It has been years since I lasted visited West Midlands safari park. I think the last time I went, I was around the same age Dylan is now so a very long time ago! I wanted to do something a little bit different with the children at Christmas and it can be difficult with such a big age gap to find something that they will both enjoy. I asked in a group I help admin on facebook (family days outdoors exploring in the uk) if anyone had any suggestions for days out that would suit and West Midlands safari park was mentioned several times as it would have something for both children.

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After a pretty unpleasant visit to a zoo a few years ago, I was slightly apprehensive about how I would feel seeing the animals in captivity but within a few minutes of arriving and starting the drive around the park, it was obvious straight away that the animals here were all very loved and well cared for.

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The days of the monkeys climbing over the cars have gone but you still get plenty of interaction from camels and zebras sticking their noses in the car. You can miss certain areas if you prefer such as the lions but we drove through the whole park. My sister came with us and being a local lady she has been several times, she did say in the Summer you don’t tend to see as many animals out and about as we did this time. I’m guessing that some prefer to hide in the shade in the warmer months. At no point did I feel rushed to drive around we just drove around at our own pace and stopped when we wanted.

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It is your choice which way you explore the safari park. Some people prefer to park up and walk around the park before driving around the safari park but we did the drive around first and then parked up.

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When you have walked past a few shops and restaurants you can go and see the penguins or go to the sea lion show, again something I was slightly apprehensive of watching but as with the animals in the park it was all really well organised and lovely to watch. Further on from the penguins you could find the land of dinosaurs, Matilda (3 years old) wasn’t to sure about all the dinosaur noises and needed some encouragement to walk around but once in the area both children were fascinated and loved it.

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The rides are closed in the winter, which didn’t bother me and I think we would of struggled to find the time to go on them anyway but the giggly park for younger children was open and opposite it the meerkat area was open and very quiet. We had one of the rangers in the area talk to us for some time on the meerkats whilst the meerkats ran around us.

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We squeezed the last light out of the day and headed back to the car via the gift shop of course. The prices in the shop weren’t ridiculous and you could pick something up for just a couple of pound if you wanted.

I would definitely recommend West Midlands Safari park to all ages and although we visited over Christmas and had extra treats like snow and Santa to see it would still be a really lovely day out anytime of the year.

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