Knowsley Safari Review
Reviewed by Louise Totton
We were lucky enough to recently be invited along to Knowsley Safari for the day with my husband and our two girls, aged 3 and 6. We love taking our girls out for the day, it’s one of the things we really enjoy doing, although we’ve never visited a safari park before. We’ve been to a few zoos and petting farms, but we’ve never had the opportunity to be amongst the animals like a safari park offers, so we were all really excited.
We live in West Yorkshire, so Knowsley is a simple hop up the M62 for us. The map provided on the website was great, and we arrived at the safari park gates about an hour after setting off. It’s fully signposted from the motorway, so finding it was really simple.
We drove up to the gates and was greeted by a lovely member of staff who issued us with our map, park guide and safari window hanger for the car. He explained really clearly where everything was, and informed us that because it was foggy, the safari drive wouldn’t be open for a little while. So we followed his clear directions and drove to the car park where we parked up and popped into the restaurant for a bite of breakfast. My husband and daughters had bacon muffins and I had a coffee. Everyone enjoyed their breakfast and at under £10 for everything, we thought it was really reasonable.
Once the fog had lifted a little, we headed for the car to make our way to the safari drive. Again, everything was really well signposted, and we were starting the tour in no time at all. The park guide was excellent as it told us what animals to look out for in each zone of the safari, as well as giving us lots of information about the animals habitat, and whether they were endangered in the wild. It gave us a fantastic opportunity to talk to the children about how humans are responsible for keeping animals’ habitats safe and what would happen if we didn’t.
The path is quite prescriptive, and makes sure you see as many of the animals as possible. The baboon section is separate and enclosed, so you have the option of driving through it or bypassing it and watching from the other side of the fence. As I am rather fond of my car, we opted for the latter, although it did look fantastic for those who had decided to go in. There is also a ‘Baboon Bus’ for those who want to experience the monkeys, but not in their own car, although this is a payable extra and we didn’t do it, it looked like it would have been great fun.
The animals on the safari had lots of room to freely wander around, and we saw some beautiful animals. The lions were quite majestic, and both of the girls were really impressed by the emus. As with these things, you don’t always manage to see everything, and we missed the tigers and zebras, although you are free to go around the track as many times as you would like, we opted to head for our picnic instead.
As well as the onsite restaurant, there is ample picnic space for those who have brought their own lunch. The picnic benches were really well placed for the amusements, and were kept clean. We had a lovely picnic before we made our way to the amusements that had caught the kids’ eyes.
The rides can be paid for ad hoc at £2 per ride, or via a £10 wristband that covers a day of unlimited rides. We had wristbands, so we were able to try out most of the attractions. There was a rollercoaster, a pirate’s galleon, dodgers, a fairground style carousel and swings, plus a few different roundabouts. Everything was suitable for young children, my eldest could go on everything, and there were only two things that the youngest couldn’t use. We were really impressed with how well geared it was to younger kids, and the rides were staffed by super friendly staff with minimal queuing.
My favourite animals in the world are giraffes, and whilst I unfortunately missed the giraffe talk the highlight of my day was seeing the giraffes up close from their viewing deck. I was literally 3 feet away from these beautiful creatures, and it simply made my week.
We topped off our day by hiring one of the rowing boats on the boating lake with the children. At £5 for 20 minutes, we thought it was great value. The kids all had their life vests on, and we set out into the middle of the lake. It was a lovely little extra for our day.
I would wholeheartedly recommend Knowsley to anyone, but especially those with young children. They had such a special day, and there was real educational merit in the visit as well.
A really great value family day out.
Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost: £16.50 Adults / £12.50 Child / Rides £2 per ride or £10 for unlimited wristband per person.
For more information or to book tickets visit www.knowsleysafariexperience.co.uk.
Knowsley Safari, Prescot, Merseyside, L34 4AN | 0151 430 9009
