Belfast Zoo, NI - Certainly Worth A Look

We knew the recent spell of sunny weather was going to break soon, Northern Ireland does not hand out unlimited sunshine, eventually you pay the price lol. With the weekend coming up, scratching our heads as to where to spend the day, someone suggested the Zoo as we hadn't been in ages..

Disclaimer:
In recent years it would be fair to say that Belfast Zoo had gone down hill a bit, which is one of the reasons why we hadn't been in so long, however we had noticed some recent social media announcements hinting at new enclosures etc. so thought it was fair to roll the dice and go and see what was on offer. We're glad we went, had a super day out!

Intro..

• Item one, parking.. their is oodles of it, probably one of things first noticed as you arrive, never going to struggle for a space, on any day.
• Item two, like many others Zoos the place is constructed on a 'fairly healthy' hill so if you lack mobility you may well find it hard work getting around the place. That being said there is a shiny new hop-on-hop-off Zoo Express Train to soften the blow, which is a great addition!

The Layout

It's not the worlds biggest zoo by any stretch, and there are probably a few animals missing off the list that you might expect a zoo to have but having spent the day wandering around we felt that it still had a lot to offer. Here's the general layout that does a good job of highlighting what is found in the different areas.

Image Source

Floral Hall
This building is a real oddity in the Zoo, it's been there since I was no age and made my first Zoo visit and still remains derelict to this day. Looks like there are now plans to renovate and restore it to it's former glory and perhaps use as an entertaining space within the zoo grounds to eventually raise revenue for the zoo. Watch this space I guess..

Wooden Sculptures

Quite a few of these dotted around the park, it does wonders to spruce the place up. Have no idea what artist or wood sculptor was involved in the creation of the pieces but we spent a fair amount of time appreciating them, never mind the animals lol. They are cleverly places all around the Zoo near areas where the related animal can found. With the exception maybe of the Kids Play Park where there is a giant crocodile and hippo.

The Kids Playpark

This is very well done, there are lots of unusual apparatus for kids to play on that I've not seen anywhere else, perhaps zoo inspired, for example this neat Indiana Jones style rope bridge type thing.
(Yes, I did get on and have a go, whist trying not to break anything!)

The play park is a fair size with lots to do for all ages of children, pretty well done. Dotted around the place are these flashy signs that give any kids stopping for a read a preview for what's going to be on offer as they go around the park.

The Farm & Reptile House

A suitably epic, gigantic wooden sculpture of a tarantula marks the entrance to this area, we had lots of fun posing for photos with it. The farm as you would expect, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, goats, sheep, shetland ponies. The reptile house again, snakes, spiders, lizards, turtles etc.

The Lake

A beautiful part of the zoo at the lower level. We stopped off for a snack here and to watch the world go by. Quite tranquil, with the peacefulness sometimes broken by the noise of the birds of other animals.

Little did we know that our peace would be interrupted properly by these guys, a flock of geese, some of which were pretty brazen! Once they spied the food we had they came right over and let their intentions be known about our need to share the food with them.
(Unsure if we should have been feeding the birds, but it was a spur of the moment thing)

The flamingos were sleeping when we first turned up, but later on that day as we were making out way back down the mountain we found them awake and chattering incessently lol.

Lot's of time was spent at the Spider monkeys enclosure, there were a couple of little baby monkeys playing around inside that were adorable, and they knew it, they played up to the crowd watching them from the viewing windows! :)

Andean Bear

This bear had a pretty decent enclosure to himself on the day that were present. Based on the weather we'd had recently and how hot it had been quite a few jokes were made about how nice it might be to spend some time in his enclosure complete with giant pool and waterfall. We were there pretty early so the bear was still in chillout mode.

Giraffe House

Easy to spot these guys from a distance, the Giraffes and Zebra have a fantastic enclosure, with lots of cool viewing spots including an elevated platform. The giraffe specifically were real crowd pleasers, happy to wander over to people at the end of the enclosure and give them a fantastic photo opportunity, which I didn't turn down.

Lets not forget the Ostrich.

It's pretty neat watching all 3 species all occupying the same space and getting along with no issues, almost like the wild. Admittedly though there would be an incredible difference between observing a zoo setting and observing a safari with animals roaming free. We have yet to tackle that item on the bucket list but some day, some day.

The Meerkats

Haha! Real crowd pleasers. We were lucky enough to happen along just as feeding time was getting underway. Some special boxes were prepped with eggs hidden inside that the Meerkats had to smash up and root their way into to get to the food. They were hilarious to watch and drew a real crowd!

More Monkeys..

I think these guys (Cotton Top Tamarin) might have been my favourite out of all the zoo had to offer, spent ages watching these little ones jumping about, their mannerisms, how they operate in their family groups, nibbling on some snacks, sharing their food.
They aren't shy, and really play to an audience. The hair cut though, beyond cute!

The Primates

The chimpanzee viewing enclosure was closed but the Gorilla one was open for business. The sheeer mass of these guys is staggering. The lead silverback was strutting about where we got there, and making a fair bit of noise, think something must have set him off. Was very tricky to get a decent shot the glass was a bit patchy, understandably as this space belongs to the primates and they live as they see fit.

The facial expression on this gentleman pretty much made my day, was very lucky to capture the shot. If you tied up the peripherals and forgot for a moment that it was a gorilla, focused entirely on the face, it could easily pass for someone having a "You what mate!?" moment. Incredibly similar to human expression.

The Lemurs

Following on from the previous statement here we have more highly amusing facial expression. Starting from the left, the first one is having some sort of moment, the second one across is half asleep and the third one across looks like it might be time to start something. Curly, Larrry & Mo lol :)

The Lions

The lions now have a brand spanking new enclosure, was the first time we had seen it, half way up in the hills, impressive! Due to the topology grabbing a photo of one of the pack was hard work but managed to get a glimpse, there was quite a crowd gathered to wait it out and get a pic or two, standing on picnic benches and all sorts lol! Worth it, the noise from one of the pack when he felt like making himself heard was mighty!

Managed to get a half decent pic, and then fed it through Gemini to remove the glare from the enclosure window in the bottom half of the original pic, so that you guys could better see the beast.

Eagle!

No zoo visit would be complete without a hefty bird, yes penguins are cool and all but a fully grown eagle is something else. Already went into detail in the feathers friends Community, loved this bird. Spent an age just watching it do it's thing!
See, https://new.hive.blog/hive-106444/@urielkinnear/smap-281-white-tailed-eagle-in-belfast-zoo

Sea Lions

Almost missed this enclosure, too busy making our way to the tropical birds. The sea lions were lots of fun, they seemed to be having some sort of argument when we turned up, there was a lot of noise and commotion, followed by some highly vigorous swimming and splashing about. Made for a great show! The enclosure has a cool viewing area that is right near the water with a low wall, so you can comfortably stand for as long as you like and see everything going on, with the usual under water viewing window also available.

Time To Go...

Making out way to the exit, couldn't help but mention the super cool Red Panda mural painted just outside the gift shop on the way out. Again, a bit of posing done here to grab a few cool pics.

Found this little chap in the gift shop, check it out, a little Hive Bee lolz!!

We probably went a bit overboard in the gift shop but the way I see it, the money spent in some shape or form ends up going back to the zoo and therefore benefits the animals. Did find this awesome red panda fridge magnet, never seen one like that before, kind of like a mini fish tank, 50% water 50% oil with a lil figure inside. It now has pride of place on our fridge! :)

Wrap Things Up.

Hope you enjoyed reading this, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a blow by blow account of every animal in the zoo but there are actually many more to see. Our overall take away from the day is that we took a punt on a place we hadn't been to in ages and it played out really well.

If you are ever in the same neck of the woods, Belfast Zoo is well worth a visit!
(especially if you have some kids in tow)