Lions, lanterns and lots more! – a unique Christmas celebration at Longleat COMPLETED - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Saturday 29 November – part six: getting close-up with sea lions and red pandas!
Next we saw a sea lion sunning himself – this seems to be a recurring theme with the animals!
They have a gorilla colony here that you can only see from the Jungle Cruise, which is one of the reasons I wanted to see it. We were told they’re an all male colony, and apparently they are then put on a list (I can’t remember who looks after it) and then, depending on how old they are etc. depends on how long it will be before they get females. Apparently, it’s another six years before these blokes will see any action with the ladies…
Still, in fairness, they look happy enough in their bachelor pad!
Now came the fun bit! We’d been told that the sea lions only feed at the top end of the lake, and you can buy fish on board to feed them. Well, of course quite a few people did, and we were soon being circled, not just by the sea lions, but also by most of the bird life as well, which was a tad intimidating at times! Still, it allowed me to get some amazing photos up close of these beautiful animals…
Then we were making our way back to the dock again. It had been a really fun experience, and I’m glad we did it.
We headed through the Secret Garden, and into the Orangery Café, as I’d seen we’d been given a voucher for money off a cream tea. Sadly, when I checked it, it was a different restaurant, and the offer wasn’t valid until 3:00pm, another hour away, so that wasn’t going to work. We got some photos of some of the gardens….
…. and then headed over to Monkey Kingdom, which I find a weird name for this, given this is what greets you at the entrance.
The first creatures we came across were the beautiful red pandas, which I’ve never seen close-up before. I was fascinated to watch them, especially as the keeper was trying to encourage them to eat their fruit. There was one, who I think was perhaps a youngster, who was very reticent about the idea of going over to pick up some pear. When he eventually did, he then scurried straight back inside to his warm home, so I’m glad I got shots when I did!
From there, we headed over to see the penguins….
Inside their enclosure, it was a lot darker than either of us remembered from May, so I ended up resorting to using flash for my photos, which I don’t like doing, as anything else I tried, the photos just didn’t come out very well…
There was one guy who stood, looking as if he was going to dive off the cliff into the water below, and he got quite a lot of encouragement from the crowd, as we were all ready with our cameras, but despite looking at the water below, he decided not to bother in the end.
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Just signing in. Great day so far. Love that your version of the Jungle Cruise is actual animals!
While I saw some of the lanterns lit up on your FB page, anxious to see them in more detail when it gets dark in the TR.
Those red pandas do look cute but they can be vicious. We saw lots of them with missing tails, parts of the ears gone, etc, when we were at the panda research center in China (where they have the traditional pandas, and red pandas). I was shocked at how much they would fight.
Just signing in. Great day so far. Love that your version of the Jungle Cruise is actual animals!
Well, the Disney ones are still animals, but I know what you mean!
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While I saw some of the lanterns lit up on your FB page, anxious to see them in more detail when it gets dark in the TR.
Lots more photos of the lanterns in the dark to come!
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Those red pandas do look cute but they can be vicious. We saw lots of them with missing tails, parts of the ears gone, etc, when we were at the panda research center in China (where they have the traditional pandas, and red pandas). I was shocked at how much they would fight.
Saturday 29 November – part seven: they’re feeding the penguins!
We headed outside to the stingray pool….
… but Mark quickly called me back into the penguin enclosure, as they were being fed. I have to say they were very restrained during feeding, and very well behaved.
We made our way back the way we’d come, and this time these guys were out. I really don’t remember the name of them, but I do know the keeper told us that they’re very territorial, and once they have their territory, they stick to it and never leave it, so they can be out with no fences or wire between them and the humans, as they’re not interested in getting into our territory at all. It was fascinating to hear, and he explained that they’re a bit like cats – for the first few weeks, you have to be careful with them, as until they have a territory, they can go anywhere, but once they establish that territory, that’s it – sorted, that’s where they live.
We came out of there, and found our way into an area of Longleat that we’d completely missed on our last visit here, and it was packed with animals that you don’t often see at zoos. The first thing we came across were the giant anteaters, and my goodness, they are giant as well! We both commented that these are not something that’s a “usual sight” at zoos and safari parks…
Now unfortunately, I forgot to photograph the name plates here, which is a mistake, as I’ve completely forgotten the name of these birds that were in with the anteaters…
… and these guys:
I feel bad, as I should know the name of them, but I’ve completely forgotten them.
We headed next for the meerkat area, and as we entered it, I managed to capture him:
Again, I have no idea what he was, as we didn’t actually see his proper setting from the ground. Any offers as to what he is, do shout! I’m really not doing too well here…
Anyway, the meerkat enclosure… it had a very cool way of entering it and exiting it. There were two gates that you pushed or pulled to open them, but only one could be open at any one time, which I guess is their way of ensuring that none of the meerkats take a walk anywhere they shouldn’t…. It took a bit of a wait until we could see them, as they were all in the same area of the exhibit, and of course that’s where everyone was clustered, admiring them, but finally we got to take a look at them as well.
What impressed me in this is that their habitat is either side of where you walk, and they can run between the people, which a couple of them did. This is probably the closest I’ve ever been to meerkats. They do have a keeper in here, and I assume part of his role is to ensure that none of the animals (and maybe the humans too ) come to harm from this potential close contact….
In the next enclosure, we spotted this, and could immediately guess this was the porcupine area…
There were a couple of brave meerkats in here, although I guess they know what to avoid in here, as let’s face it, you only need to look at a porcupine to know that touching those quills isn’t a good plan….
Next up were these guys, which were labelled as otters, so I’m assuming that’s what they were, although they didn’t seem to have any water in the enclosure, so who knows? That’s my only criticism of this bit, the labelling was a bit all over the place, and didn’t necessarily seem to relate to the animals you were actually seeing in front of you.
After this, we decided to go and explore more of the Chinese lanterns while it was still daylight, so that we’d have a good idea of what to see after dark. I have to say they looked pretty spectacular without being lit up.
Does this remind you of anything?
Our next stop was Animal Kingdom, which starts off with a bird display…
I fell in love with this cockatoo, who just seemed happy to pose for me!
I can help with some of the cool unidentified animals. The section you were in seems to be South American animals, and it's true, these seem to be under-represented in zoos. The first one, the monkey with the white face and raccoon-like tail is a marmoset. After the marmoset is the white bird. I'm not too good with birds-- I'd guess just from the crest that this is a type of peacock, but I really am at a loss-- pretty bird, though. After the bird the animal that looks like part rabbit, part deer is a Patagonian Cavy. After the Cavy is a Coati. Then you're back in Africa with the meerkats and porcupines and African otter.
I can help with some of the cool unidentified animals. The section you were in seems to be South American animals, and it's true, these seem to be under-represented in zoos. The first one, the monkey with the white face and raccoon-like tail is a marmoset. After the marmoset is the white bird. I'm not too good with birds-- I'd guess just from the crest that this is a type of peacock, but I really am at a loss-- pretty bird, though. After the bird the animal that looks like part rabbit, part deer is a Patagonian Cavy. After the Cavy is a Coati. Then you're back in Africa with the meerkats and porcupines and African otter.
Saturday 29 November – part eight: you want to hold him?
We headed next into the butterfly house, and this was a real disappointment. I think we saw one butterfly, which I couldn’t photograph, as my camera focused on the netting behind him, so instead we just photographed some of the flowers in here…
We then went into the animal handling area, and I admired the guinea pigs…
… while Mark got in line to hold this guy:
She really doesn’t look too impressed, does she?
Ugh! Not my idea of fun at all but he seemed happy enough to do it…
By now, it was just coming up for 3:00pm, so we made our way over to the house, as that’s where the café was that had the offer on the Christmas cream tea. We got in line, and my goodness, it probably took us about 15 minutes to get through that. While we were in line, we chatted to a couple who’d come down here on an organised coach trip. They told us they’d come from Surrey, which is about an hour closer to Longleat than we are. It had taken them something like five hours to get there, and they’d arrived so late, they’d missed doing the safari. They then told us that the coach had first picked up some people in Kent, where we live, at 6:15am this morning! Now remember, we left just after 8:00am, and got to Longleat about 10:30am, and the last safari went off at 2:00pm, and they missed that, so they’d have been stuck on a coach for about eight hours! Not my idea of fun!
Anyway, we finally ordered our cream teas, and the reason we were taking so long to get through the line was, quite frankly, down to people’s stupidity. You had to serve your own hot drinks, be it coffee, tea or hot chocolate at the machine, and it really wasn’t complicated, as they had instructions out, but some people were just incapable of following them. We were behind an elderly couple, and she just could not grasp the idea of “press and hold” to get hot water for her tea, which was clearly stated on the machine. I felt so sorry for the woman on the till, as I have no doubt people probably thought the delays were down to her, but it was other people….
Finally, we were able to pay for our cream tea, and we managed to find a table to enjoy it…
It was very nice and just what I needed, especially as I’d only had that chocolate cookie and a few crisps (chips) since breakfast at home this morning.
We got talking to a woman who works here once we’d finished eating, and she told us that visitor numbers at Longleat were already double this year what they’d been this time last year. It sounds as if the lanterns may be coming back, as this is the first year they’ve had them. However, she did give us the impression that they hadn’t paid for them this year, as she said if they had them next year, they’d have to pay for them, so I guess we’ll have to see, but with improved visitor numbers like that, it certainly sounds promising anyway.
When we were done, we headed out, and took the opportunity to use the restrooms. All I’m going to say is that they’re just far too small here, and the women didn’t exactly help the situation, lining up out of the main door, and blocking the way for those coming up is not sensible!
We made our way outside, and visited some more of the Chinese lanterns that are to the side of the house. Neither of us were overly impressed by these ones, so I hope that they look better lit up at night than they do right now…
We then headed round to the front of the house, fully intending to head to the car to just sit down and have a break, as the Chinese lanterns weren’t due to be lit for another half an hour, but we saw a glimpse of the interior of the house, with Christmas trees inside, and decided that we’d go and have a look in there instead.
Now what you need to know about this is that they’d themed this around famous Christmas fairytales, and they had people dressed up as various characters. I wasn’t sure what we’d make of this, given that we’ve got used to the best from Disney, but actually all the ones we encountered were very good.
There weren’t many rooms open, as they’re doing a lot of restoration during the winter, which is good to see, and again they made that clear in advance, so no-one could say that they didn’t know.
The first room we came to did indeed have a collection of Christmas trees in it…
Now, I have to confess I wasn’t paying too much close attention in the main entrance room in terms of who the characters were in here, as I was more interested in the decorations. There was a man and a woman, and I think it was Cinderella and Prince Charming, but as I say, I’m not entirely sure.
The next room definitely had a Cinderella theme to it…
I didn’t photograph her, but there was a Fairy Godmother in here. We did both comment that we wondered how Longleat are able to do this, given these are Disney stories, but I guess maybe as they originally started out as books many years ago, that’s how they do it.
I would think that as long as their characters aren't wearing replicas of the Disney version, they'd be OK since none are Disney-originals. Ask the Grimm Bros on some. And there are versions of the Cinderella story in many, many cultures. Google it sometime, there are some great stories!
I so enjoyed your first TR when you visited Longleat and I am loving this one as well. I still cannot get over what an amazing collection of animals live there, you can just see so much. Love all the pictures, the tigers were beautiful and I am amazed at how many lions there are.
The gorillas did all seem very content, I guess when there are no woman around the men can just relax and not worry about needing to impress (yet I am sure they get themselves all spiffy when the woman come around....6 years is a long wait I suppose....lol)
I would think that as long as their characters aren't wearing replicas of the Disney version, they'd be OK since none are Disney-originals. Ask the Grimm Bros on some. And there are versions of the Cinderella story in many, many cultures. Google it sometime, there are some great stories!
Very good point! I'll have to Google that, as that does sound really interesting...
I so enjoyed your first TR when you visited Longleat and I am loving this one as well. I still cannot get over what an amazing collection of animals live there, you can just see so much. Love all the pictures, the tigers were beautiful and I am amazed at how many lions there are.
That's one of the main reasons we went back, as we were so impressed with the animals we saw on our first visit.
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The gorillas did all seem very content, I guess when there are no woman around the men can just relax and not worry about needing to impress (yet I am sure they get themselves all spiffy when the woman come around....6 years is a long wait I suppose....lol)
I have to admit I thought chinese latterns were just tiny things so imagine my surprise when I see these huge displays. They look amazing.
The animals are just so neat. you have seen so many neat ones. 20 some years ago our local zoo hosted some pandas and we also had the red pandas as well. Those things are so stinking cute. They look so cuddly. There is another zoo about 2 hours away from me that have them too and I just love looking at them.
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Still, it allowed me to get some amazing photos up close of these beautiful animals… 
We got some photos of some of the gardens…. 
despite looking at the water below, he decided not to bother in the end. 
It took a bit of a wait until we could see them, as they were all in the same area of the exhibit, and of course that’s where everyone was clustered, admiring them, but finally we got to take a look at them as well. 
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