8th February 2012
Our 43rd Wedding Anniversary gave us a fine but very cold day. Neither of us was too bothered about a walk in the true sense but wanted to get out for a few hours. We decided on a visit to the South Lakes Wild Animal Park which was offering free admission which suited my pocket. The park is located on the Furness Peninsula near Dalton in Furness and is well worth a visit. The owner David Gill is the son of one of Edith's cousins and we actually spent our honeymoon at his Grandparents house in nearby Askam in Furness all those years ago.
For those who may be interested in paying a visit themselves here is a link to the parks website...
South Lakes Wild Animal Park (will open in a new window)
Although entry to the park was free we bought the guide, a number of bags of food and made a donation, after all it can be far from cheap to maintain and feed all the animals. After entering we made our way to the giraffe house passing the reindeers on the way. However on arrival at the giraffe house there was a crowd of youngsters awaiting entry so we left to visit later.
Our next stop was to see the White Lipped or White Rhinoceros. There were two of them outside and we spent some time watching them.
After a while we moved into the Rhino House where "Indiana" was having a nap while Mum Ntombi looked on.
"Indiana" named after David Gill's son was born on the 17th November 2011.
We then moved on to the South American and Primate section...
....where from the overhead gantry we were kept amused by the Short Clawed Otters which are from the Indo-Chinese region but...
...were sharing the area with the Andean Bears.
Being totally honest, this is the main reason I came today. The tiger is the most beautiful of animals and it was this I wanted to capture an image of today. I had hurried Edith along to reach here...
...but on our arrival it was being a little camera shy.
Looking down on the Humbolt Penguins from the Aerial Walkway.
And a close up.
From a different position on the Aerial Walkway but still I'm not happy.
By now we were quite cold. It was a lovely day but very cold so we decided to have a walk around the Lemur and Australasion Animal section.
Inside we saw these Ring-Tailed Lemur's sharing the warmth and food with a African Spurred Tortoise.
The Caribbean Flamingo's were sharing the warmth of a heat lamp.
The White Storks had a haematite tinge about them to. It was around this point that Edith in particular was feeling the cold so we made our way to the Maki Restaurant for a bite to eat and a warm drink....
....before a second and successful visit to the Giraffe house where it was feeding time.
We had missed the Lions the first time round in my haste to see the tigers.
This and the next picture were taken through a thick (well I hope it was) glass section
The lioness wasn't quite as obliging and jumped down from her platform. However I did manage a couple from the Aerial Walkway.
Passing by the South American section we saw this Capybara...
...and this Lowland Tapir.
White-Handed Gibbons.
" Don't point that at me! "
Humbolt Penguins again.
Back to the Lemurs where somebody was sunbathing.
Black-Tailed Prairie Marmot
This close up is as near we got to any of the Wallaby's. Maybe it was too cold for them or they were having a lie in.
The pigeons get everywhere.
Catching the sun.
Beauty and the Beast?....A Red & Green Macaw with a King Vulture.
King Vulture.....By now we had been around 4 hours and there was still more to see but we Edith was frozen so we decided to call it a day. I persuaded her to have one last look at the tigers on our way out.....
....and was a glad I did.
What a magnificent creature they are. It is just a great shame that we have to rely on places like this to help maintain the breed...
In the last century the world tiger population has declined by 95% and 4 out of 8 of its sub-species are now extinct. The Sumatran Tiger is now classed as being critically endangered with just 350 wild Sumatran Tigers left on the planet. If you can help it would be greatly appreciated. Please have a peek at the link below to see the work they do.
I hope you have enjoyed the pictures from our trip out. The South Lakes Wildlife Park is well worth a visit both for adults and children.....we shall return.
Do you have Facebook?.....The Wainwright-Wanderings website as its own Fan Page on Facebook where additional pictures are posted and information given about recent walks and updates to the website. Please feel free to take a look at the page and maybe even "LIKE" it to keep in touch. The link to the Page is given below.
Wainwright-Wanderings Facebook Fan Page (will open in a new window)
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