Last weekend we were invited, by ZSL London Zoo, to experience the Zoo as part of Baby’s 2nd birthday weekend celebrations. We are big animal and wildlife fans, but had never ventured to the Zoo before. ZSL London Zoo is situated in Regents Park, in the heart of London and first opened it’s doors in 1847. The first thing that struck me, considering it is an inner city zoo, was how great the enclosures were. Piled high with deep bedding and stocked with toys, food and everything possible to enrich the lives of the inhabitants.
Our first stop was to see the penguins.
The penguin enclosure was amazing. It was wonderful to be able to see so much of these beautiful animals, both on land and under the water. Baby was fascinated and it was adorable when she and the penguin touched each other through the glass.
Next, we headed to the Monkey walk through and, unfortunately, only saw one monkey. Buggies aren’t allowed in the walk through, so we parked in the buggy park. However, when we came out the other end, we could not find a quick way back to the top. Which was a pain, with a tired toddler who needed her buggy.
The Zoo has just opened a brand new Lemur walk through and they were offering a talk at 12pm. So we ventured through the painted tunnel to the other side of the road and investigated Into Africa, until it was time to meet the Lemurs. The hippos were so cute and one had even done a self portrait, which hangs in the Hippo Hot Tub area!
Next up was ‘Meet the Lemurs’. The staff laid out food along the walk through and we were able to get really close to these beautiful animals. We were told that one type of lemur used to be the size of a silver backed gorilla! Thankfully these ones were a lot smaller!
Lunch was calling and we were very impressed with ‘The Terrace Restaurant’; such a modern space with lots of food options. It wasn’t cheap, but it was lovely quality food. There are a few places to buy food and drink, so there are plenty of alternatives. After lunch we continued our exploration, visiting the butterfly enclosure, camels and the fabulous Animal Adventure area; where Baby loved the petting goats! The Tiger Territory and the Gorilla Kingdom allowed us to get really close to those amazing creatures.
I loved the juxtaposition between the wild animals and the city building in the back ground.
There was genuinely so much to do that, even though we spent the whole day there, we didn’t experience everything. There are little gift shops dotted around the enclosures and a large one near the entrance. This stocked a fantastic range of products and I could have spent a fortune in there, if Mr Hubby wasn’t watching me like a hawk!
Adult tickets range from £22.50 – £27, depending on whether you buy in advance and include a donation. For children over 3 years tickets are £16.65 to £19, with under 3’s going free. Other than your food and drink, the only other extra is the parking. You can park in the YSL carpark, which is really close to the main entrance for £14.50 per day or pay by the hour (£2.40 per hour, max 4 hours) on the side of the road.
We thoroughly enjoyed our day at YSL and would like to thank them for inviting us for the day.
Disclosure: We were guests of YSL, but we did pay for our own food and parking. All opinions are my own.
Comments 22
Looks like it was a lovely day! We are big wildlife fans too. Haven’t been to London Zoo since I was a kid though – it looks great. Fab photos – are these on your new dslr? x
Author
It was fabulous! Yes lovely they were taken on my new camera x
We love London Zoo. We go there at least once if not twice a year. We have loads of pictures of Little Miss H there. First as a very small baby and now as a toddler. She loves seeing all the animals and I’m always so impressed by all the conservation work they do. It looks like you had a wonderful day there. Hugs Mrs H xxxx
Author
Fabulous isn’t it! Such a wonderful place xxxx
I’ve never been to London Zoo but I would really love to go, we live just over 30 mins from their sister site at Whipsnade and have a zoo membership. Oliver loves it. Membership is definitely worth it if you’re nearby because as you’ve said you can’t get everything done in a day so each time we go we pick a few animals that we want to see (you get discount on food & drink and car entry too). We always go now when we are feeling a bit tight on the pennies because it’s like a free day out, especially if you take lunch!
I’ve always been impressed with ZSL and the work they do for conservation and awareness and their enclosures never look like they’ve boxes a wild animal in, even though they technically have (if that makes sense)
Author
It was such a great day, we really enjoyed it, they do such fabulous work x
£15 For a car park!!!!!!!!!!! This is one of my biggest bug bears of family attractions, you pay so much to get in these places that the car park should be free! It looks a lovely place but I think that the car park cost would definitely put me off.
Beautiful photo’s by the way Aby xxx
Author
Yes but it is central London, so you can’t park anywhere for free. Thanks so much, there was lots to take photos of xxx
Ahh look at her making friends with the penguin! So cute. I am always a bit funny about zoos and would prefer to visit a safari park because the animals have so much space. It sounds like they are really looked after at this one though and if they are happy then that’s good 🙂 We have a zoo near us and some of the animals don’t seem to have much room to move about, especially the tiger.
Author
Me too, but they were such nice enclisures and they all seemed happy x
Aw such gorgeous photos Aby! I used to love London Zoo, we went on school trips there quite a lot. I haven’t been with the girls yet, well I went once with just LL for an event when she was about 6 weeks, but I don’t think that counts. 😉 x
Author
Thank you huni. That means such a lot. You should definitely take them, they would love it x
London Zoo is such a wonderful place. It sounds like Baby had a fantastic Birthday! x
Author
It was such a great day and she loved it x
We love the zoo too and although we live very near to Chester zoo, we have visited the one in Regent’s Park too. We stayed in The Holiday Inn just across the park and got the tickets as part of a package, I can’t remember the exact details just that it was really good value. Baby looks as though she had a great time, how gorgeous that she and the penguin touched through the glass !!!
Author
I used to live in Northwich! So Chester Zoo was our local. I was so glad I snapped at the right time for that moment x
How lovely! I’ve been planning on going there for years, I’ve lived in London for over 8 years and still haven’t visited the zoo. It looks lovely, must go soon 🙂 Loving the new look of the blog btw!
Author
Thank you so much huni. It was a great day out x
We love a good Zoo but haven’t been forever. This has just made me want to go so badly. Inspired now. lol Love seeing all the amazing animals. Great post. Thanks for linking up to Share With Me. Happy Easter! #sharewithme
Author
You should go hun, it is a fabulous place for a day out. Thanks for hosting x
We were there on Thursday – love the new Lemur enclosure – it has a wonderful new wood smell to it doesn’t it? Apparently they have ‘Gentle Lemurs’ that are far from gentle but they’re in the inside bit… 🙂
Author
It is great isn’t it. I want to go back to see the bits we missed out x