. I didn't see the cubs at all, which was a shame. Following the path round, next to the lions is the enclosure for the binturongs Awam and Jelita. They were both asleep in the far corner of their enclosure. Next to that, up the hill, is the enclosure for the female fossa Perinet. I'm not sure what has happened to the male Morombe as there wasn't a name-board up for him and I only saw one fossa. I didn't go into the Creepy Caves this time. Instead, I headed for the Asian short-clawed otters. This family comprises the male Lancelot, the female Guinevere and their three 9-month old pups. However, I only saw three of them. Next, I headed for Creature Features, stopping en route to see the capybara family which comprises the male Pillie, the female Temo, four babies born on 3rd May and their five siblings. Creature Features has enclosures for skunks, maras, wallabies, agoutis, the rest of the meerkats (including four kits born on 16th February), Siberian chipmunks and ferrets. The path from here goes into the Monkey and Bird Garden, which exhibits great grey owls, hornbills, squirrel monkeys (in a walk-through exhibit), a pair of Alaotran gentle lemurs, vultures, brown-headed spider monkeys (including the female baby Maricelia born on 8th March), white-naped cranes, red-handed tamarins, Goeldi's monkeys, pygmy marmosets and the other two binturongs (the female Sunti, daughter of Awam and Jelita, and the male Watt). The path leads on to Penguin Cove which exhibits humboldt's penguins. Round the corner is a children's zoo which includes kune kune pigs, goats etc. There was an outdoor show called Wild Wood Animal Antics which showed the skills of Fordham the hog-nosed coati, Joan the hooded rat, and Fidget the meerkat. I was expecting the show to last longer than 10 minutes, but this is something new this year, so it may improve. Afterwards, the presenter said she would be training a barn owl if anyone wanted to stay and watch. The queue for the Sea Life Centre had been lengthy all day, but at this time it was a bit shorter so we decided to go in there. I find these places are all very much the same, with the obligatory ray pool, jellyfish, seahorses and walk-through tunnel showing black-tip reef sharks. This was the first time I had seen cownose rays though. I was fascinated by them, especially when they glided over the top of the tunnel. After this, I headed back to the Trail of the Kings. By this time, Damisi's group were outside instead of Kumba's. I got a lovely clear view of baby Mbula, which was a highlight of the day. Buu looked as if she was totally in love with her new son (her firstborn). Shani, Asili and Shanga were foraging most of the time. I missed the sealion show, but I have seen it before. It's a shame that Chessington is primarily about the theme park, but the animals are breeding well, so they appear to be contented. I just wish that they were more accessible money-wise because I would be able to visit more often if there was a lower entry price just for the zoo (like there is during the winter when the rides are closed). However, I am looking forward to a new gorilla enclosure being built in the future so that the two groups won't have to share one area. Hopefully, Damisi's group will expand further so they will need extra space
Good review, I was impressed with the zoo as well. The male tiger Batu has been moved to another zoo, I overheard a keeper. Was I the only one to be very impressed at the fact they have a sign explaining the truth about white tigers? Awesome
Thanks for the information regarding Batu I thought the information about white tigers was excellent as well.
Access to Chessington. I just wish that they were more accessible money-wise because I would be able to visit more often if there was a lower entry price just for the zoo (like there is during the winter when the rides are closed). [/QUOTE] Access to Chessington just to see the animals has always been a major problem. I have been a number of times in the past when someone I knew worked there but getting past the security system is a nightmare even in a Bona Fide case such as that. What they should do is have a year round much lower entrance fee just for visitors to the zoo. It could be on a ticket that's not redeemable on the 'Rides' but their system makes no provision for this during most of the year. Probably it is too much trouble to organise as zoo -goers are a distinct minority at Chessington.
Any idea where/why Batu has been moved? It sounds like he was breeding ok at Chessington if he had two cubs.
Batu was moved to Rheine Zoo in Germany to carry on breeding with their female. He had 5 cubs with Ratna the female at Chessington, so the pair were split. Rheine had a litter of 2 cubs born in late february
i made my first visit to chessington at the weekend. i was very impressed by the collection. i was disappointed i didn't get to see the leopards all day, but at least they have a camera in their den. i am surprised that they don't have a reduced entry price for people only interested in visiting the zoo. because of the price of the ticket i probably won't go again until the rides are closed for winter.
It was open when I visited last week, was pretty good. I found it weird that the sealife centre was a tent though.
I found it weird that there was a queue to get into the Sea Life Centre, then there was an opportunity to have a photo taken whilst standing in the queue!! Needless to say, no-one near me took up the offer. We waited for quite some time to be allowed into the first area (for those who don't know, the numbers are controlled by the staff - each group of visitors is let in through an electronic door). I think the Sea Life Centre was one of the smallest I've been to.
Its not a "permanent" attraction, i think they have signed a contract for so many years to have it at Chessington. The queue when i went was about 30-60 minutes. I totally agree that the photo area is a bad hold up and the whole aquarium is pretty badly laid out plus the fact that it really isn't up to the quality of the other sealife centres i have visited.
If you could have a seperate ticket to the zoo only, then they're likely to also introduce a seperate ticket just for rides. Hardly anyone would buy the combined ticket with the rides being more popular and pretty soon the zoo would close. I'd imagine that it's the rides keeping the zoo funded. Only seeing the zoo in the winter (or paying silly money) is a reasonable sacrifice to ensure its survival I reckon.
Old elephants at Chessington Zoo I am wondering if any Chessington Zoophobes have any information on the two elephants who featured in the Circus during the war and until around 1951 when they went off the radar. They were purchased from Chapmans in 1941 and were called Nellie & Margaret. They worked with Chessington's other elephant, Comet. Does anyone have any thoughts or knowledge. Thanks.
Does anyone know the origins of Chessington's Binturongs? Have the originl pair come in from outside the Southport-based UK population? And what about the new male? Is the young female still being trained for the show?
Mhale, Could you tell me what species of hornbill & vulture you saw at Chessington, please ? I agree with the comments about reduced entry just for the zoo. We had the same problem when we visited Flamingoland.
Non-breeding female 'esmerelda' is from Amsterdam Breeding pair are from Portughal somewhere Park bred female 'sunti' has been paired up with a male from france, presumably saint martin la plaine but not sure. So some much needed new blood, with other collections hoping to obtain, or already obtained these fantastic animals then hopefullyeven more new bloodlines will arrive soon
They definitely used one in the show, I think it was Esmerelda but I'm not sure about that. They also used a meerkat and Barn owl.
