Photo credit: Kara Guppy
Last week the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the new Asiatic lion exhibit, Land of the Lions, at London Zoo and this week we were lucky enough to be one of the first to visit.
Photo credit: Kara Guppy
We entered Land of the Lions through a grand stone archway and was immediately in awe of what was ahead of us which included colourful murals, authentic looking signage, rickshaws, bicycles, sacks of spices, rangers? huts, and even a life-size truck which left us feeling as if we had left the bright lights of London and transported to India?s vibrant Sasan Gir.
A great exhibit for me is one where it captures your imagination and the Land of the Lions did just that, with a ?WOW? moment around every corner. The children were each given a challenge sheet upon entering by a ranger, which challenged them to the find items on it and cross them off when they did, which included a Lioness, Lion, monkey etc. There was a chance to ride a static bike and see if you could out-run a Lion ? sadly not in my case and Isaac could only cycle as fast as an elephant.
Photo credit: Kara Guppy
Three walkways which cover the 2,500sqm exhibit include a train station, crumbling temple clearing, high street and guard hut whilst giving a great view over the huge enclosure. We were stood above the enclosure whilst a ranger was throwing lumps of meat over the fence for lionesses Indi, Rubi and Heidi to find, which gave us a great view of them.
There is also a spectacular 360° Temple Clearing where the big cats roam just metres away, separated only by fine wires.
London Zoo is a fantastic day out that is fun for all the family, young or old as there is so much to see and do. If big cats are your thing there is also Tiger Territory where you can see them lazing around, or you can whoop and cheer as you watch the penguins zoom through the water at Penguin Beach. I highly recommend you check out their twice daily feed to watch the birds diving for their food.
If you like your primates, In with the Lemurs is a new walk-through exhibit to try, where you can get closer than ever before to their ring-tail lemurs, there are some newborn Gorilla?s to see in Gorilla Kingdom and in Rainforest Life you come face to face with a variety of amazing rainforest species including monkeys, sloth, armadillo and tamandua.
Photo credit: Kara Guppy
London Zoo is situated in Regents Park, just outside the congestion charge zone or just a short walk from Camden Town and Regent?s Park stations. Why not add it to your ?must see? list the next time you are in London!
About Kara Guppy
Kara is a busy mother of 6 children aged between 2 and 22 and lives in Dorset. The family love to be outside and live by the motto „Collect Moments, Not Things“. We can often be found leaping in muddy puddles, climbing trees, collecting seashells or hurling ourselves off cliffs down ziplines, and all for fun of course. Kara loves to blog about her and the family’s adventures and can be found at Chelseamamma.co.uk, arewenearlythereyet.eu and sharing videos of her days out on her YouTube channel. She can also be found on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, G+, Vine and Pinterest.