A day trip to Longleat Safari Park

On Tuesday I decided to take a trip down memory lane and visit a well known British tourist attraction called Longleat Safari Park. Neither me or my dad have visited for well over ten years and having been offered free tickets, we immediately grabbed the opportunity and travelled just over an hour to get there.

The last time we went I was about three or four meaning that I only have vivid memories of that trip out but my dad always reminds me of the time that I slept through the whole lion enclosure. Now having grown up since those days, I knew that I would be awake for the whole adventure but not only that, I would be able to take a few pictures of each animal during our time there.

As we drove in, the first thing we did was drive through the safari, (this is where you drive your cars on a road that leads you all the way around the park but also gives you a close view of the different types of animals, whether that be a camel or an elephant, a cheetah or maybe even a pelican!)

After we finished our safari, we reached the 'Longleat House', a large mansion built in the 1700's. Anybody can have a look inside and all its original features still remain, it was a really good insight into the sort of estates that were available for the higher class and royals at this period in time.

We then walked round the back of the grounds to find even more animals including penguins and birds! There were petting areas to hold snakes and spiders, something which terrifies me so there was no way I would have touched them! The building next door was a butterfly farm full of pretty flowers and trees along with tons of different breeds of butterfly, so I took the opportunity to take a few snaps of some of them.

The butterfly part of the park was really interesting but after we had finished there we started to head back to the car where we would be able to go and view the rest of the animals, however as we walked past the river, we saw a boat with passengers on it which intrigued us so we went to have a look. After walking a short distance we decided to board and have a ride to look at the sea lions in the water below. Some of the children were feeding them with small fish however at this point I decided to get out my camera to take pictures of them above the water reaching for their food.

As we got off the boat and back onto dry land, we got back in the car and took a drive up to the giraffes and an array of other small animals such as goats. The giraffes came really close and it was a really exciting experience to be so close to wildlife when we normally only see them as images on our computer screens.

Overall, it was a fantastic day out, I saw so many different animals and it brought back lots of childhood memories. I would recommend this place to everyone, it was such a good adventure and something I would definitely like to do again in the near future.