A Day Out at London Zoo

Over the Easter Break, we wanted to go on as many adventures as possible! One of the things our children have asked to do is see more animals this year, and as we live so close to London, Dann and I felt it was the perfect time to go to the London Zoo! The London Zoo had a giant Easter Egg trail on, spread around primarily the main area of the zoo (by the shops) but also had just so much to explore.

When I first booked up the London Zoo, I honestly didn’t think it would be such a full day out – but I was wrong. We went in the morning and took advantage of the parking right nearby provided by the Zoo. We then walked in, which was easy as we pre-booked. In the morning, it wasn’t so busy. We followed the penguin signs to the central area of the zoo, then went towards the brown tent to collect our Easter Trail guides, as well as decorate our Easter Bunny hats.

Once we were finished, we started on our quest to find animals and eggs. Returning to the center, we got a bunch of different letters and took pictures with the eggs. These eggs were themed around the animals near them. Then, we went to see the penguins! I love penguins so much, and there were baby penguins that followed us around, which was adorable. From there, we went towards the lions, which is in an area decorated like India. At first, we couldn’t see the lion, but then it became feeding time, and the lion roared letting everyone know they were out.

We went into the butterfly cave, which was the first inside of an enclosure experience. The butterfly tunnel lets in a few groups at a time, so it doesn’t get too crowded, though it was very busy! Inside, we could see so many butterflies flapping about and landing near us, along with a bunch of different informational signs. This was a really magical time, and seeing all of these butterflies all around was fantastic. There are a bunch of caterpillars at the end too, if you want to look at them.

We were feeling a bit snacky, so I grabbed some of the loaded fries from the stand in India, as we were still nearby, These fries were really good – and we are picky about our food when eating out. They had a curry sauce, a mayo-based sauce, a bunch of other toppings… everyone really enjoyed them and this specific stand is the only one that has such amazing, themed food. From there, we went inside the giant bug area, which is all indoor.

Inside the bug area, there are lots of little enclosures with different types of bugs like giant snails, locus, devil crabs, lots of ants, and there is even a large aquarium that you can look at as well. These bugs all had information on them, and there was a second enclosure we could walk through – this one filled with spiders. Our girls and I went into the spider enclosure to have a closer look at them, before we went back out to the boys outside.

From the bug area, Dann and Kai wanted to go inside an enclosure, so we went inside the area with the bright yellow monkey’s we had been seeing outside around that area. These monkeys are really yellow looking, and when we went inside the enclosure we read a sign about how that was because they use their own wee to clean them. Pretty gross, but we still got very close to them and they were full of energy. Only about 10 people were let in this area at a time, but it’s well worth the wait as you really get to see these monkeys chilling about and moving near you!

We stopped for one of the bird shows, where a bird flew right near us! We learned about how that parrot interacted with other keepers and what their day to day life was like, before learning about owls in the United Kingdom. They have a bunch of these sorts of events throughout the day, so if you are looking for more information on animals, it’s ideal to see when they are on.

We had a look at a few birds before taking a break at the park and then seeing meerkats, a family favorite. From there, we saw some barnyard animals, and then moved towards an area with bigger animals. At this point, I felt like the ticket was very much worth this adventure! We saw giraffes, zebras, camels, and donkeys. From there, we walked across the bridge to another area where we got to go inside a different monkeys enclosure, and one was sleeping right on the path by us, which was so cool to see! We were so close to them. Dann then wanted to go into the lemure enclosure, right before their feeding time, so we could watch them jump around and get fed. Lemurs are always so active and these ones were as expected! I do love seeing them move about.

We then saw the otters at London Zoo, of which there was only two out, before handing in our egg sheet. The prize was a chocolate bar and a bunch of information out on a project that the zoo is supporting, which has the aim of aiding shark eggs that are found in the ocean; called Project Siarc. This was a very neat way to learn about this project, and there were crafts in the end tent, but we were pretty wiped for the day and ended up heading home instead.

I was very surprised with the number of enclosures I was able to enter and explore, and the number of animals was also impressive! Who knew this was all tucked away in London.

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!