South Lakes Wild Animal Park Omdömen 

We have visited South Lakes previously before it was under threat of closure and found it a really nice place to go. Having been sent a Wowcher Offer we decided we would go again expecting there to be lots of improvements now it has new owners. OMG it’s awful, Giraffe feeding used to be free you could walk out onto a long platform where the keepers brought food for everyone, the platform has gone and they now charge £5 for 3 slices of carrot which you can feed to 1 giraffe, same with the lemurs, it was free and the keepers gave people grapes, you now have to pay. The Rhino were locked in with no bedding, the giraffes were locked in. The poor arctic wolves were all stained brown from the land they were living on with no shelter or trees, it was a very sad sigh. The Jaguars were showing signs of stereotypical behaviour, pacing back and forth over the same meter time and time again. One tiger was being fed by people stupid enough to pay, apparently the female stayed away as he attacked her. The Kangaroos were all stained brown by the the soil they were living on. Cages had no enrichment for the animals, lots had no proper shelter.. one very sad looking Lion was sat on a sand hill, no other lions in sight. I was told they had 3 Zebra but they shot the male as they couldn’t control him. The bird enclosures are closed because of Avian Flu but they are not following DEFRA Guidelines as the birds should either be locked in or fully undercover and they aren’t.

The whole place is a mess, falling down cafes and buildings, paths closed off to the public, enclosures closed so the animals have nowhere to roam. There 100% have been NO improvements at the place. The kindest thing for the animals would to rehome them they have an awful life there and then shut the place down.

As massive animal lovers this was a very sad experience for the family 😪

The staff were amazing! I cannot recommend this zoo enough!

What an AMAZING day out! I took the kids here on the world giraffe day deal, £20 each for zoo admission, chance to feed the giraffes and a cuddly giraffe toy each for them. They absolutely loved it, so many animals to look at and you can get so closed to the animals compared to other zoo’s that actually cost nearly 3 times the price. Food was okay but nothing special. All of the staff were super helpful. Huge gift shop with lots of choice for a souvenir. Would definitely recommend and such a lovely way to pass a full days time!

We travelled a good 3 hours 30 minutes to get to the zoo. We arrived and all seemed fine. The staff were friendly at the front desk and gave us the option to feed male giraffes. We went here because of a Sloth experience (ill get to that part later).

We headed into the zoo, and went into the Africa House where we were greeted by 2 meerkats. But we then saw 3 zebras all in separate stables and not moving around. In the distance we also saw 3 big Rhinos that looked like they had hardly any room.

We left and continued to walk. We then saw 1 wilderbeast and 1 rhino laying down in a field whilst some female giraffes were just stood still.

We went to the left and found the primates swinging around making lots of noises. The lions were great as the female was laying right next to the glass. But some reason was very angry at us and you could tell she did not look happy.

The birds in particular the vulture cage looked like they had lots of room to fly in and even saw a rabbit running around in there so not sure if they're given live prey or this rabbit just ended up in there.

We did see all animals as well and most seemed alright. We were surprised at how open it was which is nice.

Feeding the giraffes carrots seemed a bit strange 🤔. But we did it not knowing any different.

The sloth experience though was amazing despite Stanley's slothy lazy nature it was great to learn more about sloths and seeing one up close.

The gift shop was also very impressive and rather big. Of course we had to get a honoury fridge magnet.

When leaving we told the staff that we actually had a really nice day out. This is when the staff told us that's great to hear especially with what they've been going through.

When we got home my partner did some investigating and we were shocked at what we found. It put a some what sour taste in our mouth when we thought it was one of the better zoos we've been too.

Overall a lovely time but hearing the history of the place made us feel a bit baffled to put it nicely.

Where do I start … from start to finish this place is an absolute JOKE!! Firstly when we arrived, we had previously booked our tickets through Wowcher and we had the confirmation email on our phone etc. When we showed the tickets over at the desk they said they can’t accept a digital copy!! So we had to rebook at the desk, so the total cost of the visit was £80+. Baring in mind they had seen we bought tickets already, but weren’t willing to accept them. When we finally got into the zoo, there was literally barely NO animals to visibly look at. We had to roam the full zoo to find animals, most of the enclosures were empty, the lemurs were locked away behind a glass enclosure, which gives them no option to roam free, the monkeys were locked in here too (separate enclosure obviously). The zebras were locked up in separate cages and the cages were TINY! Meerkats were also locked away too, but last time we visited the zoo they were actually allowed out. They blamed it on the weather but it wasn’t raining at all that day and it was very mild in temperature. The tiger we managed to see was pacing around and just looked very stressed, all of the bird enclosures were closed due to apparent ‘bird flu’ so we couldn’t walk through and there wasn’t any birds there anyways to look at. The emu that was visible was walking around limping, and surely someone knew about this as there was a man standing around watching the emus!! The first cafe we then pasted by was absolutely FLITHY!! 🤢 it was part of an enclosure that had a bear living in and it was stinking! We couldn’t wait to get out, and that was just to visit the one bear. Not the mention the cafe was wriggled with flys. And people are actually meant to eat their food there. We then past another little shack on our journey that was closed and looked like it had its day! And then we past a ice cream shack that was supposed to sell sandwiches but had none. I could understand if the day was busy with the public but it was practically empty that day and no had food! To top it off you aren’t allowed to bring your own food in, and the little bit of food they did have available was RIDICULOUS in prices! You literally have to take out a loan to visit this place. So after a awful day and my daughters 2nd birthday ruined, we reported to the reception to raise our concerns to be told by the manager herself if we want a refund we must email the page, so that is what I have done. And the response from the woman on that side was so unhelpful and inconsiderate and refusing to refund us. And is only offering a 14 day free return, even though I did mention it had taken us 6 hours in total to get there and back, and the cost of petrol wasn’t exactly cheap, so why would I want to return to a awful zoo to cost us more petrol to get there, finding time off work, to experience the same thing as last time to then complain again!! It makes no sense at all! This place doesn’t even deserve a 1 start, if I had a choice it would of have been a 0. I have in fact visited here twice previously and I must say it was massively gone down hill and it is not what it used to be.

This is an extremely environmentally UNFRIENDLY zoo!!! They make you PRINT your tickets. We had to use DIESEL to drive to the library to use PRINT INK, PAPER and ELECTRICITY to print tickets!!!! DO NOT DO WHAT YOU DO FOR ALL YOUR OTHER EVENTS AND HAVE YOUR TICKETS IN YOUR PHONE WALLET!!!!

We visited the zoo today, as we had purchased an animal encounter as a gift. I have to say the communication leading up to our visit wasn’t the best; no phone lines available, email only which has a 48 hour response time. In all fairness, when they did respond, the staff were very helpful.
We initially booked the big cat encounter but due to a change of dates we were unable to do this encounter in full (which was our fault!). Instead of doing the full encounter, we were offered the Andean bear experience, one big cat hand feed and the artic wolf hand feed….more than what we paid for, excellent! I also pre-booked a giraffe hand feed with our tickets.
The zoo is quite small and if we didn’t have all these feeds booked in, we would have gotten around really quickly but we had time in between feeds to see the other animals. The animals are all in clear view, enclosures are spacious and tidy so you can see the animals and you can get very close! The keepers doing the encounters were really knowledgable and friendly. The animals were all up for receiving their treats and that made this unforgettable.
Thank you for a fab day!

What an awful experience. We booked in online and ordered the Giraffe feeding as an extra. Once we arrived at the Zoo we were told that we had to wear mask and that Giraffes can catch Covid. We wasnt prepared to experience the Giraffes behind a mask so we declined. We was told that we could have a full refund if we sent an email. Email was sent and Zoo is refusing to reimburse the fees paid.

To top the whole thing off seeing as this Zoo is supposed to take the welfare of the animals it was disgustingly dirty. Used masks littered all over the floor where animals were wandering freely. Bins overflowing and seagulls pilling rubbish out.

This place needs closing down as it is a disgrace of a place to keep animals, let alone have the general public visiting!!

- [ ] Very disappointed with my visit, some of their staff seem to be extremely incapable of doing their job. One penguin keeper in particular caught my attention many times and eventually went on to completely ruin our visit. We first saw him strimming grass inside the penguin enclosure which seemed to be seriously stressing the penguins, i was more upset when my son informed me that strimmed grass can be dangerous for penguins. This same man later on was doing the penguin feed experience i paid for for my children. Unfortunately they never got to feed the penguins as he fed them himself before he allowed us to feed them. Many of us had to lose our money as this man seemed to have no idea what planet he was on. My husband also told me he saw him prop the vulture aviary gates open with rocks which im sure is a great way to introduce vultures to the UK. Will not be visiting again as my kids left on the verge of tears. The only reason i didnt give 0 stars is due to the other penguin keeper who was polite and apologetic for his colleague but -4 for the older tall keeper.

After spending £100 to enter the zoo I went to get something to eat with my daughter, where there was no high chair available and only 4 tables for indoor seating. The conditions were vile and the food was subpar with very minimal options, there was a table taken over by rubbish and rubbish alone. I was very let down by the standard of the food and the conditions.

Went here on Monday, paid half price for tickets.
We had a mobility scooter user with us and have to say she was able to get everywhere, wouldn't recommend for wheelchair users, very uneven, lots of slopes.
Downsides - the map wasn't up to date, only 1 place to eat (no picnics/food allowed from outside) £8+ for a small fish and chips, hardly any keepers around to ask questions. We arrived around 11am and had seen everything by 3pm, glad we got half price tickets. The website was difficult to navigate before we arrived, even for buying tickets it wasn't clear, they had multiple offers on tickets - 25% and 50% off
Plus points - Lots of animals out and about, up close exhibits, the 2 keepers we spoke to were friendly and albe to tell us where the animals had moved to

I cannot begin to describe the wonderful experience we had here, it was absolutely magical. The fact you can interact with the animals, feed Giraffes, Monkeys, Penguins & more is just something you won't forget. I went a few years ago, and then went back during the summer again during lockdown for something to do with the fam (as I had great memories) and wasn't disappointed one bit. I wish I had written a review back then as both times they gave us the experience of a lifetime, and it seems like no-one has been writing just how good their day out was in this place which is a shame, because if we only review the bad experiences (like we tend to do when we've been wronged) then places like this won't exist for much longer.

Thank you for the memories and we will be back again!

We had a brilliant day out at the safari Park. They had some amazing animals like rhinos, a tiger, lions and artic wolves just to name a few. The Park seemed to be tidy and animal enclosures looked to be clean aswell. I really couldn't fault the Park and my 4 year old son loved his day out there. We paid for some of the feeding experiences ie penguin, giraffe and lemurs and enjoyed that and felt there were worth the money. I must say we didn't bother with food on site this time so can't speak about food or prices etc. We did however buy the animal feed which If I'm honest I would recommend if you do buy it just keep it as a keepsake/memory as the few animals you can feed it to aren't that interested in it lol . We are definitely going to visit again this time especially closer to summer. Overall great place and would recommend going for the day

It was not a good day out! Very expensive for what it is. When you go in, you can buy animal feed, but it is very expensive at £2.50 per bag, but when you have taken young children for a day out, you think “why not”. The bags of feed are tiny and then there are no animals to feed once inside, so it was a complete waste of money. You are also unable to take a picnic in the zoo with you, you have to leave and go back to your car, or get food in there, which we decided to do. The ONLY options available was fries, hot dogs and chicken strips, all at absolutely extortionate prices. Soft drinks started at £1.80 and it cost £5 for two twister ice lollies! It is very hard to see lots of the animals because their enclosures look very overgrown, lots of TLC is needed. I will absolutely not go back again!