Paradise Wildlife Park

We have to Break free!!!

We always make our own entertainment when we are in the back seats on the long journeys! We set up our little “Dens” with supplies and entertainment, blankets and Pillow Pets. Which come in very handy for cosiness! We started by raving to the Ghostbusters theme song whilst winding down the windows and blasting it out. I think we freaked out the rest of us in the car behind! We sang we laughed and then we found Rainbow Sugar Stripes. There was no going back from this madness! It was hilarious and the trip goes so much faster when you lose track of time and where you are on route! All we need next is a bigger car; maybe even a pick-up. Then we could make a bigger Den and have a proper party Den layout going on! It is really nice having a family day out where we can spend quality time doing what we love. Especially with our partners as it is really rare we go on day trip and relax for a day. Even if we were all incredibly ill!

Penguin is reunited with the penguins!

On 8th February 2012 Penguin went to Paradise wildlife park for the 4th time (4 being my lucky number), with her leopard to fulfill her life dream of feeding penguins.

On the 13th April, the whole family went to the park again, and of course, Penguin was excited to see the penguins again! Even more so than when going to see penguins anyway.

The penguins were cleaning each other, they were marching away.. And one brave penguin was swimming even though it wasn't very warm! And there was one fat one.. He didn't really do much..

They all wanted to swim.. But it was too cold!

HOW COULD ANYONE NOT LOVE PENGUINS?!?!

I wore my penguin hat, hoping someone would think i was an escaped penguin, put me in with the penguins.. Then I could get one (Probably the fat one as it didn't do much , so it might not of run away) and then just take my hat off and be like 'Hey, why did you put me in here? I'm a person.. Let me out please?'

But that didn't happen...

Golf is fun because of animals.. So is sand.

The family has gone to the zoo 2 times since Bear and Penguin have been around. Both times, us girls, and the boys, have had a separate little treat. The boys play golf. The girls make sand animals. then the girls catch up with the boys on the golf course and take pictures with all the plastic animals that are around the course. Everyone is happy! First time we were there they didn't have Bears or Penguins, So Bear made a horse and Penguin made a Lion. The second time they didn't have Bears but they had Penguins. So Bear made a  horse and Penguin made a Penguin.

Feeding Green Naped Lorikeets

Sammy can’t have all the fun of feeding the animals! Well, he might of done it too.. But at lest we did do it. It was so fun! And the bird were beautiful! They did poo a lot though.. Maybe too much food in one day… But they were really friendly! One sat right on our hands and started to clean them, it was so cute!

Tam still lives!

Penguin and her Leopard have been to PWP 3 times together. Once as a day trip with the family 2nd of May 2011. Just Penguin and her Leopard for their 1 year anniversary on 8th February 2012. And finally another family trip on 13th April 2013.

Every time they have been,  Penguin and Leopard have seen a beautiful, bright Toucan, named Tam.

The first time (2nd May 2011) he was in a medium sized cage. He was in a house that had bats and mammals in different cages.

The second time (8th may 2012) he was flying freely in a rainforest house kind of thing.  Penguin and  Leopard were their to feed penguins. It was Penguin’s life time dream and Leopard being the sweet, lovely guy he is decided it would be perfect for our first anniversary. (He is so romantic when he doesn’t mean to be!)  But Penguin was VERY grumpy! I was tired (Couldn't sleep because I was so excited), cold (that was the year it snowed a stupid amount), and it was a longgggg journey.  We went into the rainforest bit and Tam came flying over. He came so close! Sat next to us, he pinched my bum! And was talking to us. I think he liked my hat. He cheered me up so much. He made the day even more perfect! (

We asked the keeper who was with us for feeding the penguins the Toucan's name, that's how we found out he was called)

And the last time, this time (13th April 2013), Penguin wanted to find him more then she wanted to see anyone else. Even more then the Penguins! But only just! I checked the two placed he was the last two times and he wasn’t there! I was so worried he was gone or had passed. But after we fed the Green naped Lorikeets, we looked round the other birds.. And there he was! I even wore my penguin hat again in case it helped him recognise me!

Cheetah - the kitty cat all Bears LOVE!!!

I know my all time favourite animals will always be White Tigers then Panda Bears… any kind of bear really. But my big cat love will always be Cheetahs. They are truly amazing, the speed they get up to, their shape and muscle abilities. They are gorgeous and have pretty tails! I have had the amazing chance to see one up very, very close and it was mind blowing! One of my Highlights of Paradise Wildlife Park was to see the three they had roaming around together very happily! I went to see them four times and got tons of photos to get me by until I get to see them again!

I loved how they would circle right over to the enclosures bars and windows and that they weren’t afraid of us, even the screaming children! I find it really hard to believe anyone could fear them – you simply just want to cuddle them! 

Fluffy Animals! Fluffies EVERYWHERE = HEAVEN!!!

We got to see the White Lions and White Tigers. The mummy White Lion was there with her new cub; although mostly sleeping whenever we saw them it was enlightening seeing them so happy with each other. The cub was growing so fast! I waited 21 years to meet a white tiger when Narnia was at WHF in Smarden but she slept the whole way through! This time Narnia and Macow were wandering around and he was feeling rather playful so kept stalking her but she was having none of it! They were so funny, it resembled children play fighting it was wonderful and worth the wait. Maybe sometimes all your dreams can be in one place?

Leopard Simon got to see his beloved Mizi after almost three years! She was soon to meet her new mate so I bet she loved seeing her favourite keeper to cheer her up and take away the nerves beforehand!

Sheena is the African Leopard they have; Simon met her when he volunteered at the park for a few weeks, after the whole time sleeping all it took was for Simon to call her. She came out up to him and rolled around like an adorable little kitten! It shows that they do remember and what an influence he has on the animals he meets!

We also saw Rocky, the Tiger. Our AJ fed him many, many years ago so it was great for him to see him again as well as his son!

We also saw the Otters playing around together, the exotic birds… some rather too friendly! We even found an African Grey Parrot (Like our Rocky at home), A Chilean Rose Tarantula (Like Tulay) and a Bearded Dragon (Like Blackie), We truly do live in a zoo!

Simon found a snake they were following him; maybe he is a secret Harry Potter of our time. He sees to be able to connect with them… Dr. Simon Dolittle?

There’s also a little dome you can pop your head into to see the snakes inside and possibly look a little crazy like we did!

I like to move it.. Move it! You like to move it.. Move it!

As a birthday present to little Sammy from Penguin and Leopard, he went to feed the Ring tailed Lemurs. This meant a family day trip to the zoo. Everyone was happy with that !

Sam seemed to enjoy the experience itself. He was in there awhile. Even our nephew loved it! He said that when he is big, he wants to do it too. Everyone had a nice day!

-Interesting fact about Lemurs- The female Lemurs are in charge. The females eat first and then the males

Not all the Lemurs were willing to wait until Sammy fed them! Just walking in he ended up with one in the bowl! And when he tried to feed them other would come along and steal the food from his hand, the other Lemurs hand or even the other Lemurs mouth! Some just took food straight from the bowl itself while he was feeding the others. They were jumping all over him! One stayed on his shoulder like it was a parrot. Apparently they were only really interested in the apple.. And when he was coming back out, one of them tried to escape! Think he wanted to come home with us.. We would of been happy with that. Sammy says that Lemurs are his favourite animals now.

Lucky he was with the Ring tailed Lemurs! Sounded like the ones next door had a big fight!

Feeding the Beasts – yes they sometimes feed us too!

When you first walk into the zoo there is this cute little stand where you can buy prepared feed bags for some of the animals that won’t try to eat you alive :D. It was great because we could feed the Reindeers and the Ostriches, The Goats, Pigs and the Sheep. Well our nephew decided to throw the food at the pigs! It was really adorable because he was very scared to feed the animals but step by step we got him to feed the hungry baby goats they had. It was worth it in the end as he was really happy that he got to do it and how it “tickled” while they were eating off of his hands! We got the whole family to have a go feeding them as it really was quite lovely. It is so great that zoos actually still let the children (as apparently they enjoy the feeding too) having the hands on experience to feed the animals and stroke them. It must really give them a sense of how different and cool animals are! Bring back the petting zoos! To hell with germs and gross animal slobber!

 - Bear & Penguin (The ones that visit zoos not live in them!) x x x