Shepreth Wildlife Park is a fun small animal zoo located near Cambridge. It’s easy to get around with small children and has some fascinating animals to spot. We spent the day there, checking out some of the shows and exploring the enclosures. Here are some of our favourite activities from our day out.
Red Panda
The red pandas are stars of any zoo you find them. During feeding time anyway, the rest of the time they are tough to spot as they are usually asleep in the treetops. The red panda feeding time talk at Shepreth Zoo was excellent. The pandas were really active and close. They eat over 350kg of bamboo a year, so they are always happy to be fed. The zoo has a bamboo garden which helps to keep up with the pandas’ appetites.
Nocturnal House
The entrance to the Nocturnal House is unusual because you have to enter via a tunnel. I love a Nocturnal House where the bats a free to fly over your head. This is the first place I’ve seen it done on a small scale. A set up like this offers excellent unobscured views of the bats. There’s no need to worry, the Egyptian fruit bats’ echolocation is spot on, and they never hit you.
African Sands
We liked the African Sands area because of the educational displays that accompany the tortoises and aviary. The quiz sheet was just one of many interactive stations in this small house. The tortoises were cool too.
Tropical House and Hidden Treasures
The Tropical House was fun to walk around. We love seeing caiman and their relatives at every zoo we visit. We also liked the look of the pangolin.
The Hidden Treasure attached to the tropical house and contained the bugs. The minibeasts themselves were the standard ones you can find at most zoos, but the room was beautifully decorated.
Birds of Prey
The coolest thing about the bird of prey show is just how close the birds got to the public. We had an owl right in front of us and flying over our heads. The show is well worth making time to see.
Shepreth’s Cats
The big cats were not playing for the feeding time o our visit, which was a shame. I think the tiger was a new addition at the time. They have a tiger and lynx which you can view from a raised platform that hovers above the enclosures.
More Favourite Small Animals at Shepreth Wildlife Park
Three other animals I want to mention are the coatis, the capybaras and the wallabies. If you don’t know what a coati is, look them up. They are very entertaining. The capybaras have a large enclosure in the centre of the zoo which feels really open and gives you an unobscured view. Your view in the wallaby enclosure is even more unobscured as you can walk right through.
Train
The train wasn’t running on our visit to Shepreth wildlife park because we were there outside of peak season. It looks like a fun little ride around the alpaca, pony and prairie dog enclosure. Even though we didn’t get to ride on the train, we still liked the prairie dogs. They had dug out and were basically running wild throughout the central area of the zoo.
Discovery Experience
If there were a prize for the most dinosaurs in the smallest space, then the Discovery Experience building at Shepreth Wildlife Park would win. As well as the dinosaurs there were lots of really interesting museum-style exhibits. The room is open for you to look around, but it is set up for talks to be given to small groups of children. You can imagine a school group learning lots in this room. We were impressed by the variety and number of resources on show here.
Playgrounds, Soft Play and Amenities
Shepreth Wildlife Park has a big outside play area. There is a couple of indoor soft plays which means there’s somewhere to go whatever the weather. The under 5s soft play is where you will find one of the two cafes. There is also a gift shop.
Shepreth Wildlife Park Review
I hope you have enjoyed my review of Shepreth Wildlife Park. It is not a spectacular zoo with lots of big tickets species. The Park does have a pleasant feeling about it, and it has plenty to do in a space that is easy to walk around. It is an enjoyable day out with small children.
Shepreth Annual Pass and Discount Scheme
The cost of entry to Shepreth Wildlife Park is £46 for a family of four. Under 2s are free. Click here for up to date prices.
Shepreth Wildlife Park is part of the zoos discount scheme in the east of England. This means if you have an annual pass for one of the zoos in the programme you get half-price entry to all the other zoos and aquariums in the scheme. You can read reviews and pricing details of all the zoos in this post. The other zoos in the scheme are:
- Africa Alive!
- Amazona Zoo
- Banham Zoo
- Jimmy’s Farm
- Linton Zoo
- Paradise Wildlife Park
- Raptor Foundation
- Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure
- SEA LIFE Great Yarmouth
- Shepreth Wildlife Park
- Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens
- Woodside Wildlife Park
