Description: Getting there
We did have use of sat nav to help us in getting to the safari park but the drive was simple with it and as we got closer to the park it was well sign posted and just off the A58 which is in the North West of England, towards Liverpool.
The website does offer details on how to find them and this is a useful tool we found. You do need to have a car to enjoy the safari experience and so this is something to be mindful of.
The park is open from 10am until 6pm during high season with a last entry to the safari drive at 4pm.
Admission
We arrived around 11.30am to the park on the 6th May which was the day before the bank holiday and was actually quite a pleasant day weather wise in the North West and so we did expect the park to be quite busy. We had to queue in the car for around five minutes or so before we made it to the booth to purchase our tickets for the day.
Now I had looked around online to try and find a discount voucher for the day with little luck and so I ended up paying 99p on ebay for a leaflet which offered two free children as long as two adults were paying. One thing that I find quite remarkable with Knowsley is the fact that you need to pay quite a high price for every person in the car and I do think it would be much more reasonable to have a lower "per car" price. Ordinarily the price per adult is £16 and per child £12 or £53 for a family of four. Children up to the age of three do go free. Currently there is a promotion offering 20.12% off admission charges and so it cost £25.50 for us all to get in with our free child vouchers which is a much more acceptable price in my opinion.
We were given a few vouchers for money off meals in the park and a map and stickers for the children to do as they were driven around the park which was a hit with my son and his friend but it would have been nice to have been given one each I think.
The safari
We decided to drive straight round the safari and whilst it was busy we were able to get a good luck at the animals just by taking our time really. There are various animals to be seen in the park including different kinds of deer, wild dogs, lions, rhino, baboons, camels, ostriches and there are also giraffes and elephants housed in the park but you need to go in to the main park to see those. The animals are able to just walk around their areas for the most part and it is amazing how you will spot a small deer family set off in the distance and such like. Ostriches get very close to the cars as they have become used to the fact that people seem to throw food to them despite the fact that this is against the rules of the park.
The lion section of the safari was very busy and took the longest amount of time to get around as cars waited patiently for the most part to get a good look at the lions. The lions were busy sun bathing but the male lion got up for a walk around as we were heading in line with him and so we did get a good view of this amazing creature which my son and his friend really loved.
The baboon section is probably by far the most fun section of the park for a child to experience but we learned the hard way that unless you want your car to be wrecked you should probably take the car friendly route and watch them jump all over other peoples cars! My sister made the decision to drive the car through the baboons and whilst it was incredible to see them at such close proximity they did manage to strip one of the rubber sections off the front wiper before a rather large one fell on the rear wiper and snapped it good and proper. No liability is taken for damage caused by the baboons by Knowsley safari park and there are signs saying you enter at your own risk. Despite this we now have a £48 minimum to pay to replace the rear wiper so I would say be really careful before you head in to the baboon enclosure and be mindful of the risks. This said we all loved the experience right up until the end when the damage was caused.
You are able to drive through the safari more than once if you want to but we decided not to revisit it at the end of the day as my sisters legs were aching and we were conscious that she would have to drive home straight afterwards.
The rest of the park
When you have driven through the safari you are able to park up to experience the rest of the park where there are various rides and a few shows plus the giraffes, elephants and a few other animals to see there. Parking was relatively easy considering that it was quite a busy day and we weren’t too far away from the main entrance at all.
There are lots of amusement type rides in the park and to go on these you need to purchase tickets from the little cabin. The line for the cabin was quite ridiculous in all honesty and as this is the only place to buy tickets it was our only option should we want to go on any rides. As it happened I managed to talk the children out of going on rides as they cost £2 per child per ride or £10 per child for a wristband for the day. For me this is a little expensive considering the entrance price to get in to the safari park and I was glad when the children said they weren’t bothered about the rides.
For 2012 there is a birds of prey experience and I would totally recommend making the time to attend one of the showings on this. Basically a keeper talks you through various birds of prey as they fly around. You are warned prior to the birds flying that they do like to fly low but even then I wasn’t prepared for just how low they do actually get and you will certainly need to duck out of the way on various occasions! The talk combined with seeing the birds up close was really interesting and both my son and his friend really enjoyed it.
There is also a sea lion show at various points in the day and again I would totally recommend you take the time to go and see this as the sea lions are very clever and it makes an entertaining show for all of the family. I would advise getting down to the doors around fifteen minutes before show time to get a good seat to watch the show as it does get very busy.
There are areas in the park of grass, a woodland walk and places just to rest for a little while so if you go on a sunny day it is great for the children just to run around a little. My son and his friend had a five minute game of tag just whilst my sister and I sat and chilled out for a moment. There are also drinks machines around should you need them as well as a café and toilets too.
The gift shop
Of course you cannot take young children to a place such as this without visiting the gift shop! Inside the shop there are notepads, stationary, teddies, sweets, cups and bottles and such like which most are relatively well priced really. There is an awful lot to choose from in the shop so I would allow yourself plenty of time to have a look around.
Overall
Knowsley safari park is a nice day out really but if I didn’t have the vouchers for the day and the children had wanted to go on various rides it would have proved to be incredibly expensive really. What would be nice would be if they introduced some sort of "all inclusive" package with rides and such like included as I feel I would then be more inclined to return.
I personally don’t think it is the kind of place I would go to month in month out but I think every year or two it is a nice day out and I would certainly recommend people having a look…..just be careful of the monkeys!
Thank you for reading my review!
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