Totally Tropical Fun At Marwell’s Exotic New Attraction

Marwell Zoo is fast becoming a special happy place for me and my daughter. Her love of animals knows no bounds, and so it was with great delight that we set off one sunny April morning to discover what new treats the Hampshire zoo had in store for us.

The countryside attraction is set in 140 acres of beautiful parkland. It’s easy to find from the motorway and is less than an hour and a half from central London. From ring-tailed coatis to poison arrow frogs, snake-necked turtles to Amur leopards, cotton-top tamarins to meerkats and giraffes there’s more than 170 species to see as well as daily animal talks and pop-up events throughout the summer.

As soon as you enter the zoo there is a hut offering a Wildlife Trail challenge for a pound.. Kids (and their grown-ups) can follow the trail round the park, collecting stamps on the way. Once the book is full you take it to the gift shop at the end and are rewarded with your own Marwell Zoo sticker. And what kid doesn’t love stickers?

We headed off on our stamp-collecting mission and first stop was the penguins. The girl loved watching them jumping off rocks and swimming underwater. There’s a special viewing space so you can see below the surface and what really makes Marwell great for kids is opportunities like this to get really close to the animals. There are walkways and viewing platforms throughout the park, with a new lemur walkway proving very popular, but the land is so expansive you never feel that the animals are restricted in any way.

Our trail took us past the penguins and into rhino and zebra inhabited fields. Through tiger territory and past the most beautiful snow leopard you’ll ever see. There are interactive exhibits all around the zoo, and opportunities to take part in quizzes and activities run by the knowledgeable staff.

In the aviary we met a particularly friendly and gentle man who actually managed to get my girl to stand still and listen to his explanation of different bird eggs for more than five minutes. No human has ever before achieved such a feat.

There’s a cafe halfway round the zoo which does decent food at reasonable prices (it even sells wine!) – we got a main course to share, a drink each and a couple of ice creams for under £15, which isn’t bad at all compared to most theme park prices.

But the main attraction is the new Tropical House. This £8m project is the zoo’s largest and most ambitious to date. The exhibit is part of a 10-year, £17 million investment plan to create better animal habitats and immersive guest experiences.

Under the Tropical House’s curved roof, a rainforest and laboratory spring to life. Two levels of viewpoints look over a lush canopy, waterfall and forest floor. There’s an interactive room where movements can be traced by the heat of the body and projected through a huge screen, and there are some really exotic creatures to spot if you look hard enough, including a Linné’s two-toed sloth, mouse deer, and pygmy marmosets on their own primate island. There are also free-flying birds and more than 2,500 fish in the huge aquarium.

Sloths. That’s right. Sloths. From their funny furry faces to the way they hang upside down, sloths are the ideal animals to appeal to a child. The Tropical House was an instant hit with the girl, and with me too.

Having enjoyed our ice cream pit stop and marvelled at the tiger and her cubs, we took some time out from the animals so my own little beast could run off some

energy in a playground. There are several of them around the park, offering different equipment for different ages. It’s good to have something else to keep kids entertained as all the walking can get a bit much if they’re too small, and it’s a perfect opportunity for a sit down for us big ones too!

As we neared the end of the park we realised with a panic that we’d missed the Camels (apparently these were a must-see) and the onset of a toddler tantrum loomed. But the camels were right back at the top of the park. What to do? It was clearly my lucky day as at that moment  tractor-pulled train which constantly loops the zoo came into sight behind us. We hopped on and viewed the camels, and the rest fo the creatures we’d missed, without having to move from our seats. The route takes about half an hour to tour the whole park, or you can hop on and off at regular stops. It’s the perfect way to take a break without feeling you’re wasting valuable animal-spotting time.

Marwell Zoo is easily accessible, and you can often find ticket deals on sites like Wowcher, or by planning ahead. Tickets start at around £14 for kids and £18 for adults, but prices change depending on the season. Under 3s go free, but there is the opportunity to add donations onto tickets as the whole place runs as an action conservation charity. For more information on any of the attractions, or to book tickets in advance, see www.Marwell.org.uk.