We last visited Safari Zoo in February, with a teeny, newborn Munchkin. Little did we know our lives were about to change. Now that the restrictions have begun to be lifted, we made our first post-lockdown trip to Safari Zoo four months to the day from our last visit. Read on to check out what has changed, from new baby animals to social distancing measures in place.

There's been a few changes…

When we visited you had to book your visit.

You may remember I previously wrote about visiting Safari Zoo for their Turkey and Tinsel Christmas Experience in December. It was an event which needed booking in advance… and this time it wasn't a whole lot different (only we didn’t need to book to visit Santa!) We had to reserve our admission slot (even though we have an annual membership!) Although I believe you no longer have to pre-book, it is advisable to buy your ticket online here. Make sure you print these out, to make entry on arrival nice and easy.

They've installed reminders for social distancing.

It was actually really lovely to see the car park full, especially as so many wildlife parks, zoos and more were put under a lot of strain during lockdown; without the support of paying visitors. It didn't feel stupidly busy inside, however. Plus, with the new social distancing measures in place, the staff at Safari Zoo have worked hard to ensure we can all visit safely.

Please keep two giant otters (or one lowland tapir) apart.

There was a lot of new and updated signage around Safari Zoo to remind everyone to keep 2m distancing in place. They made it unique too, using animals from the park to help!

The girls loved the paw print stickers on the glass view points of the larger animals, painted white paw prints on the floor which are all in place to remind you to keep your distance. Thankfully they weren’t scared by it all, and actually found it quite fun!

Walk this way… one-way please.

Some areas of Safari Zoo such as the Worldwide Safari and the penguin walkthrough are one way. They have everything from directional arrows to ‘no entry’ signs to remind you which way to go. It wasn't a problem things being one-way, we found it actually works quite well to keep a natural flow to the exploration of the park and all the animals.

The animals are glad we're back… I'm sure of it.

They were on form, showing off!

Have you ever seen a giraffe run in real life? We hadn’t… but now we have! It was such a surreal experience, and on a trip we have make since (yes, we've been twice since they reopened a few weeks ago!) Pickle was desperate to see it again. Sadly they were not running, but they were outside and it was still great to see them.

They were checking us out as much as we were them.

It was almost like they were glad we were back. It must have been just as weird for them the past few months, without anyone coming to visit! We were so lucky to get some real close encounters with all our favourite animals.

We saw animals who haven’t shown their faces on previous visits.

Mona and Zippy the spectacled (Andean) bears

We have been so many times and despite not hibernating these bears remained elusive. Actually the twice we've been post-lockdown we have seen both Mona and Zippy, which the girls (and John!) were very excited about.

Tink, Pan and Tick the red pandas

While I didn’t photograph them all, we did see all three red pandas during our visit! Tock has moved on as part of the breeding system zoos across the world have in place; but it's the first time we've seen the other three. Since our two visits Safari Zoo have has some little baby red pandas arrive, so check out their social media to see them!

Chevelle the African lioness

Chevelle is another animal we saw for the first time on our first visit post-lockdown. She was snoozing right by the windows and the girls loved being able to see her. She is beautiful, and look at the size of those paws! A little bigger than our cat Pebbles at home. Since our previous visits they have a new male lion after her previous companion passed away, so we are hopefully going to see him on our next visit.

Meet the babies

The animals were busy having babies while we were away, and it was fabulous to see so many new little ones around the park.

Baby lemurs

One mama lemur was totally bemused by me and my own baby being carried… Munchkin was not so impressed by her though!

Baby spider monkey

The sequence of photos below make me laugh every time I see them. They epitomise every parent's life… the cheeky child who gets caught and reprimanded before receiving extra supervision!

Baby prairie marmots

They are SO cute and one of the best things is to see how they copy the adults with warnings and digging!

Even the birds have babies

Ducklings

I mean, you can probably see these at your local pond but they are still a cute addition to the Safari Zoo babies.

Peachicks

Have you ever seen what the baby of a peacock and peahen looks like? No? Now you have! They are the most adorable little chicks, but please take care to not get too close, their mama is very protective. I took these photos with a special lens on my camera so I didn't need to get close!

In case you missed them, some babies have grown a bit too!

The joey is out of the pouch

Considering on our last pre-lockdown visit we were laughing about me carrying my newborn in a sling, and this mama carrying hers in a pouch, it was amazing to see how big this joey had grown!

Zahra the baby rhino looks magnificent outdoors

The last few times we visited prior to lockdown we only spotted the rhinos indoors. It was so lovely on our most recent visits to see them all outside and enjoying the lovely British weather.

Whether you live locally, or are simply up in Cumbria for a holiday, I highly recommend adding Safari Zoo to your days out list. It is such a wonderful place to visit, and no matter how many times we go, it never disappoints.

For more posts about our family adventures, from UK staycations to days out for kids visit my Travel blog. If you have any questions about Safari Zoo, feel free to ask in the comments section below.