Exotic Zoo Wildlife Park — Attraction in Great Dawley

We love animals and like to do a different animal experience each year. Saw this place and it's many great reviews and decided to visit.

Can tell from their website that it's not the biggest zoo, and their entry price reflects this. Without doing any of the experiences you can easily spend a few hours here (they have plenty of keeper talks through the day) and it's good value for money.

We had booked the VIP Private Zookeeper Experience which runs from 14:00 until 16:30. The zoo opens at 11:00 and entry was included with our experience.

We were told to come earlier to the zoo in order to choose the animals we wanted to see which was a first for us (never been given a choice of animals before). When we arrived we were shown a list of all the animal options and told to come back at 13:30 to tell them our preferences. (It was a hard decision to pick 6 from the list!)

All the animal enclosures were a good size with plenty of outside and inside space and everything seemed very clean.

We went back to entrance just before 13:30 and sat on the benches outside in the sun to finalise our animal list. I got a latte from their café which was very good. Better coffee than most chain coffee shops (and cheaper!)

At 14:00 we met our keeper (Kirsten) who was amazing. She took us to their kitchen where we prepared the food for all the animals we were going to meet.

Then the real fun began!

First, we went to meet 2 of the Genets. They were so tiny and cute and crawled all over us and gently ate from our hands. Never seen a Genet before but it was an amazing experience!

Next we met the three banded armadillo (the only armadillo that can curl up into a perfect ball). Unfortunately their claws are dangerous so we couldn't really play with it, but we did get to hold/stroke it while it was curled in a ball. It's amazing how they fit together so perfectly.

Next we went in to meet the Kinkajou. We hand fed him fruit (which it really enjoyed). He ate very slowly so we spent a while stroking and feeding him!

Next we fed the 2 red fronted brown lemurs. They really enjoyed sitting on us while eating from our hands, and we love how they pull your hand closer with their tiny cute fingers!

Next to the otters which you can't go in with for safety reasons. But they have glass with holes in just big enough for the otters hands to fit through. We fed them fish through the holes and it's the cutest thing to see them putting their hands through the holes to grab the fish with their tiny little paws.

Finally we met the Veiled Chameleon. By this point the zoo had closed to the public and so there was no-one around, so they brought the chameleon outside for us. Amazing colours, and it was very happy just sitting on us while taking photos. We've never seen a chameleon that close before and it was one of the highlights of the day.

Kirsten was great. Very friendly and knowledgeable about all the animals in the zoo and quite happy talking non-stop (in a good way!) about the animals we were meeting. We spent a good amount of time with each of our chosen animals and nothing felt rushed.

Having done similar experiences in the UK as well as other countries, I would say this is one of our favourites. The whole thing was perfectly organised and on time, and it's clear that they know what they are doing.

I would highly recommend the VIP Private Zookeeper Experience and we will definitely be back to do it again...

As a wedding anniversary treat I booked the zoo keeper experience for two for my husband and I. I enquired about the experience via email and then phoned to confirm the date and make the payment, the process was very easy and Mel was extremely helpful throughout the whole process. When we arrived on the day we went to reception and were greeted by Ryan, a senior member of staff at the zoo, who conducted our experience. We had a tour of the whole zoo to help us decide which animals we would like to meet. We then went to the meal prep room where we were shown the list of animals and were asked to choose 12 from the list. We chose rabbits, meerkats, fruit bats, armadilos, marmoset monkeys, a burrowing owl, a barn owl, a bull frog, a dwarf alligator, lemurs and A genet. Ryan showed us the list of foods all the animals ate and then me and my husband prepped the meals for them all. All the animals we met in the zoo had their own little personalities and were extremely happy and well cared for. The meerkats were our favourites out of all the animals. When we went into their homes, we sat down on the logs and the meerkats loved climbing all over us and having a fuss. They sniffed our hands which still smelt of fruit but Ryan explained that they have trained every meerkat to know the difference between fingers and fruit so they won't bite. We also enjoyed meeting Rubble the burrowing owl and Barney Jr the barn owl as they were both still young and still being trained. They were very comical birds and were a lot of fun to meet and feed. Lorna the dwarf alligator was amazing to feed. We truly loved the whole experience and spending hours to get to know all the animals and Ryan. We could see the real passion Ryan and the other members of staff and volunteers had for the animals and the zoo itself and it was wonderful to see this. Ryan also told us they rescued a few of the animals from being abused and we could see how happy they were living at the zoo. We truly recommend this experience to all animal lovers as we had an amazing day with lots of unforgettable memories. Looking forward to going to the Exotic Zoo again in the future to meet the other animals...

Updated review August 22: Loved it today. Lots of talks and information with generally knowledgeable and helpful staff. The new café is good. Very limited to paninis, Jacket pots and hot dogs, but not too overpriced for a mini zoo, and food was good. Only £1 for a bottle of water was a surprise, I paid £2 at a similar place last week. The café was also open to non visitors, which is fab because it means that they can, potentially, get more people through the door and they could expand the menu.

All of my "not so great points" have been improved upon and ni complaints from me now (I visited on a Friday during school holidays, so it wasn't so busy).

Original review August 21: The new site is certainly a lot larger allowing for more visitors and more space for animal enclosures. This rebuilding is absolutely incredible.

We were reasonably regular visitors (2-3 times per year, and took part in experiences) to the previous site and absolutely adored the zoo, so we are glad they managed to find a site and not raise the price too much. It is also an ideal location right next to Wonderland where I imagine a lot of people may just "pop in" as it's right there, whereas, in the previous site, if you went there, you went specifically to it or the business it was attached to.

Good points: Great facilities Knowledgeable and friendly staff Hands on activities and meeting animals Large, spacious enclosures for animals Nice picnic area Really reasonable price Offers for animal experiences (we've done these in the past at the old site, they are really fantastic)

For me, not so great points, but you may not be bothered at all: It was really busy (this is brilliant news for the zoo, and it is school holidays!) The "snack shack" could be expanded to have more for people to eat/drink There could be more Toilet facilities Someone could "man" the reptile house as you come in to stop overcrowding

Most of my issues with how busy it is are my own problems, and it will probably calm down in September and the colder months.

I'm really pleased the zoo are doing so well! It is worth the fee to go in, and there aren't extra...