Am hoping to visit HWP when I go to Scotland next week. I've never visited before, so any suggestions of what to look out for or the best way to view things would be appreciated. I was hoping to do a photography day but unfortunately they stop at the end of July and they couldn't offer me any dates after that
To be honest, I don't think much advice is necessary - it's a great place; can't really go wrong! All I would say is check the map to make sure you don't miss any paths, but most of it is pretty self-explanatory. And watch out for wild wildlife as well as captive wildlife.
I am a fan of open space wildlife parks so I thoroughly enjoyed my visit a few years ago. The park has two parts: a drive through of hoofstock in open fields and a walk through of mostly predators (which also offers a view of some of the open fields). The entrance gate is before either of these (though there is one small field you will drive through beforehand, but not much to see there). You have the option of stopping at the walk through first or doing the drive through and then the walk through. I suspect most people take the second option (drive through first), but I did the walk through first (and again later) because I am more interested in carnivores. You can do either section as many times as you want during the day.
Also they used to do a tiger feeding demonstration in the afternoon and maybe they still do? Check the schedule when you arrive if this interests you.
If this isn't too late (if I wasn't on holiday with no internet last week I would have responded sooner)... I would definitely recommend trying to get on one of the land rover tours (for a small donation) as these allow you to go around with a ranger from which you can find out a fair bit of information; they can be booked from the visitor centre.
