Visiting Knowsley Safari Park

Visiting Knowsley Safari Park

To celebrate George’s 9th birthday we booked a slot to visit Knowsley Safari. We have never visited before so it felt like such a treat to be heading out on our first day trip since lockdown to somewhere new. It was such a great day out, we all enjoyed our visit. Really relaxed as most of our time was spent in the car. I can only imagine how hard this type of attraction has found lockdown.

Unlike other Safari’s we looked at Knowsley has also opened the ‘walking foot Safari’ as well as the Safari drive. We didn’t expect this to be open so it was a really lovely surprise. George loves Tigers so couldn’t wait to hit the walking foot Safari. With a reduced capacity and open space we felt it worked really well. We did visit on a Friday so it could feel different on a weekend. There are 2 m spacing signs and hand sanitiser stations dotted around, that gentle reminder to keep your distance.

As advertised the Sea-lion show isn’t currently running, neither are the children’s rides, train ride and rowing boats. Some areas of the walking foot Safari like the displays and talks are not available however that didn’t effect our experience. As George is 9 he wouldn’t be interested in the younger children’s area. Although you definitely do miss a bit of atmosphere here –  it’s so quiet whereas I can imagine previously it would be a really fun area to be around.

The staff were on hand to answer any questions, very helpful and friendly. The toilet facilities were well manned with hand sanitiser on entry and a cleaner present. We felt really safe and would recommend visiting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to share some tips with you for visiting Knowsley Safari Park. Especially as day trips look so different right now. With lockdown easing, social distancing guidelines remaining in place but with a huge desire as a family to go on an adventure here is how we found it a few days ago…

 

1. Pack a picnic rather than queuing for food (which was expensive with limited options). The team have added many more tables to be enjoyed by families. The ice cream shop was open which we did enjoy!

2. Grab an early slot before it gets too hot. It was very hot when we arrived at our 1 pm slot with little space to shelter due to communal areas being closed. The animals were mainly resting due to the heat, it would be nice to see more moving around but it didn’t ruin the experience for us.

3. Consider whether you want to follow the ‘Car Friendly’ route before you set off on the 5-mile long safari. We decided we didn’t want to venture into the Baboon enclosure as we had heard many horror stories about cars being damaged. You are able to drive alongside the enclosure and see the very cheeky animals in action!

4. Don’t forget to open the Safari drive map, George loved that the drive is broken down into sections on the map. He was able to navigate and be sure not to miss his favourite animals as they were all mapped out. The driving safari took us around 1 hour. As the numbers are limited you are less likely to be sat behind a queue of vehicles.

5. Take water and snacks for the car journey around the safari as you are unable to stop. This could also reduce the need to eat in public places.

 

 

And that’s how we found visiting Knowsley Safari Park. Absolutely worth a visit, a great day out for all the family. Due to the reduced number of visitors I would recommend factoring in half a day for a visit.