ZSL London Zoo Review
Reviewed by David Savage
My girlfriend has never visited London before so we took a trip down to our capital city for 5 days of seeing the sights and doing the touristy attractions. Part of our visit was to visit ZSL London Zoo in Regent’s Park.
ZSL London Zoo is a very well-known zoo with lots of history and is also the world’s oldest scientific zoo. ZSL London Zoo opened in 1828 and to help fund it opened to the public in 1847. It was also the first zoo to open the first Reptile house (1849), the first public Aquarium (1853), the first insect house (1881) and the first children’s zoo (1938). It also housed the animals from the Tower of London when they transferred over in 1831 or 1832.
ZSL London Zoo doesn’t receive funding so all of their work researching and looking after the animals comes from donations and entry fees to the park.
The zoo is located within Regent’s Park, the closest tube being Camden. On arriving at the zoo, you will need to undergo a bag search. Should you need to store your bags there are some lockers available (small, medium and large) and these are very reasonably price – we took advantage of large locker for a few hours and only cost a few pounds (definitely worth doing rather than carrying around bags so you can enjoy the zoo much more).
Our first impression of the zoo was that it was not very big, although it does house lots of different species including; lions, tigers, gorillas and penguins. A full inventory of animals kept at ZSL London Zoo can be found here.
We first headed for the Into Africa zone, home of the African wild dogs, pygmy hippopotamus, giraffes, zebra and the Okapi (look like a cross between a giraffe and a zebra and are a distant cousin of the giraffe).
From here we then spent the next 2 or 3 hours visiting the lemurs, Rainforest life, the aquarium, Tiger Territory, Land of the Lions, Gorilla Kingdom, Penguin Beach, monkeys, birds, reptiles, butterflies, bugs, finishing off in the zoo shop.
Overall, it was a great visit to ZSL London Zoo. Seeing some of these animals close up is truly magnificent (these look so different than seeing them on television). All the animals look content and well card for, the only issue both of us had was that we felt the enclosures for the lions and tigers could have been bigger as they didn’t seem to have much room to run.
My favourites were seeing the okapi, I have never seen or heard of these before and it was great seeing them as they really are beautiful with their zebra stripes, long neck and head of a giraffe, and the monkeys that were allowed to run and jump free coming within inches of you.
Apart from seeing the animals there is also lots of information on display to teach about the animals and their habitats and on our visit, there were schools visiting.
If you wanted to make more of your visit ZSL offer “meet the animals” experiences where you can get up close, meet and feed the animals. We will have to return during the summer to meet the giraffes (my girlfriend loves giraffes so this would be a great experience. Costs £54 per person excluding zoo entry and is a 20 minute experience). Keeper For A Day and Junior Keeper For A Day experiences are also available.
There is a restaurant within the zoo grounds (The Terrace) and toilets are dotted around the zoo and all are clearly signposted. Most of the zoo and exhibits are accessible for wheelchair users and those with walking difficulties.
We had a great time spending 2 to 3 hours at ZSL London Zoo. It is a small zoo so if you wanted something larger with animals such as elephants then ZSL Whipsnade might be a better option.
Rating: 4.5/5
Tickets cost £25 Adult / £19.50 Child (on the day prices) – save money by booking online in advance.
For more information or to book tickets visit www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo.
ZSL London Zoo, Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4RY | 0344 225 1826
