Africa Alive — Attraction in East Suffolk

We had a really great experience here at Africa Alive zoo. From the minute we stepped out of our vehicle in the car park, we could hear the zoo 'buzzing' with lots of noise from excited school kids (old & young) and a few tourists whom I understand were on a day trip to the zoo. The weather was also nice & sunny, and atmosphere in the zoo was indeed 'alive' and busy. We enjoyed the train tour round, and special thanks to the wonderful lady ( I believe her name is Angela) that took on the task to inform & educate guests on the various animals during the tour. She made us feel very welcomed and relaxed, even helping us take some of our family moments together while waiting for people to onboard the train. I learnt one of the animals during the tour (either the Giraffe or Rhino) was named 'Charlie' owing to being born around the time / week of King Charles's coronation back in May which i thought was cute. Otherwise, most names of the animals given were of African origin and depicted what part or country of the African continent they came from which I thought was really impressive & educative. The buntins used in decorating the Lion's kingdom were also made out of African prints which is a very nice touch.

Most guests tend to miss this part as I was told, but there's a nocturnal section were 'night animals' like the Aye Aye, Advark and certain Bat species are housed. It's quite dark in there and might be scary for some, but they're trying to recreate the ' natural night environment' of these animals. We managed to spot the Aye Aye which crept out just as we were about to leave the nocturnal house after waiting minutes of looking for it in its shed through the infra red lights. There's a really nice play thing like a giant bouncy pillow or balloon that the kids could play on and they really loved it. There's also a mini golf area with a giant giraffe statue in the middle and it's also reasonable in price, i think about £1.50 per person. Restaurant was also animal themed with another giant giraffe, lion and lemur as the centrepiece which i thought was very creative and looked cool. There is also an ice cream kiosks closed by, including another kiosks for hot snacks and drinks conveniently positioned at certain corners in the zoo. Very helpful if you need to eat without walking all the way back to the main restaurant. Clean toilets and extra wide walk ways to see all animals with seating benches distributed at every corner which was helpful to rest the legs. All in all, a great fun day out as a family. Loved every minute. Thanks...

This is probably a little unfair as a review, as it's winter in an African themed Zoo;

Price☆☆☆☆☆- Were super reasonable, 21 quid for 2 adults probably the best out of all the zoos in the area, especially considering its variety of endangered animals.

Guest Facilities☆☆☆- some were shut due to it being mid week/winter which is completely fair. Toilets were clean and standard. There is a restaurant, we didnt go in but looked fine. There seemed to be a lot of animal talks around the zoo, assumingly for busier periods, which again is fine. Bins were a little sparce, especially on the north side of the zoo.

Education☆☆☆- Boards and reading information on every exhibit. Zoo keepers didn't really interact much which is neither here nor there really, but is nice when they do.

Animals☆☆☆☆- I was actually super excited when i saw the amount of rare animals advertised, it definitely has the best collection of endangered and different animals in the area, and of any zoo i've visited so far. The only problem really was not being able to see the animals, mainly on the north side of the zoo. A lot of animals were in their sleeping enclosures (it being winter) some of them had windows you could see into, but the buffalos/deer species and lemur species did not have this. So there was a few empty habitats, which is to be expected since its winter, but more viewing areas would be great! The south side where the smaller animals are was very good though. The animals all looked healthy, a little tired maybe but again, it is VERY cold today. Habitats were all clean and reasonably large though.

Accessibility ☆☆☆- I'm a part time wheelchair user. It was 98% accessible, the park is very flat so nice and easy to get around. Though a lot of grass that sometimes we wanted to cut across. Ramps for most viewing areas. Most of the north of the zoo is gravel pathways which were a little bumpy and uncomfortable. Viewing areas with doors were manual, as they usually are in zoos, so little assistance is needed with those.

Overall, nice big zoo. My first time going, I believe we didn't get to see it at it's best due to it being winter, which is to be expected with animals that prefer the warmth. Loved the quirky selection of animals. Gift shop was good, not full of random crap like other zoos. Had a REALLY good selection of quality plushies (personal preference, but it's rare these days) Staff encountered were polite. Would recommend going in the...

We were going to visit the Aviation Museum but it was closed, so this was our second choice. l am so pleased that we made the choice to visit Africa Alive, because it was wonderful. We saw pretty much everything, and it's set in lovely grounds surrounded by wetlands.

We particularly loved the cheetah and the meerkats. Two lions were lay in the shade right at the edge of their enclosure, and l recommend standing on the decking at the lion enclosure and looking over at the giraffe/hippo area. lt's like a mini savannah landscape with wildebeest laying on the grass, hippo and giraffes wondering about, plus zebra, and the odd tree scattered around.

Possibly the best view l have ever seen in a wildlife park.

We had lunch in the restaurant and it was fine, it cost £18.50 for a tea, a coke, baked potato with beans/salad and a filet & chips (which could have fed two)

We didn't interact much with the staff but they seemed busy with their work. The girl on reception was nice.

The main car park is huge, and has a massive wind turbine in the middle which is impressive in itself.

lt took us around 3 hours to walk round the site. Be careful we nearly missed the meerkat and small animals area it's down below the cafe.

Be sure to have a look at the yellow mongoose enclosure they are so cute! Like meerkats in fact there's some in the meerkats enclosure.

EDIT Looking at some other reviews, you have to remember this is a wildlife park and not a zoo. The animals have large and interesting enclosures where it's possible they could hide from public view. lf you want to guarantee always viewing every animal you'd need to put them in cages like an old style zoo, and who...