Overview

This was the first time my partner and I had visited this zoo, having been to Edinburgh zoo many times. Overall, we thought it was a good zoo, although it had positives and negatives. The overwhelming amount of dated decorations (especially Christmas decorations) in May was a bit tacky looking and creepy in places. The main entrance looked really odd still with giant Christmas decorations! The animals themselves looked like they had plenty of space (perhaps with the exception of some of the larger owls) and were well cared for. We managed to spot the majority of the animals we wanted to see, although some were in rather awkwardly located enclosures. For example it was a bit tricky trying to spot the Scottish Wildcats while worrying about rolling off down the steep slope they were on! The best animals we got to see were the prairie dogs (although a little difficult trying to see over the wall around their enclosure!), the lynx (which was looking very smug), the wildcats, fishing cat, new rescue bear, lions and arctic wolves. The zoo has a map on their website, but it wasn't particularly helpful as some of the animals weren't on it or were in different locations! It would have been helpful if the map had indicated where the steepest paths were - there was one warning, but nothing about any of the other paths. I was glad my partner was able to push me, since there was no way I could have self propelled around the majority of the slopes. Electric wheelchair users shouldn't have an issue though.

Transport & Parking

It wasn't too difficult to find by car (with sat nav!) - but there didn't seem to be any public transport options. The car park was quite odd. I was expecting a row of disabled bays next to the entrance (like the other reviewers had said)... but they seemed to have covered them all in masses of plants! Thankfully we visited on a weekday, but at busy times this would have been an issue. Couldn't see a single disabled bay.

Access

Was relatively easy to get into the zoo as a manual wheelchair user, although the doors were a bit heavy. The paths around the zoo are mostly smooth concrete, but be aware there are very few flat areas - basically slopes everywhere! Some of the paths were incredibly steep to the point that my partner was either struggling to push me up them or clinging onto my push handles for dear life as we went down. I would not advise a manual wheelchair user to try and self propel around the zoo themselves unless they had extremely good upper body strength. Take someone to push you or use power!

Toilets

Staff

Staff seemed okay, although not massively friendly or helpful.

Photos