Prehistoric exploring at Chester Zoo

I have seen lots of strange, unusual, rare and scary animals during previous visits to Chester Zoo – but this was my first encounter with dinosaurs there!

The prehistoric creatures were introduced to the zoo last year,and then given their own starring role in this year’s Dinosaurs Bite Back exhibition – an exciting and exhilerating trip back into an ancient world.

From the eerie mist which welcomed us into the exhibition,to the meticulously planted scenes and extremely realistic ‘residents’, this really did feel like a step back into Jurassic Park – the exhibition captures sights, sounds and smells from the era (though thankfully not too much on the smells) with an extensive range of animated dinosaurs.

We were lucky enough to have our own guide and dino keeper Lizzie for the visit, who warned our young explorers what to watch out for (the spitting dinosaurs for one) and filled us in on just how the dinosaurs would have lived and survived, though the exhibition is well sign-posted with interesting and child-friendly information boards.

If you fancy having a go at becoming a dinosaur explorer yourself, take up the challenge with the zoo’s latest facebook competition.  Entry to the dinosaur exhibition is included in the cost of your visit to the zoo.

Following the dinosaurs, we went on to have an absolutely fantastic visit to the zoo, fun-packed and full-on, but don’t just take my word for it on how much we enjoyed the visit – here’s my nine-year-old’s take on our big day out.

The exhibition was really really good.  A lady called Liz, who was also a zoo keeper, showed us around the Dinosaur exhibition, and we saw lots of different dinosaurs.

They weren’t real but we could see how the dinosaurs would have moved, and we also got to have a go  at controlling one.

After the exhibiton we went into the holes in the mongoose enclosure, where we could stick our heads out – i saw three animals!

The tigers were right next to the tunnels so we went there next – we saw two  cubs they were sooooooooooo cute.

After that, we went on the monorail that was covered in the union flag which is the one that the Queen rode in. This took us to Monkey Island. We went to see the monkeys and I also saw Zebras, Tapirs, Capybaras, Ostriches, Speckled Bears and Onyxes – an interesting fact about the Onyx is that they can last without water for ten months!

Then we went for lunch at the Junes Pavilion – the food there was delicious the café was right next to the park so when we had finished eating we went there. I really enjoyed it at the park.

Then we went to see the fruit bats – it stank in there and we all put our hoods up and our hats on just in case one of them did a woopsy on top of our heads!

When we came out we headed for the butterflies – it was really hot, and there were lots of different types of butterflies there. One landed on my back and it would not go away!

There were also loads of cocoons of all different shapes and sizes I thought the cocoons were wonderful. Then we walked round to the gift shop, and finally, went to the adoption centre because we wanted to adopt a giraffe(they’re my little sister’s favourite).  And that was the end of our day out (eight hours all together!).  I hope you enjoyed reading about it. 

 

Phew! Thanks Ellie, I’m tired just reading and remembering this! It really was a great day out, and thanks to everyone at the zoo for making it so enjoyable.

Helen and her family were guests of Chester Zoo. For full details of prices and opening times, visit Chester Zoo’s website.