On the 29th of May 2024, I went and visited Wingham Wildlife Park for the last time as a Junior Journalist. As it was half-term there were many fun activities to do, such as arts and crafts and learning about teeth and claws of animals (past and present) on the touch tables. It was a great chance to learn about some fascinating facts while still having a fun day out with family and seeing some animals.
Arts and crafts
We had a fantastic time joining in with the half-term activities. The arts and crafts on offer consisted of painting your own binoculars, rock painting, planting seeds and decorating your own bug hotels.
These were located on the green area next to the penguin enclosure, we timed our visit perfectly as when we got to the green the penguins were out for their walk, so we were able to watch the adorable penguins.
As there was no age limit on these activities, there were lots of age ranges taking part within the half-term fun. There were kids as small as less than a year with their parents up to adults joining in on the fun. If you weren’t leaving right away, there was even somewhere we could leave our creations to dry and collect later.
Touch table
In addition, there was a touch table that contains parts of animals that still exists and some that are now extinct such as different types of big cats claws.
The members of staff running it were more than happy to explain what each thing was, where it would have been placed on their body and what the animals would have used it for there were multiples belonging to the same animals and some belonging to different ones.
This attracted lots of different kids and adults of all ages. It was a fun way to learn about animals in more detail while still having fun with friends and family.
Chimpanzees
On this visit we got our closest look at baby chimpanzee Margaret. She was sat with her mum Tara right by the window downstairs in the chimp house. It was amazing being able to watch her so close.
We love watching the cheekiness of the chimpanzees as they kept fighting over the leaves that they were given. We obviously are not alone with our love of their personalities as this resulted in the chimps getting a lot of attention and people watching them.
Penguins
I’ve mentioned the penguin walk on my blog before, but for anybody new here are the details again! At 10.30 every day the keepers lead the penguins out of the enclosure to go for a walk around their enclosure on the grass. This is all fun and games until the keeper’s having to try and get the penguins back into their enclosure! Their personality really comes out when they are being stubborn and trying to walk the other way. It is really cool as you get a much closer look at them than you do in their enclosure- we haven’t seen this at any other zoo either!
New additions
Baby penguins
When we arrived this morning Abi gave us a hint on where to find something new! We took our chance while close to go have a look! Abi told us that there were baby penguins in the nests and after a while of looking we found the baby penguin who was called Podrick hiding in the nest with its parents.
It was cute to see as it was so young it was so much fluffier than all the other penguins. We had to zoom in with our camera to be able to see him in the nest. But I’m sure soon that Podrick will be out exploring the enclosure like the others!
Baby meerkats
We also had a great time watching the three baby meerkats exploring their enclosure this time too! They were so confident going to the windows to interact with people at the zoo! It was adorable watching them trying to climb, of course, because of their size getting up onto the planks of wood was like climbing a mountain to them! We loved seeing all the new babies at the zoo on this visit!
This was my last visit as a junior journalist; I have had the most amazing year with the opportunity to visit the zoo with my family 4 times and share our experiences with everyone on the blog! Thank you Wingham for such a fantastic opportunity for me! If the opportunity is available for new people, I really recommend you give it a go- you won’t regret it!
Thank you again Wingham for sharing your amazing animals with us!
