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Our day at Bristol Zoo

*I'll say right from the start that i don't have all the photos that were taken at the Zoo. They were unfortunately amongst the images that my SD card decided to delete. I have taken these off of Agent D's phone but ironically he wasn't snapping much cause i was ... oh the twisted irony! So apologies in advance and believe me I'm more upset that i lost these family snaps more than anyone :(

But anyway ...

On the Wednesday the weather was fantastic so we were looking for things to do that was outside. We had seen signs everywhere for the Bristol Zoo so when we checked the Google Maps app we found that we were less than 10 miles from it. *See everything is so easily reached ... i seriously love Bristol*

We set off and went up the Clifton Hill and found the zoo. I'll say here that parking wasn't that easy to find as the parking lot was kinda to the side and back a bit. If your going keep a close eye out for the first turning before the zoo. It was sign posted but due to buses being there with school kids, we didn't see it that well.

We paid the full price which is the first time during our whole holiday we didn't have a discount but when you consider the day as a whole the £40 odd for the 3 of us was well worth it *Voucher cloud didn't have anything for the zoo but i later found if you book online you get a wee 10% discount so it pays to plan ahead*

Ok so Lets talk animals...

There are lots of different kinds of animals at the Bristol Zoo (Though by Agents M's definition if there isn't a lion, tiger and Elephant its not a real zoo) ... i can assure him that yes this is a real zoo and he soon got over his huff at no tigers.

When we walked past the first exhibit we could just make out the lions having a snooze but when we went up to the Twilight World we could see them better. I was jealous cause the heat was making me sleepy too ... *And mama forgot to suncream herself so i was getting a little red*


We did go back when the school kids had moved on and the lions were out in the big part of the enclosure. Again they were having a wee sunbathe ... Ah the life of a lion is a chilled one :)


Some of the animals there were MASSIVE ... If i thought the turtles in the Aquarium were big, this one blew my mind lol. This is a Giant Tortoise which normally hails from Africa. There was an empty shell that i did get Agent M to stand beside to show scale but it was one of my pics so its gone. I can assure you though, this guy was BIG! Like pop on the back and ride to Asda big lol. Behind him you can see a Rhinoceros iguana. There were two there and they decided to give us a quick *cough* Reproductive lesson *cough*. So many questions from him pretty much guaranteed mama was bright red (and not from the sun) ... Rather than have to field all the difficult questions out in public with other little ears listening, i just plead ignorant and moved to the next exhibit.




We took a walk over to the reptile house to allow the Iguanas some privacy *well ... as much as they can get in a zoo ... it was more for me not wanting to deal with Agent M's questions* There were LOADS of reptiles in there. Some more turtles and lizards and way to many snakes ... (Disclosure, there were probably only like 3 but that's 3 to many for my comfort zone ... I cant stand snakes. They freak the heck outta me).




I loved looking at the Turtles. Agent D was really into the Lizard's. He'd love to have a bearded dragon but I'm pretty sure they are full of bacteria and the like. Rather take him to see one behind glass and not munching on my carpets or sofa lol.


Agent M spotted these poisoned frogs and got really excited cause he remembered them from the aquarium. They had them in separate tanks though so we could see more of each breed. Don't the blue ones look so cool. As Agent M did say though, they just look like they wouldn't taste nice. Good call really lol.



I didn't actually notice this little guy until Agent D pointed him out. He was just chillin on the rocks. Hes so small. Though "if he ate all his dinner he'd be bigger" *i got a wee parent lesson in there ... go mama!* I'm not sure how true that statement is. For all i know this is the adult size of this particular crocodile but if i can talk Agent M into eating his dinner, ill take it :)




Its not just the animals at the zoo on display. This sculpture is just outside the Bug World entrance. It was made by Jason Lane as a commissioned piece last year. It was built using lots of different bits of scrap metal including an aeroplane nose cone and plough discs. You can have a look at his other works here :)

Agent D was beyond giddy to go see the penguins ... They are his favourite. We went into the Seal and Penguin Coasts and seen these little tuxedo fellas. This bred is called an African Penguin, which as the name suggests they are from Africa. More specifically the South and Namibia.



*Fact - When penguins moult they cannot swim and have to lay on land, without food, for about three weeks!

Through the gate we seen the South American Fur Seal ... These were so active it was hard to get a good look, let alone a picture. After watching for a while one decided to jump up on the rock and have a wee chat. They can make some amount of noise lol.


We went below and got to see them swimming in the water through the tunnels. They are so fast though.




Agent M found the Meerkat look-out and announced this by shouting "Its Compare the Meerkats" *Who says marketing doesn't work has clearly never spent the day with a kid lol* This bred were Slender-tailed meerkats and they were very active. There were lots of them play fighting (i hope) and digging in the sand.



*Fact - Meerkats like to sunbathe. Nights in the semi-desert can be very cold. In the morning, to help them warm up, they will often stretch out in the sun all the while keeping a watchful eye out for predators.


I think Agent M makes a Cute meerkat ... though as a look out he's not exactly on the ball lol

On our walk we found another set of sculptures. These were designed by Julian P. Warren, a native of Bristol. He was commissioned to create the insects for the zoo. They are called Ying & Yang and they, like the other statue were HUGE!


We got to see the baby Pygmy Hippo Winnie having a wee walk about with her mum Sirana. *It wasn't till we were having dinner later that night that we heard on the new that it was the first time she was allowed out for the visitors to see so we kinda lucked out :) *



On our walk around the Zoo we found the Monkey section. I was in animal heaven. I love monkeys. They are one of my fave animals :) There were loads of species (most of which i cant remember the names off but they are beautiful none the less).


We got to walk though the Lemur enclosure. I loved how close they were to us but didn't really seem to care. They were just cleaning themselves on the stone. This particular bred are Ring-tailed lemurs. They are the most common and were correctly identified by Agent M as the ones from Madagascar :)


I really liked this monkey ... hes a golden lion tamarin. He wasn't too thrilled at getting his picture taken though.
*Fact - tamarins are one of the most endangered mammals in the world ... there are less than 1000 left in the wild :(



On the Monkey island we saw the keepers feeding some of the Lemurs ... how cool would this job be! I wouldn't even mind having to clean the poop.



These Monkeys are called Lion-tailed macaques and they come from India usually. They are however an endangered bred (like most animals in the zoo). It quite sad to think that these beautiful creatures are killed for their fur :(


Round by the Avery we saw alot of beautiful birds ... These were my fave because of what they are ... Love Birds. This Black-Cheeked breed hails from Zambia and unfortunately is Africa's most endangered parrot. Due to the rise in people keeping them as pets there is a really big chance that they will be extinct in the wild in 20 years time which is sad because they are gorgeous. I love how they mate for life ... Now that's commitment lol.



I was so upset that i lost all my photos cause i had so many and some videos too that i wanted to post. 

All in the day was great and one i would highly recommend for families. My only down side was the food in the restaurant wasn't at all worth the money. We had Chicken and Ham pasta which was bland and tasteless. Not worth the £8 and Agent M's Kid pack was ok for £4.50 other than the rock hard roll. I would recommend taking a lunch with if I'm honest. better value and you can be rest assured that it will taste miles better. 

Other than that it was a lovely day ... So I'll leave you with this cute picture of Agent M as a Red Panda and apologise for the lack of pictures and the delay in posting about the visit.