Five Sisters Zoo — Attraction in Great Britain

We visited on a very wet day but we didn't let that spoil it for us, it was the only opportunity we were going to get and considered not going due to the weather but glad we went anyway. We have visited more well known zoos before but recently heard of this one. I read all about the great rescue work they have been doing before deciding to go. I was expecting it to be quite small as it is family owned but there are lots of animals there. They are currently setting up Christmas lights and decorations, it looks like it will be amazing, we will need to go back for a Christmas visit! I was particulary interested in seeing the rescued bears and lions as their story made me emotional. The lions were sheltering inside taking a 'cat-nap' but we could see them through a window looking very relaxed. The bears we saw out and about, including 2 running past us twice as if they were playing 'chase'. Later we saw one as it lay down kicking it's feet out behind him, looking completely relaxed. It was really nice seeing these rescued animals in their new life with lots of space. Well done to the zoo for caring so much. Unfortunately the Wallaby Walkabout was shut but we still got to see the wallabies, I think it was shut due to a new young one being introduced, or something along those lines. The lemurs and monkeys were all out and about and again had lots of space and seemed content. Aside from the animals there are some fun looking rides for kids which I assume are opening at christmas. There is a walkthrough secret garden and fairy garden, both with fun looking models as well as some placed elsewhere throughout the zoo. I've never seen a zoo put so much effort into extras like that. Some areas were having some work done like the snow leopard area and mention of a Cheetah area being created. This is understandable and did not effect our visit as there is so much ther. Personally I'm not too interested in reptiles but there was an indoor reptile area with some rather colourful frogs, a snake, crocodiles, lizards, tortoises etc which my partner enjoyed seeing. There are quite a lot of parrots and other birds to see as well. The prairie dogs were out eating when we went by, they were funny to watch, a baby one kept steeling food from the adults! On the way out we stopped in the cafe for some lovely soup to warm us up after getting wet and had to have a lovely cake too! The staff around the zoo, at the desk and in the cafe were all friendly and polite. We are trying to be more choosey as to which zoos we would or would not visit depending on what we can find out about the ethos of them. We were both happy for this zoo to have our money as the rescue stories seem to show how much this family care about helping animals. It was definitely worth a visit, even...

I found some good and bad points with this zoo and after visiting blair drummond safari in July, it really came easy to distinguish these points. The best reason to visit the 5 sisters are the few animals that they have which you dont see in some other scottish zoos. Reptiles, amphibians, bear, cheetahs. Those we seen and were in awe when we did. I think a variety to set yourself apart works well and for those reasons i would revisit as i hear at christmas time with the lights on, its a great experiance. I dosent effect the visit seeing the decorations up unused mid summer.

The downfalls come in the many sadly and could be easily fixed with proper management and enthusiasm from the team. Windows inside the enclosures need cleaned for better veiwing experience. Taking a six year old and to find a dead fly ridden baby owl on the branch is a big no no. A memory that lasts in a negitive way. If those were dead chicks for feed ? Perhaps have it mentioned. Either way Clean out your enclosures properly. ! Hand sanitizers were all empty. Some random placed big bottles around the park but not in the santizer disposel units. (Start small and work your way to bigger issues and you will see a difference).

Childrens play area/tokened amusement. I dont know what was worse. Broken attractions or the ignorant face glued to their phones kids who worked there. Ignored customers. Left stations to go chat to other staff. (FOR EXAMPLE the diggers. 2 of 3 didnt work. Another child was already on it and he took the tokens from mines then left to go chat to someone at a different attraction. Tried to get it to work and couldnt. Waited at the booth for ages until he came back and said the others didnt work and asked me how long the other child was on it as if i should have known. I questioned why didnt he tell my child that the others didnt work. He shrugged. I asked him to come show my child how to work it. He didnt. The staff there lack the enthusiasm to interact and be infront of customers.) We prompty got a refund on the tokens. !

Animal viewing of what we saw gave this location the 3 stars. I would go back but if nothing has changed even a little between now and then. Then it would be the last visit. So here is hoping as it has some amazing potential to be...

We decided on a wim to visit the 5 sisters after years saying we would. It was little cold and dull when we got there which was a shame but it is Scotland so not uncommon. We first went to the bear Cafe which was little busy and we have a young child with us in a pram so had to decide whether to take her out of the pram and into the warm Cafe or sit outside and keep her in her pram. To avoid upsetting her getting in and out of the pram we chose to sit outside which was little chilly but luckily doable. The food came very quickly and was all very nice. Staff were lovely. We then went into the zoo itself. The 2pm animal handling wasn't on so we were unable to hold the animals but that was okay as luckily the kids weren't too bothered. On entering the zoo there is the little memorial garden for the animals lost in the fire which is sad but lovely. We then with the help of the basic map (mother in law found it hard to understand) we walked around the place. We went into the lost Kingdom where sadly my middle child had to leave due to being overwhelmed in the small enclosed space. She is autistic so that sadly had a bit of a knock on effect. My son who is also autistic loved it so hard to gauge if it's 100% autistic friendly. We got to the castle and my daughter then settled and went in to visit the rabbits which were the only animal she wasn't scared of. We then headed for that the lions, bears and wolf enclosures. These were an amazing site I think the adults in our group enjoyed this more than the kids. We ended in the park which was nice enough and glad there were tables and chairs within the park to sit at. We quickly went to the gift shop which was small but had some stuff got children. They each got something and we left. The place is great but sadly we didn't really get our money worth as we were only there for about 90 mins. For £40+ maybe not good budget day out that's for sure. Maybe worth going when they are older. Although saying that my 11month old non autistic child loved...