The Animal Experience — Local services in East Cambridgeshire

Not overly impressed by this place. It has potential but wouldn't return.

We travelled up from Kent to visit this experience (the journey was 1.5hr) which took 3 times as long as the experience.

This was booked for our son as he loves reptiles - which I must admit, he loved the the experience of holding the animals and touching them.

From a parents perspective it just didnt add up in terms of value.

On arrival we wasnt really made to feel welcome and trying go find someone initially was difficult. Having spoken to staff we offered the opportunity to go outside and look at the meerkats and birds of prey.

Meerkats being my favourite wild animal, I was straight there. Unfortunately I was a little saddened to find them in 'summer houses' and struggled to find anywhere for them to burrow and also lack of outdoor space.

The young lady holding the bird of prey was extremely rude to my father in law, who hard of hearing got too close to one and was met with a barrage of uncouth youth. Instead of educating as to why it maybe unsafe to proceed, he got "just dont do it". A little odd in my book of customer service and common decency.

Moving on to the experience, I watched for some part but not all as I'm not a fan of spiders etc. But from what I did knowledge was very good from the guide. Just disappointed in the length and also to note, the amount of dead bugs stuck between the lizards tanks etc.

Another note was the coffee machine. Its one of those that you choose the drink and have to peel the silver tab out of the bottom and just add water. Not the greatest and cost me £1... oh and a battle finding the milk.. and as a heads up, you pay the the little ornament (you have to turn it around) ... ni clue what's going on with that. After the journey and being cold I wanted a decent brew / coffee - I mean I spent £3 on them in service stations so I'll happy pay for a proper cuppa.

Anyway all of.that summed up bit of a disappointing Sunday afternoon for us.

Value for money = poor

Customer service = ok

Overall experience = ok

Would I return = no

Location = poorly signed / needs adjusting on Google maps

Cleanliness =...

What can I say, if your expecting to walk into a modern zoo with all that goes with it then walk away now, if however you want to see some reptiles up close and personal then this is the place for you. We own our own reptiles so we opted to go and have a Meerkat experience. We were greeted by Jen, a young enthusiastic and extremely knowledgeable lady that took us into the Meerkats enclosure. We had an hour to sit with these wonderfully curious animals and our children (8 & 11) were on cloud nine. Jen was able to answer all our questions which made the visit all the more enjoyable. This establishment uses this site as their base camp and they travel with their animals to schools and parties all over the region. We are going to use their services again. Down to details, do they have a cafe? no, their is a hot water dispenser that you can use to make a black or white coffee at £1 a cup. There is no other beverages or any food available . There is a fresh water dispenser on site . There is a toilet on site for visitors use . If you are disabled the going will be tough. The car park is uneven and not particularly wheelchair friendly but manageable with some determination. Once inside you can get around and to visit the meerkats I believe you may be disappointed unless there is another way to meet them as there is a large step into the enclosure/shed . I'm sure something could be done to accommodate chair users however, I'd advise a personal visit to your home and you can have the Meerkats in your lounge. Well...

Me and my partner had a fantastic time at our Meet the Sugar Gliders experience! It was gifted to me over Christmas and we booked it in almost right away. It was quite a small place, so it's not somewhere you'd spend all day at (though I easily could have!), but it wasn't busy, so we got all the sugar glider attention to ourselves and even got to hold the blue-tongued skink which was a nice addition. The lady who guided us was very nice and clearly enjoys what she does. Word of warning though, wear tight clothes and/or tuck your shirt in! The sugar gliders love to climb into your clothes to get warm and they tend to scratch while they're at it, sometimes nibble. They don't normally hurt you at all and they were very friendly throughout our visit, but there was the exception of one sugar glider who took a great liking to the small of my back and bit down hard when we tried to gently remove him. It did draw blood and was sore for a couple of days afterward. I don't blame him though, there must have just been something there that smelled yummy for whatever reason! It was still a great day and I will definitely come visit them again...just with a different choice of...