A Summer's Day Out at Colchester Zoo

I've been meaning to write about our trip to Colchester Zoo for a while now, but as usual life got in the way, and my blog got left behind a bit over the summer. But better late than never, I thought I'd pop together a little post now, so I can look back on our visit in years to come and remember just how much fun we had!

We visited Colchester Zoo for my birthday back in mid-August, pre-booking our tickets online as we knew it was going to be potentially busy (it was, definitely pre-book!). After hearing only positive things about the zoo we were so excited to visit and explore. And my goodness it did not disappoint! We arrived before the 9.30am opening and left just before 6pm, so it really was a full day out with so much to do and see.

We decided to not really plan our day, and just followed the accessible zoo path on the map instead - there's a yellow line running through the park, which shows the easiest route for those with buggies and wheelchairs. We saw so many animals up close, including the penguins, sun bears, baboons and monkeys. We wandered through the butterfly glade before making our way over to the giraffe for the feeding time. I absolutely love that you can feed them (and the elephants) without an extra fee, just make sure you're there in good time before the feeding times as the queues got very long! We ended our day with a ride on the land train which is also included in admission and lots of fun.

As we didn't travel straight from home we didn't take a picnic with us, but honestly next time I will definitely pack one. We ate at The Southern Kitchen (think KFC kind of vibes) which was tasty, but not the cheapest or healthiest choice. We did come across a few other spots but because of the crowd levels tables were hard to find, and lots didn't do a children's meal option either. We also had ice creams from Naughty and Nice which were delicious and really generous portions!

One of the things we really enjoyed about Colchester Zoo, was just how lovely the enclosures and general areas were. Everything looked so new and well-kept, and all of the animals seemed happy and well looked after. They seem to be doing more work to improve the zoo at the moment too which is exciting for when we next visit. A warning though, it is incredibly hilly. We were not prepared for how steep some of the hills were or how big of an area the zoo covers. Wear comfy shoes and don't overpack the buggy if you bring one!