Chester Zoo is only about a 45 minute drive from me but since having the car I haven’t taken the opportunity to visit. The last time I did go to Chester Zoo was when I was in Primary School -long time ago- so I don’t remember that much.
My Sister asked me if I wanted to go and take my nephew at the end of Summer so I said yes and was super excited to go; it was a Thursday on the last week of the summer.
Once inside the first enclosure you see is the elephants, being the first thing in the zoo this meant there was a lot of people crowding to see but they were keeping their distance from others; we decided to get a quick look but skipped until later so walked further into the zoo.
To navigate around the zoo, I used Chester Zoo’s online map from my phone, there was a lot to see and walk around so we wanted to make the most of the day; we picked a direction and went with it. First off taking us to the Rhino area who treated us to a run around, the Rhino seemed happy jogging around it’s large enclosure.
After a short walk we found the new Lemur attraction, I was eager to see the Lemurs up close; face coverings had to be worn throughout this part of the zoo even though it’s an outside enclosure. (Children under 3 were exempt from wearing face coverings) Inside the Lemur enclosure was a big open area, lots of trees and climbing areas and hidden in the trees was the Lemur inside area, we were lucky as after around 10 minutes they were out and about, running between us and jumping around. There were baby Lemurs too that had only been born this year; two sets of twins we were told by the zoo staff.
I was really impressed with how the Zoo was handling the Covid situation, enforcing face coverings in a lot of areas especially indoor enclosures; some areas was closed due to the pandemic but this didn’t make the attraction any less exciting. There was lots to see and lots of animals to explore whilst feeling safe. (Chester Zoo’s safety information)
My nephew has sponsored a penguin during the worrying times the zoo had this year so he wanted to visit the penguins to see ‘his penguin’. We queued for a short while to get a close up look at them in the water through some viewing glass. This was fab to see them up close and see them happily swimming around.
The Flamingo space was being renovated so unfortunately we wasn’t able to see any, they are my sisters favourite. I said this gives us an excuse to visit again soon. As for my favourite ‘the giraffes’ they were enjoying some food and putting on a show for us, there were a couple of younger giraffes pottering around too. I loved it! There is an inside part of the giraffe area were you can see them up close, it was so amazing to see the true size of them and watch them in their home; one of them walked over and took a drink in front of me. They really are remarkable animals!
There was a couple more parts of the zoo which were unforgettable for me which you can see in the images. Overall the day was a success, all of us enjoyed it and saw as much of the zoo as possible. The Zoo staff were amazing and very helpful when needed, they have some good systems in place to help customers feel safe when visiting during the pandemic.
We will definitely be visiting the Zoo again soon.
Book your Chester Zoo tickets here.
Have you visited Chester Zoo, what did you think?
