Review: Yorkshire Wildlife Park - Doncaster

If anyone had told me that you could see lions, tigers and giraffes roaming around in the UK's number one walkthrough wildlife attraction in Doncaster a few years ago I would not have believed them.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Park on the southern side of Doncaster really is a great day out for young and old.

The park is on a large scale and the map you are given on entry does not really show the scale of things, although the park is on the flat and it is easily walkable. The staff are very friendly and knowledgeable about the various animals. At various times of the day you can hear talks about the animals and see them being fed too.

The highlight of any visit has to be Lion Country; here are the lions that were rescued from a zoo in Romania in 2010. Apparently the size of the area they are now in at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park is as big as the whole zoo was in Romania! The 10 lions are probably the most famous in the country and they now reside in a purpose built reserve with lakes and rocks.



There are other big cats in separate enclosures too such as tigers and leopards. The giraffes even have their own, very tall house and visitors can appreciate their size even more from a staircase called the Leopard Heights Tower.

Another highlight which I found interesting is South American Viva! where you actually walk inside one of the enclosures, admittedly the animals are quite tame like the monkeys.

A new polar bear reserve has recently opened making it one of the biggest polar bear reserves in the UK. That is what I noticed at the park: the enclosures for the animals were all very big.

The Meerkats and Mongooses provided many smiles with their antics whilst the Baboon enclosure was another area that you did not want to leave.

As the park is mostly out in the open it would be best to visit on a dry day. Be prepared to stay for longer than you thought as there really is plenty to see.

As we returned to the free car park you could hear the roar of the lions as if to say come back again. Highly recommended.