Paradise Wildlife Park? A place I hadn't actually heard of up until a couple of months ago - I found it via an internet search when I was looking for somewhere with animals that we could take the kids to visit.
This small zoo is in the village of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, about an hours drive away from our home (it's actually just north of London).
My kids have probably been spoilt with zoos after visiting London Zoo twice last year but we had heard good things and were looking forward to seeing the big cats and the wolves.
When we arrived and entered the park the first animals we encountered were the Bactrian camels - they are huge.
hooves and humps
In this area you'll also find plains zebras, alpacas and a tapir. You can buy food bags to feed the alpacas - you can also feed the farm animals.
meerkats
Next were the meerkats - I totally love meerkats - you can book an experience with these cute creatures where you can go and get up close in the enclosure and feed them.
Outback Trail
Enter through a closed door into the outback where you'll meet wallabies and emus - the wallabies are only separated from you by a roped off area.
In the Tropical Rainforest you'll see all of the cute monkeys including gibbons, marmosets and tamarins - here you'll also meet an armadillo and a sloth. The sloth was fast asleep in his box so we couldn't really get a photo.
Angkor Reptile Temple
Full of creepy crawlies including: Tarantulas, Geckos, Lizards, Cockroaches, Scorpions, Giant African Land Snails, Tortoises and our impressive range of snakes. Their Green Anaconda is one of the largest in the UK - seriously it's massive.
big cats
Paradise have a pretty impressive collection of big cats. Our first glimpse was of Baikal the white tiger. He is magnificent. The White tiger is a rare pigmentation variant of the Bengal Tiger. White tigers are not a naturally occurring species. They are a captive bred abnormality.
Living close by are three tigers: Rocky a hand-reared hybrid Siberian/Bengal tiger and Siberia and Aleena -two pure bred Amur tigers. You can go up on a walk way to view them but again you can get amazingly close to their enclosures.
The lion is the second largest among the big cats, with the first being the Amur tiger. These white lions are not albino, they have a condition called, leucism, that causes the loss of pigmentation in the skin and fur. They are endemic only in the Greater Timbavati, region of South Africa. The beautiful male is called Moto and the three lionesses are Kya, Izula and Zuri. It was brilliant to get so close to a magnificent lion. You can book an expereince to feed the lions - we saw this happening.
Meet Panja the snow leopard. The Snow leopard's tail also doubles as a warmth cover and is used to cover its nose and mouth when sleeping in very cold conditions.
We also saw a cheetah, a sleepy ocelot and a beautiful jaguar. This week the Howl-o-ween events have been taking place, so there are activities going on throughout the day for the children. Spot the pumpkins on the enclosures and you get a bag of sweets when you've found them all. There is also face painting and Halloween crafts taking place.
wolves
Paradise have three European Grey Wolves: Misha who is located in an enclosure near the meerkats, he's 15 years old and Romulus and Inge who are located in the woodland. They are brother and sister. They have all been at the park since they were pups and again you can book an experience to feed them.
There are so many other animals at the park which I haven't mentioned yet from lemurs, penguins and farm animals to bats and birds.
There are also loads of outdoor play areas with helter skelters, slides, swings a pirate ship, a fire engine and a train. There are cafes and food stalls on site and also a soft play area and a water park for the summer months.
The Zoological Society of Hertfordshire (ZSH) is a registered charity. All profits from the ZSH gift stall on the animal park go to support great causes. We really enjoyed our day - it was uncrowded meaning that we got a great view of all of the animals. The park is open daily between 9.30am and 5pm.
You can save 10% off tickets when you book online. You can also see what animal experiences are on offer here.
