Chessington World of Adventures
Zufari Launch
Reviewed by Kerstie Wright
My husband and I, along with our sons Harry (6) and Sam (4) were lucky enough to attend the launch of the new Zufari ride at Chessington World of Adventure on 15 Marc 2013. Chessington has created a safari experience where visitors get the chance to ride in safari trucks and explore a 22 acre site with rhinos, giraffe and zebra. The ride starts with an interactive cinema experience where you are given a briefing about what to expect! A small specialist conservation team ACRE (African Conservation, Research and Conservation) have stumbled upon a previously undiscovered land in Africa, which they have named ‘Zufari’. Along with the animals already discovered there are some signs that human tribes once visited but something seems to have scared them away and that’s where we came in! After the briefing we set off in an amazing off road truck with just one warning, not to enter the forbidden cave…. The safari trucked splashed through rivers and easily managed the ‘African’ terrain! We saw zebra, giraffe and rhino all up close but ended up going slightly ‘off road’ on our mission but managed to make it back to base camp safely if not a little wet! We all loved the ride and it was a great opportunity to see beautiful wildlife up close.
During our trip we stayed at Chessington’s Resort Hotel, the Wanyama Village and Reserve, which is located next to the park and continues with the African theme. The hotel was excellent and the boys loved our family room as they had their own little sleeping area, which was curtained off. This was great for my husband and I as we were still able to watch TV after the boys went to bed without disturbing them too much. The food was excellent and we were treated to an excellent buffet dinner as part of the launch, which catered really well for both adult and children’s tastes. Breakfast was an equally satisfying buffet, which certainly set us up for the second day of our visit. After breakfast we took the boys swimming in the hotel’s health club which was great and lovely and warm which is always a bonus. We were then treated to a behind the scenes tour of the zoo and sea life centre which was fantastic. We saw sharks and stingrays in the Sealife centre and snakes and frogs in the creepy crawly cave. Harry even got to hold a giant cockroach – I wasn’t quite that brave! The highlight for me though was the sea lion show which was just hilarious and it was great the see the animals so happy and the trainers so enthusiastic about their work. We concluded our trip with a visit to both the lion and tiger enclosures and were privileged enough to see the tigers being fed, an experience I don’t think the boys will forget in a hurry.
We had a fabulous trip to Chessington, having visited both London Zoo and the London Sealife Centre recently, I think that Chessington has it all, with the zoo and theme park as well as the added benefit of being able to stay on site. The facilities were first class and the staff both engaging and enthusiastic. We will definitely be coming back.
Rating: 4/5
For more information to book tickets online visit www.chessington.com
