Love animals? Do you want to adventure on the wild side?

Find out what we thought of our November day out to the Bristol Zoo Project.

We arrived at Bristol Zoo Project (formerly known as Wild Place) on an overcast Saturday morning in November.

There is plenty of parking, and some staff were waving us to where we should leave the car. A short walk to the entrance later, and we’re showing the booth a code from our pre-booked tickets. When booking the site asks for a timeslot in which to arrive. This seems to work well as there were no queues to get into the car park or the site itself. Super easy!

One of the first things you see when arriving is the Leap of Faith. It’s a large tower that daring kids can throw themselves off, with appropriate safety gear of course.

Sadly, and much to our kids’ disappointment, this is currently closed.

No matter, we’re here for the animals anyway, so straight away we headed through the Festive Woodland – a short path with some nice festive garlands – towards Bear Wood.

If you go down to Bear Wood today

Bear Wood houses… bears! The unique selling point though, is an elevated wooden walkway over the top of their enclosure, so you can see the animals doing their thing, or not.

The day we visited was kinda chilly, so the bears were showing some common sense and staying in their warmer dens. All is not lost though, as halfway around the walk – which takes 20-40 minutes, depending on leg length – there’s a shelter with a webcam, so you can see what they are up to.

The wolverines were braver, and we saw them scurrying around their enclosure, causing many ooohs and awws. We couldn’t find the Lynx though.

Even without the animals though, it’s a lovely walk through the forest with good views all around. There are windows for the little ones to look through and various interactive bits and pieces. It’s all wheelchair- and pushchair-friendly. As it’s all wooden it doesn’t suffer too much if it has been raining.

Towards the end of the walkway, there are some restrooms which were very clean AND had heaters in, so ten-out-of-ten for those.

Leaving Bear Wood takes you into one of the multiple play areas dotted around the site. This one is new and named Explorers Basecamp.

Take a load off at Explorers Basecamp

This updated area has plenty of play equipment for the kids, and tables for a welcome sit down for adults.

There’s a pair of zip lines, some balance beams, and a rope swing to play on. You can tell a playground is good when it’s tricky to get the kids to move on.

A nice touch is the wheelchair-accessible picnic tables, so nobody needs to sit on their own. It’s the perfect place to have lunch, and there’s a handy recycling point here so you don’t have to take your trash with you.

Eventually, we hauled the kids away via the butterfly maze, which was good fun. Not too easy but it’s certainly possible to take the odd wrong turn. Continuing along the path leads back to the central area. Next stop, the savannah!

Giraffes and Zebras, oh my!

This large enclosure in the centre of the zoo houses the giraffes and zebras.

There’s a two-tiered building to view the giraffes at their level, and there’s a ramp for easy access.

Hanging from the roof are baskets of food for them to eat, which bring them very close to the viewing platform.

There’s a deck around two sides of the building, but it doesn’t go all the way around, so sometimes the building itself blocks the view of the animals.

Whilst in the giraffe house some of the staff brought some show-and-tell items to share. The kids loved rolling out a giant snake skin and touching a big cat fur they had with them.

Beautiful and majestic as they are, they don’t do much so onward we went.

Comparing meerkats

Always a favourite, the meerkats are only separated by a low glass wall, so it’s really easy for all the family to view their antics.

Luckily they chose to be outside when we arrived. There is a greenhouse you can go inside to view them if the weather isn’t so great, however.

There are some bird exhibits in this area, which I’m sure some folks would enjoy. More importantly for us, there are also some restrooms.

We continued along the path to the Barefoot Trail. In the summer this is great, and even in the winter with their shoes on they love doing laps along the various textured areas, stepping stones or balance logs.

It’s here that a new exhibit is being prepared, but the red pandas are settling into their new home, so the path is closed. This does mean you have to double back on yourself to get to the lower part of the zoo, so off we go.

Last-minute lemurs

Time flies when you’re having fun! We knew that Bear Wood closes at 3pm, but it turns out so does the lemur walkthrough.

So off we dashed across most of the park and got there just in time. The keepers there reminded us they were closing soon and suggested we head straight to the far-end walkthrough, as they were out and about.

This is one of our favourite areas to visit, as you are literally in with them, watching them jump around the trees and ropes.

The paths are great, not muddy, and there’s staff with you to answer any questions (and to keep an eye on everyone!).

If the animals aren’t out, you can go around the back of their houses to see them indoors, which is also sheltered if it’s raining.

Quick Cheetahs

The final animal stop of the day was the cheetah enclosure.

Often tricky to spot; today it was easy, as they were pacing along their perimeter right by the fence.

There’s also a shelter here with a glass wall, and they often came up close to see what we’re up to.

Again like all the enclosures at the new site, the space afforded to the animals is impressive, with plenty of room for them to stretch their legs.

Time to say goodbye

Our time at Bristol Zoo Project was coming to an end and so we headed for the exits, through the gift shop, and back home.

There are a lot of other animals and play areas I’ve not covered here. For example, there’s a great indoor play barn with separate age-appropriate equipment for under fives, and for five to ten-year-olds.

There’s another restroom area here to prepare for the voyage home, as well as some seating to rest weary legs. And they will be weary – it’s a big site and you’ll certainly have hit your steps by the end of your visit!

How much?

Tickets to Bristol Zoo Project aren’t too bad – at the time of writing it’s £16.36 ($20.50) for an adult, and £12.73 ($15.95) for under 15-year-olds. Under 2-year-olds get in for free.

A family ticket for four, up to two of which can be an adult, is £49.09 ($61.51).

These are all the lowest prices, but you can add a donation to these prices, making each a bit more expensive.

Then, there are the other costs…

The onsite cafe seemed pricey, with soft drinks costing around £2.50, and a warm pasty costing £6.50. It was nice, but I think they knew they had a “captive” audience.

Our advice is to save a few quid and take a picnic with you, there are plenty of places to eat it.

You’re somewhat corralled through the gift shop when leaving, and as you might expect the collection of animal-themed toys is rather expensive. It can take the shine off a visit if you have to tell your youngest that a £24 plush snake isn’t on the cards!

Conclusion

We really enjoyed our day at Bristol Zoo Project. I think the weather forecast kept the crowds down, so it felt like we had the place to ourselves.

The animals are great to see and are clearly well looked after. Even if you cannot see any animals the place has a chilled-out, walk-in-the-woods feel to it. It’s a great chance to get some (mostly, I’m looking at you giraffes) fresh air in the lungs.

Your legs will get a workout but you won’t notice that until the drive home. You’ll be happy to stroll around as the family is having so much fun seeing what’s around each corner – is it an animal to spot, a play area, or a maze to explore?

Take a picnic with you and it’s not even overly expensive, and who can begrudge a few pounds to keep these sorts of animals in tip-top conditions?

Verdict

Our Jeff the Pigeon rating for the Bristol Zoo Project is: 8 coos out of 10