Know Your Stuff About Knowsley Safari Park

For Mother’s Day this year (2018) we decided to go to Knowsley Safari Park. This was primarily for two reasons; we like going to places to see animals, and if it started raining (as predicted) we could go round in the car and be nice and dry.

Knowsley Safari Park Restaurant

We began by grabbing a bite to eat in the restaurant. There are two main areas from which you can buy food; a hot area and a deli area. As we went on Mother’s Day it was busy, and I mean very busy. The queue for the hot area, where I would have eaten, was literally out the door, whereas the queue for the deli area was two people. No brainer.

I got The Carnivore wrap and Clare got a hot roast pork and stuffing sandwich. Both were excellent and reasonably priced. I grabbed a drink and looked for crisps only to be informed that they are in a vending machine outside. How bizarre! So now I had to take my food to our table and go back to get crisps, of which there were only two varieties. Disappointing. The actual wrap and sandwich however were delicious.

The place was relatively clean and had a microwave for heating baby food. Plenty of tables, including a gazebo area for more space. They just could have done with more space for food preparation.

Knowsley Safari Park Foot Safari

We started off walking around the Foot Safari area. There are a number of animals here including Meerkats, Sea Lions, Giraffes and wolves. Not enough for a whole day out (that’s what the car Safari part is for), but enough for a wander. Most of the enclosures looked of a good size. Perhaps the only one that didn’t was the Sea Lion area, but as they were close to putting on a show I’m hoping they were in a ‘holding’ area. The elephants had been moved to France as the area was under construction so hopefully there will be a nice new area here too.

In terms of the terrain here it’s pretty good and we had no issues getting a pram around and a wheelchair would be fine too.

There was also a pretty good looking fairground attraction here too, with a number of different rides. This included a small children’s ‘rollercoaster’, merry-go-round, pirate ship swinging in the air and something I believe are called flying swings. There were a few other rides too and a sand pit area to play in. N was a bit young for all of that so we didn’t stay to enjoy it.

We went back to the restaurant so we could feed N and change him. It was busy so finding a table and manoeuvring the pram was challenging but we found a table eventually. Having fed him I went to the gents to change him as there were facilities (baby changing facilities seemed to be pretty good throughout). Though there were facilities for changing in the gents in the restaurant it was right next to the urinal trough and when opened practically blocked the entrance to a cubicle. In fact a man literally squeezed past to get in it was that tight. Not ideal but it did the job.

Knowsley Safari Park Gift Shop

We briefly wandered around the gift shop but didn’t buy anything. It did seem to have a lot in there from the usual range, including stuffed toys, clothes, bags, books etc. It was busy and we had a pram so we weren’t that motivated to stay and push it around as it was tight due to the number of people. I’m sure you’d find something in here though if you wanted to.

Knowsley Safari Park Car Safari

So next we left to go on the car Safari. After spending ages putting everything in the car (that’s life with a baby!) we proceeded to the Safari area. It’s very close and easy to find.

We drove around the whole area at about 10mph to make sure we didn’t miss anything. We saw deer to start with, loads of them. Then we moved on and saw a variety of other animals including rhinos, donkeys, some sort of giant woolly cow thing (not even sure what it was – no signposts exist here other that health and safety warnings), and of course the lions. They were eating in a caged area so it was quite a good time to go to see that. However, everyone else thought so too, so it took a while to get through (it was a busy day as I mentioned)! We also saw tigers and camels.

It was during the time seeing the lions that we also saw the Knowsley Safari Park bus! It’s a bus that takes you around the car Safari area and goes through the baboon enclosure so you don’t have to. There are ropes attached to the bus too so the baboons can climb up the bus which is great. Really good idea.

The ride on the road here was ok. A few particularly bumpy areas but mostly fine. It’s two or three lanes depending on where you are so you can overtake others if needed. You can be delayed by animals, as we were with rhinos on the road, and we were another time by camels on the road, but it’s fascinating and funny to watch so you don’t mind.

We then left the car Safari the way we came in, and headed on home.

There is a Knowsley Safari Park app you can download which would tell you more about the animals on your journey but I only found this out after we got home!

The Practicalities

It’s £17.50 per adult and £13.50 for children to get in and I have to say I think that is pretty good. We had a good three hours there and if N was older it would have been longer.

They had good changing facilities throughout, plus a special changing facility with a hoist for those that need it for older children/adults. I was very impressed by this. Also, as mentioned earlier, I saw a microwave to heat food for your baby in the restaurant.

Car parking is pretty good, none of which is that far from an entrances as it curves around the foot Safari area.

There were quite a few areas for you to sit and feed your child if you wished in the foot Safari area. Obviously you can’t get out of your car in the car Safari area.

Knowsley Safari Park Summary

I have to say we had a great time out. It’s fantastic entertainment for the kids of different ages with the animals, sandpit, rides and shows, plus it’s very reasonably priced for what you get. We’ve been before and we will go many times in the future, and I don’t think you can say better than that for somewhere.

I’ve written a post all about Mother’s Day 2018 here, and this trip out just formed part of the day. Take a look to see what we got up to.

For this and other days out you can look at this map. Enter your location and see what’s nearby.

Have you ever been to Knowsley Safari Park? What did you think?