London Zoo Penguin Beach Review
London Zoo
Penguin Beach
Reviewed by Dorothy White
My 10 year old granddaughter and myself have just returned home from a fantastic day at London Zoo. London Zoo is situated in Regent’s Park.
It was a very early start this morning, we were at our local station by 7am waiting for the London train. Once in London we took a taxi to the Prince Albert Gate of the zoo where we had been instructed to meet by 8.50am. There were quite a group of us of all ages!
We were welcomed and taken straight to Penguin Beach. The penguins at London Zoo have a brand new pool, the largest in England and they love it! They swam, they dived and chased each other whilst waiting for their breakfast. The keepers threw fish or fed them individually while a keeper gave a commentary telling us all about the penguins. A heron and a seagull waited hopefully, the heron’s patience paid off as it succeeded in grabbing a fish.
Ricky, the only Rockhopper penguin at London Zoo was introduced to us, he waited with a keeper for his fish, proudly showing off the yellow feathers on his head. We were told Ricky has his own Facebook page!
Once the Penguin feeding was over we were invited to the brand new Terrace Restaurant, which can seat 700, for breakfast. The terrace of the restaurant overlooks parts of the zoo and affords great views! We had a lovely breakfast there.
Once breakfast was over it was time to explore! Don’t let a 10 year old map read! We walked miles, and that was just to get to the Aquarium!
My granddaughter loved the aquarium and was thrilled to see the seahorses, I hadn’t realised it is the males that give birth! We saw Nemo, a Clown Fish, but it will always be Nemo! We saw fishes of various sizes and colours along with corals and plants. She would have happily stayed in the Aquarium all day, but I managed to extract her with the lure of the Reptile House.
We watched Gorillas at play, saw giant tortoises, Lions sleeping in the sun, Giraffes, Zebras and many more exhibits, too many to mention. We managed to get back to The Terrace Restaurant for lunch, then to Penguin Beach in time to watch the penguins being fed again.
All in all we had a fantastic day and were made to feel very welcome by the staff of London Zoo. The only improvement would have been if my granddaughter could have donned her wellies and jeans and helped feed the penguins!
After a ride on the Carousel we reluctantly left the zoo to make our way back to the station to catch our train home. A thoroughly enjoyable day!
You can watch the Penguins at Penguin Beach on their own WebCam here, feeding times are 11.30 & 13.30. Better still why not book tickets and go see them live!
Rating: 5/5 
For more information or to book tickets for London Zoo and Penguin Beach visit www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo
