A few review points about our family visit this week. The Elephant Base Camp is excellent and far better than the old accommodation but for me the long walk up to the house wasn’t worth it without additional species on display. It has a really solid coverage of ABC animals. Real value for money for families. The Zoo is like the tardis and seems far bigger than it is. They have used the space well. Nice to see they have not developed on the football pitched size of grass off centre in the Zoo. The cafe was absolutely rammed, and the front of the Zoo was a huge bottle neck with the amount of visitors. This was by far the busiest I’ve Ever seen Blackpool. Most exhibits are tidy and suitable for the animals. The Orangutans and Sea Lions having stand out redevelopments. World of Wings is an improvement on Amazonia and suits birds over Monkeys. It is clear that the Big Cats need improved accommodation. Maybe they should merge and concentrate on one species or redevelop unused land to do justice to both. There was far too many cash grabs for kids. I expect Zoos to try and make more money than just for the ticket but does Blackpool really need to put toddler rides in every unused corner. With my own toddler in tow it annoyed me that I had to upset him by not bankrupting our finances to allow him to go on every Fireman Sam water game or frog ride. I thought it was strategic, widespread and cynical placement over these rides. The dinosaurs were excellent especially with the new animatronic additions. The plants and vegetation seem to have been really improved and what seems like a tired and neglected area five years was really good. My toddler really really liked and enjoyed this area. So many positives and of course some negatives but I would take the family again and recommend it to other people. The Sunday year membership is a bargain as well and if I lived On the mainland would snap that up in a heart beat.
Blackpool will receive a bull elephant by the end of this year. Emmett is moving from Whipsnade, full statement can be found on Whipsnade thread.
I recently heard that young 'male' gorilla 'Moanda' aged 5 has been re-sexed as female. Not sure if the zoo have announced this publicly but there may be a notice about it in the gorilla house.
Yesterday I checked on him on Facebook to see how he's getting on and he's doing very good although he will be off show for now until he got used to his new house, environment and smells after arriving from Whipsnade
Thank you will take time to adjust as he has been a whipsnade a very long time, even before the London zoo elephants joined the whipsnade current group,
Nice photo on Blackpool FB of bull Emmett in his outdoor yard, with a female in the background- on the other side of the fence. The cows(or some anyway) have been making good (protected) contact with him so it says. Whipsnade have so far not updated how his successor from Antwerp is doing.
Elephant update from Blackpool's FB. Bull Elephant Emmett has been mixed yesterday with all four of the ex Twycross females- but not Kate who appears to be held seperately at present. For the older Twycross females(and Kate) its the first bull they've seen in many years- or ever.
