colchester zoo

My husband and I have been visiting Colchester Zoo for over ten years and finally have a daughter to use as an excuse for the trip(!) We absolutely love it and no two trips are the same. As an avid zoo visitor i can honestly say Colchester is the best (above Bristol, Whipsnade and London). They are constantly improving the animals' enclosures and updating educational information on display for visitors. It's a great day out for families and couples and I would thoroughly recommend.

Visited on 15 March, a rare sunny day! It was the opportunity to feed a giraffe that drew me to it and IMO that alone is worth the admission fee!There is plenty to do, lot of different encounters, the animals all looked healthy, the keepers were friendly and happy to answer questions and the whole zoo very clean and tidy.Feeding the giraffe was the highlight of the visit for me, closely followed by feeding an elephant and we found the tiger encounter interesting and informative.We were there for 5 hours and got round almost everything (sadly missed the penguins!) but not all the different animal encounters or displays.Good opportunities to get close to the animals behind and take photos. Would definitely go back and recommend it for a day out.

We had a great day out we took our 8 month old son and my parents I would recommend using tesco clubcard vouchers for me and my husband it cost me £15 via vouchers rather than the £40 on the gate! The zoo is great value for money plenty of places to get drinks and food nice park areas for kids plenty of picnic places to. The zoo is steep hills in places and at the moment some areas are undergoing renovation zoo is very clean and if you have small children changing facilities are available in most toilets. A great day out we were all exhausted by the end of it!

I decided that this time i would get the Gold Card pass, which gives the holder access for the year, when you look at how much it is for a day!, it makes financial sense unless you live miles away, having said that, we are around 35 miles, but still see it as a great pass for that day when you do not know what to do. The extra money will help all the fantastic staff at the Zoo do there great jobs and deliver a high standard that we look for in Essex, be proud. The new Australian Rainbows exibit is worth finding, but make sure you have a pound.

I have been visiting this zoo since I was a child. The improvements that have been made and continue to be made are phenomenal. The animals are in large, clean enclosures, with lots of items to keep them from being bored. The opportunities to see the animals more closely are great, such as the walk-through lemur enclosure. Reasonably priced places to eat too, so it's a good day out.

My daughter is coming up to 2years old and getting obsessed with everything. I took my daughter for an afternoon as we're in the essex area and it was a really nice afternoon. She loved seeing all the animals and running around. We didn't do everything and didn't stop for any length of time at exhibits but we was there for more than 3 hours. There was plenty of experiences on and we got to see all the different monkeys get feed to my daughter's delight. I also took up the membership for two years for £80 as its great to take my daughter for those afternoons or morning where u want to get out but stay local and Colchester zoo always has lots going on. Plus 10% off in the gift shop is always a pleasure to my bank balance.

Having lived no more than 15 miles away from the zoo all my life I had never been there till along came my granddaughter and guess what ! we all went to the zoo. It was absolutely great and albeit it was February my granddaughters first birthday we wrapped up warm and took full advantage of everything the zoo had to offer. Being February it wasn't too busy and we got to see everything we wanted to without any hassle or queuing. We loved our visit so much that we took out the annual membership offer as I have no doubt we will be going to the zoo quite often from now on. If you are likely to visit on a regular basis the annual membership is a must and after a couple of visits you will have recouped the initial outlay. Another great advantage is that you can visit other zoos too with this card so its money well spent.The zoo is very clean, tidy and the staff are very friendly. Be prepared to do some walking and negotiate the odd hill or two so comfortable footwear is a must.Highly recommended.

Although our children have grown up and left home we still all purchase gold cards for this zoo every year. It's an amazing place with animals that seem very happy, are very welllooked after and clean all the time. The zoo has many young friendly staff who are always happy to help. I puchased a reindeer experience for my daughter in law who is crazy about reindeers and although they said it is something they had never done before they accommodated us without a second thought. Absolutely fabulous experience and the ladies were fantastic, a mine of information, so were the reindeer! If you want something out of the ordinary I am sure they will do everything they can to help you. I couldn't praise them enough.

This is a place we can go for a single hour or the whole day. Our daughter now seven been visiting it since she was a baby and she never had a boring time. This is great in any weather, just doing different things.

The zoo is poorly or at least inadequately sign posted from the main arterial roads into the area so gird up your GPS or map book before you set off by car. Once there the car park is quite large and when you've found your way to the front entrance you can either stand in line for a ticket or go to the pre booked ticket machines. I thought the price was expensive but I know that I'm quite often out in my estimate of what today might be considered value. Inside it becomes apparent that the zoo is laid out in a meandering fashion although consideration has been given to the hordes of push chairs which infested the place. The maps provided at point of entry do not reflect all the dead ends, turnarounds or display removals that seem to be in force or progress. We were not alone in finding it difficult to discover the snack bars and cafes within the confines. The day was a pretty slack one but I'd absolutely hate to be there trying to get food and drink when the zoo was remotely crowded. Picnicking was not encouraged at all. Lavatory facilities were all right but usual safety precautions apply.I do wonder what could be the rationale behind the dumbing down of names, habitats and descriptions on the plaques at the animal displays. Information on the animals and birds was scant, minimally informative and in some cases infantile. The ethos of Colchester Zoo seems not so much about informing and educating the public about animals as it is to exhort people to dig deep into their pockets to support and subsidise the zoo.Whilst the giraffe and elephant feeding was amusing for the kids, the giraffes are a mere shadow of the magnificent Camelopardalis which can be seen at Banham Zoo. The sea lion observation tunnel was good fun if a little basic and the Africa house entertaining. Elsewhere,the poor old Burchell's zebras were quite unremarkable and the lack of information on any other zebra or giraffe in the African world was a slack oversight.. There are many different zebras and giraffes in the world and a zoo should be more informative for its public. Elephant were a draw and it's not their fault that they're old and that there is no evidence of a young pachyderm replacement plan. One could only feel sorry for the Orang Utan but perhaps that explains the mystique of the myths that surround them. The place is neither a zoological garden nor is it a theme park. What animal information there is has been dumbed down a bit too far for those who have a really inquiring interest in animals and who wish to expand their knowledge. The children who enjoyed the outside play areas seemed to be having fun. There were lots of little animal ride machines littered about. The gift shops seemed well enough stocked and the staff we came across were perfectly pleasant. The coffee wasn't bad either although, perhaps mercifully, civet coffee beans were not in evidence.

Whether as a couple, family or even on your own Colchester zoo is a formidable place. I challenge anyone not to fall in love with the place, they've everything you want even things you don't (giant cockroaches/tarantulas). The value really comes into its own when you invest in annual passes-gold 1yr and platinum 2yrs-with unlimited entry. There's fantastic facilities for kids including a dedicated indoor soft play area and awesome outdoor play parks. There's plenty of food outlets along with a plethora of strategically placed picnic areas.

We enjoyed seeing the animals around the park, however, the facilities were not great and clearly needed refurbishing. There also doesn't seem to be the potential for long-term growth and the new products being advertised aren't the best. The road track would not be used properly by children and this would make parents uneasy about letting their children go on it in the future.

Love this zoo. Gold card has been invaluable, if your going for the day, be prepared to miss a bit, there is loads to do. Wouldn't eat by the play area at the entrance, but go down to the lake. Try to go out of school holiday as it does get very busy

Colchester Zoo is a lovely clean zoo however it is a tad hilly but very well laid out for disabled. Also some of the enclosure viewing fences/platforms are a tad high and to try and get a photo through the glass windows is quite difficult when the sun is beaming down so I would say that this is not photography free friendly. There is many animals from sun bears, lions, pygmy hippo, meerkats, penguins and sealions etc. There is no seating for sealion talk/show which I found odd again viewing is through big windows. The elephant and giraffe public feed are lovely and a great idea however I feel we should be handed a bigger size piece of fruit/veg as the piece of lettuce I got was a size of a 50p coin also the volunteers ushered us along too quick so no chance for a photo opportunity with the animal. The Pattisserie cafe is lovely especially in the conservatory area next to the bird of prey display area. Also the lunch was lovely and hot and the cakes even thouigh I did not have any looked divine and they looked homemade. I done a aardvark experience when at the zoo and it was a amazing so unique and one that I will treasure. When I done it there was a baby aardvark of 9 weeks old so cute. I would deffinately do the aardvarks again in the future. However bear in mind they are usually asleep during the day so it is hit and miss if they will be active or not. There was 4 in the enclosure and only the baby and the 2 year old sister was active. Also there is a red light in the enclosure so quite a dark area and very hot so dont wear your coat into the enclosure is my advice. The zoo keeper was also very knowledgable and welcoming, loved animals and is a very pleasant young man. I would go back to this zoo only reason why I rate this zoo a 4 out of 5 is because of the many hills and windows so made it hard for photography.

Visited Colchester zoo with my boyfriend on Saturday. We arrived about an hour after opening and had a fast entrance to the zoo, as there was no queue at the entrance. Through the course of the day we saw the sun bear,meerkats, and sealion talks. The quality of the talks were ok,however their were so many happening there is no way you could see more than a handful. I really enjoyed the sun bear talk, the keeper spoke in a relaxed and informal manner, and was very happy to answer questions after her talk. The other talks from other members of staff felt wooden and disconnected from the audience. The elephant public feed is a nice idea, however we were rushed through by volunteers to move along, even thought there was no queue behind us. The discovery centre was disappointed, felt unwelcoming, with staff more concerned with talking amongst themselves than engaging any members of the public. The highlight was lunch! The little sit down cafe by the birds of prey arena was excellent. Fantastic menu, hot fresh food at good prices.The zoo is on a hill, with some steep hills, so wear some comfy trainers!