Thursday 24 April 2014

Feeding Time At Knowsley Safari Park

My boys adore animals, but don't get to see them that often, so an invite to check out the Family Workshops at Knowsley Safari Park was very welcome.

We met at 10am in the Safari School building, which was a really great room with all kinds of amazing skeletons and other interesting things to look at while everyone arrived. Our session "Food and Feeding" was led by two of the Park Rangers Nicky and Sue.

We started with explanations of the different types of foods animals, insects and other creatures eat and how their teeth work - including close ups with an Elephant's tooth and Lion's jaw


Then we met some of the creatures - the Hissing Cockroaches made everyone jump!


The Australian Tree Frog very kindly showed us the pads on his feet...


And the Giant Land Snails weren't as slimy as we thought they'd be...


My boys were just as interested in the deceased though! The collections of skeletons fascinated them. 

 

Then we made food for the Meercats! The Rangers explained they like to make it as interesting as possible, so we'd be filling hollowed out melons and logs.


This session is ideally designed for people aged 6+. Because my boys were younger they weren't allowed to handle Mealworms, our logs were filled with dog biscuits and fruit, plugged with melon and then carried over to the Meercat Enclosure.


Then it was over to the giraffes. Again, under 6's aren't allowed to feed giraffes due to some obscure Health & Safety, but everyone still got a good close look!


We were told that giraffes have black tongues to stop them getting burnt because they stick them out so much!


Back to the Jungle School and we prepared fruit for one of my favourites - bats.


And we were allowed into the really dark Fruit Bat enclosure where the keeper hung up the strings of fruit. The bats flew all around our heads and went crazy over the food. I did my best to take some flash free photos...


We had an amazing time. It was really great to get up close and personal with so many creatures and animals and my boys came home and told the other children all about it. We all learnt a lot, in a really friendly atmosphere.

I'd recommend these sessions to anyone because they make so much more of your day out. I really do like bats and being so close to so many is an experience I won't ever forget.

Knowsley Safari Park regularly run all kinds of Family Workshops at a cost of only an extra £6.50 per person for 2 hours, and children receive a badge and certificate. All sessions are shown on their website. I've also posted a more general post about what's at Knowsley - including the amazing Seal Lions!

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

We received entry to the park and Family Workshop free of charge for review purposes.

32 comments:

  1. The giraffes are so cute! :D Looks like a fun day. I would be scared to handle meal worms anyway, even being over 6 :p

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    1. Hahaha....I must say I didn't mind either! I thought of you when I was in the bat enclosure - I think you'd have hated it!

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  2. Looks like a great day out and the workshop looks like a really interesting opportunity - would never have thought they fed meerkats with dog biscuits though!

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    1. Haha...I know! It was a surprise to us too! I don't know which were more horrible, the mealworms or the dog biscuits :D

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  3. Seriously, that's only £6.50 extra? Bargain, that looks amazing!! I am a bit scared of land snails though, no idea why, they just freak me out a bit...

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    1. :D I didn't touch the land snail - I figure I've had to peel enough from people's socks and my growing plants!

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  4. Not so keen on the creepy things but those giraffes look super cute!

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    1. :D The giraffe was really sweet. You can't touch them, but they look much more 'downy' than I ever realised :)

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  5. This sounds like an amazing day! We would love to do something like this.

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    1. It was amazing. Well worth the extra £6.50. It turns a trip to the Safari Park' into something really special :)

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  6. This looks amazing, and bats are one of my favourites too. Great to see that the workshops are not over priced either. Looks like a day you wont forget in a hurry!

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  7. What a lovely day and one to remember too

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    1. Indeed. Hopefully both of the boys will remember it - I think they'll definitely remember the bats and meercats! :)

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  8. What a fab event! Cheap too - I never knew that's why the tongues were black #countrykids

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    1. It is an excellent price. I didn't even realise they had black tongues beforehand! :D

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  9. As above! I never knew their tongues were black for that reason:) a great post and I learnt something too!

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    1. Thanks very much Prudence! I learnt far more than I'd care to admit :D

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  10. What a fab session! I bet they will remember so much more by getting involved, than from looking at signs by the enclosures. We've looked after a couple of bats and they are the most amazing creatures. I have great respect for them. #CountryKids

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    1. Wow, that must have been an interesting thing to do! I once looked after a hedgehog, but it's not as cool :D

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  11. This looks fantastic, my boys would love something like this! What a great learning experience x #CountryKids

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    1. It was fantastic fun, it really was. The best way to learn! :)

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  12. What a fascinating day with so much to learn and do. Sounds a strange rule on the under 6's but at least you got up close to the giraffes. The bat enclosure looks amazing. Thank you for sharing with me on Country Kids

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    1. You're welcome and thank you for hosting.
      I don't understand why 6 is an age at which you are allowed to handle mealworms and feed giraffes, and the Rangers didn't really either, but usually rules are there for a reason, so you just go with it :)

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  13. This look so fun! We went to something similar and my kids love it! Great to get close to animals.

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    1. It is great - I can't imagine you and your kids enjoying the bats though Eileen - one woman got poo'ed on! :D

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  14. Awww I love Giraffes & its a dream of mine to get close to one! #countrykids

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    1. If you aren't anywhere near Knowsley I imagine other parks and zoos do similar things! It was a really great experience :)

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  15. What a brilliant idea, will have to investigate if any places do this closer to us, for when Monkey's older.

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    1. I think it's brilliant. I'm sure they'll remember it forever :)

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  16. Hissing cockroaches! OMG, I would have been screaming and running out of the room! What a great learning experience though, and a bargain price! #countrykids

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  17. Hahaha....the Hissing Cockroaches were a bit much - fortunately there were only 3 in the box....I think....

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