Our first trip was to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. Baby's Christmas present to Grandma and Grandpa was an annual membership, so our first port of call was the membership office. Cards obtained, we were ready to explore.
Our first stop was the elephant house. It seems that you don't actually need to have purchased a ticket to get into the elephant house, as the entrance to it is before the ticket gates, round behind the shop. We were in luck, as the elephants were obviously feeling friendly, and were close to the edge of their enclosure. Baby was very interested in these strange animals. We even spotted the new baby of the herd, Nandita, born around the same time as Baby. She was very playful, climbing onto a rock and managing to balance for longer than seemed physically possible.
Next up was the monkey house. The first window was very busy so we decided to move further round to get Baby closer to a window. Unfortunately, the monkeys in the remaining enclosures weren't so keen to come close to the window, so Baby didn't really get to see much of the monkeys.
We took in a few more enclosures before Baby decided she'd had enough and wanted a change and a feed. We used the facilities in the Bembe Kitchen, which was closed for refurbishment during our visit, so there was no hot food available, though the building was open, which was useful. The baby changing was snug but reasonably clean and the building was warm, which was useful for feeding.
While Baby was awake and in a good mood, we decided to take her on the monorail. She hasn't seen much public transport to date, and we thought she might find it a novel experience. Typically, she took it all in her stride and seemed completely unfazed. It was £2 per person, and went from opposite the elephant enclosure to the restaurant on the other side of the zoo. It was very quiet, we had a carriage to ourselves which was useful as we had the pram, which we were able to wheel straight on and off with no issues. We travelled over the lion enclosure and got a really good view of them, they even looked straight at us at one point. We also saw a cheetah strolling around in its enclosure. Baby was able to get a really good view of them and seemed to enjoy looking out of the window as we went over the enclosures.
We lunched at June's Kitchen. It had the biggest range of food and plenty of seating, though with Bembe Kitchen being closed it was quite busy. We were still able to find a table with no wait however. Lots of prams meant that the aisles between tables were often blocked, but most people were very good natured about having to squeeze round others to get in/out.
With the membership we got a discount on food, but it's still not particularly cheap. Of course there is the option to take your own picnic but to sit outside would have been rather chilly and not particularly enjoyable. There was pizza, pasta, burgers, fish and chips, and a deli with healthier options. The ice cream parlour didn't seem to be open.
Baby fell asleep as we were eating, so missed the rest of the zoo. We saw sun bears, penguins, eagles. We also went into Realm of the Red Ape, hoping to see some orangutans. Unfortunately signs in all of the enclosures there said they were now in Islands, which wasn't open during our visit.
We also made brief pit stops to see the chimpanzees, giraffes and the tropical realm before heading back to the entrance. The beauty of the membership is that it doesn't matter that Baby fell asleep, because we can go back and see some other animals another time.
It was a cold day this visit, and as mentioned above, Islands wasn't open. The zoo was very quiet compared to the crowds that visit in Summer, which meant it was peaceful and easy to get around. Most of the animals were inside though, rather than outside, so on a few occasions this meant they were out of sight. Regardless, we all enjoyed our day out thoroughly.
Key facts:
Month of visit:
January
Weather for visit:
Very cold, but thankfully dry.
Is it pushchair friendly?
Yes, everywhere is accessible with wide paths and ramps.
How are the baby changing facilities?
Plenty of baby changing dotted around the zoo. The ones we used were reasonably clean, if a little cold occasionally.
What about somewhere to feed?
Baby changing facilities are only small, with nowhere to sit. I fed in the cafes with no problems.
Is it worth a visit?
Absolutely. So many animals to see, too little time. An expensive day out for a family, but worth it for an occasional treat.
Baby's highlight?
The elephants.
Chester Zoo
Upton-by-Chester
Chester,
CH2 1LH
http://www.chesterzoo.org
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