A DAY OUT AT COLCHESTER ZOO

A couple of weeks ago, I headed over to Colchester Zoo for a day out. I haven't been to a zoo since last summer, so it was lovely to visit again. 

I always end up leaving feeling rather guilty and like I am putting money towards beautiful animals being kept in cages and away from where they should be. However, it's also important to remember that our grandchildren may never see the likes of giraffes and elephants if poachers keep killing them. I like to think that the money I pay to see the animals in a zoo, is actually helping to save these creatures; and especially endangered species. 

Ticket prices vary during the summer holidays and them ending. You can also save a few pounds if you book e-tickets online. We each paid £22.99 for adult tickets at the gate, during a day week in the summer holidays. It's definitely worth checking out the admission prices as some days are cheaper than others. They also offer senior and disability discounts. 

I definitely recommend planning your day at the zoo beforehand. You don't realise how big a zoo is until you're there and trying to get from one side to the other! There's an animal encounter timetable, so you can work out what time you need to be where for what animals you want to see up close. 

14:15pm is one of a few of the public giraffe feeds and if you know me in person, then you'll know giraffes are my favourite animals! The queue was manic due to the summer holidays, so we was only able to get up close to the giraffes for a few seconds before having to move from the queue. However, that didn't stop us from lining up again!

We had bought lots of picnic food before hand, but was gutted to find that there's no actual grass areas in this zoo to enjoy a traditional picnic - nor was it allowed anyway. However, there's a lot of picnic areas with benches and tables; but again, these were rammed all day. I think we managed to get a table for our picnic at about 4pm, which was when we quickly realised we had missed the elephant feed. DAMN!

We managed to make it in time for the lion feed which was amazing to see. The main lion (not pictured) was very busy munching on a huge steak. This pretty lioness was very content on trying to get some treats out of this tube. 

There's also a petting zoo which allows you to get up close with the likes of goats, wallabies and a HUGE stallion horse. For 50p, you can purchase a cup of pellets and hand feed the goats. This was the cutest thing ever, as many of the goats are babies. 

I had never seen Rainbow Lorikeet birds before. Native to Australia, these colourful birds are absolutely beautiful in real life, as well as in photos. They are incredibly photogenic and very playful with each other. The house they are in lets them fly freely, so they often fly over your heads and it means you can get real up close with them!

6pm rolled around before we knew it and we was the last ones left in the zoo, oops! I am so thankful to every team member at Colchester Zoo for looking after some of the world's most beautiful animals and keeping them safe from harm. I had a lovely day!

Disclaimer: All photography and words are my own.