Visit to Colchester Zoo

This would be Tobey's first visit to the Zoo. We figured he's old enough to appreciate a zoo outing since he quite enjoyed petting animals during our Mudchute farm visit the previous weekend. Colchester Zoo has a good child-friendliness rating and nearest to us. So we just packed a picnic (actually SK spend an hour playing gourmet sandwich chef that morning, making his version of the perfect sandwiches..kekeke) and went off, even on a raining morning (once again the weather forecast failed us). As we reach nearer, it was raining even heavier. SIGH! But once we parked the car, it STOPPED. Literally stopped for the next 5 hours. Thank God again.

Anyways, we were quite impressed by the size of the zoo and how well-planned the layout was! It was so well kept,leafy and peaceful, with several water featurus along the paths. The zoo is segregated into the Beginner's area, Aquatic area, Lakeland area, South America Area and lastly the African Safari area. There were many picnic tables and sheltered areas for families with packed lunches. Playgrounds/areas dotted along the routes and many child-friendly restaurants. Antibacterial foam wash dispensers were easily available as well.

Here are some ofthe pics taken;

Feeding the elephants

Feeding the goats

Watching the feeding of Penguins

Petting the horses

Lunch break!!!YAY!!

This is the first time Tobey had a sandwich for lunch. Nowadys, he rather drink his water from cups and plastic bottles!

Train ride with daddy

Wallabies (the white one is the one with Albino)

I can't remember what this animal is called, but huiyo, they really fought!

African Safari section..There were Giraffes, Zebras and Rhinos, Ostriches...we spent the longest time there, watching in awe...

Beautiful Tiger

resting before going home..we couldn't feel our feet anymore

At that point in time, SK rate this as a "Definite-venue-to-revisit" UNTIL he discovered his whole shirt was enveloped with some kind of black tiny bugs with wings. We spent the next 30 minutes trying to get rid of them. I even changed Tobey's clothing, but the bugs came back. Luckily they don't bite. When in the carpark, we saw other visitors busy brushing off bugs from their bodies and clothes...My guess is that the smell of the Zoo penetrated into the grain of our clothing, making us smell like the rest of the exhibit, hence attracted those bugs... :P So this zoo is now marked as a "No-wayI-am- going-back-to-this-place" venue.