Being a Junior Keeper for the day with Blackpool Zoo

My eldest daughter has a bit of a career conundrum on her hands – which is pretty exciting {I think!}. To have a handful of passions to choose from to make into a career is quite lucky to have. Ellie has always been amazing with animals, it’s something that she is just naturally good at.

No fear and is always willing to learn how to care for and help animals, whether they have been injured, or rescued – she has the temperament for the job. 

So, for her 14th birthday, we decided to invest in a Junior Zoo Keeper experience for her at Blackpool Zoo. Before you wonder, yes, I know we don’t live in Blackpool but we holidayed there this year and the opportunity was perfect. 

Side note: You can ask to include your child’s favourite animals. Ellie was very lucky and got to get up and close to most of her favourites and a few unexpected ones, too.

What’s included?

The Animal experience takes around 4 hours. There are 2 sessions per day available; one in the morning and one in the afternoon, so it depends on which one suits you best.

The £125 includes entry into the zoo for your child & yourself and as the Parent, you get to experience everything too. 

Zoo keeping is hard graft and it’s good for the kids who do this experience, to see that. It’s not just all about getting up close and interacting with the animals – as much as we wish it was!

But it’s all care and accommodation, feeding and making sure each animal is healthy and thriving in their habitat. This also includes mucking out – which is hard work. I know because I worked as a zookeeper in this very zoo back in my Animal Science study days!

Ellie got to hand feed them as well as learn more about them; where they come from, what they like to eat, how they’re cared for and so on. 

Tapirs are one of my favourite animals and from these photos, it’s so easy to see why. This one was so curious about my camera and I could not have loved him more for it. Look at that prehensile nose – far too cute for me to handle. 

After saying goodbye to the Tapirs, it was off to feed the Otters and then the Giraffe House. At Blackpool zoo there is a wee walkway, that isn’t accessible to the public – this is where we got to go to have Ellie feed the giraffes. 

Ellie loved this part of the experience – even if she did get covered in Giraffe saliva! When you are up there on that ledge, it’s amazing to see just how big Giraffes can get. 

We were taken down to the paddock doors to witness the giraffes from the ground and the view from down there was even more impressive. When you see a Giraffe from ground level, realising that you barely reach their belly is incredible. They are seriously cool animals. Blackpool Zoo actually has a range of Giraffe species – I didn’t even know there were different species of Giraffe – so that was pretty interesting to find out. 

After the giraffes, it was off to visit the Aardvark house. Now, I only know the Aardvark from The Pink Panther, I don’t know about you! But these guys were insanely cute and as quoted by the zookeeper himself “They look like something out of a children’s book”. He wasn’t wrong!

They have large rabbit-like ears, little round bodies, massive feet & claws and a large snout. They are seriously adorable and loved having us pop by for a visit. 

Ellie got to hand-feed them a few mealworms and she encouraged me to have a go too. It’s the weirdest feeling, feeding an aardvark! Their snout almost acts like a little hoover and they snuffle everything up. Even how they eat is cute!

After saying goodbye to the aardvarks – they’d all cuddled up in a corner to sleep {cute!}, it was off to the educational house in Blackpool Zoo. This would be where school trips spend a little time, with the hands-on felt an elephant tooth! {Which are HUGE if you were wondering}.

Ellie also got to look at the collection of snakes and lizards – she was even allowed to handle a salamander. I declined, sorry to the salamanders of the world, but I am not a fan! Ellie, however, loved every minute.

Next up, was Lemur Wood. If you’ve never been to Blackpool Zoo before, they have a pretty cool wood you can walk through, filled with lemurs. These inquisitive little guys will walk along the fences, jump onto you if they’re feeling cheeky and they don’t mind the human interaction. Ellie got to feed them and they were so interested in her {mainly because she had food!}. They put their little hands on her legs to reach up for pieces of apple, leapt onto her shoulders to try and win her over with cuteness and so on.

She adored this part of her animal experience and her face shone a thousand smiles. Ellie is without a doubt, her happiest when she is knee-deep in something she loves. She adores animals and they love her.

Feeding and interacting with the Lemurs was so much fun and such a great experience. It was also pretty interesting to witness their hierarchy within the ranks. In case you were wondering {because I was curious myself} a group of Lemurs is known as a ‘Conspiracy’.

Seeing them in action is something you need to see for yourself. If you ever see Lemurs being fed in your local zoo, keep an eye on the ones at the back – the lower ranking Lemurs. Poor guys have to be happy with scraps. Bless them.

After our time at Lemur Wood is were off to the final part of the Animal Experience – spending some time with Darwin the Aldabran tortoise. These guys are known as the largest species of land tortoise in the world and can live up to 150 years old. 

Darwin’s records of his history are unavailable but Darwin is thought to be over 100 years old. Ellie got to hang out with him and his female counterparts and it was a pretty awesome experience. 

He kept lifting his head to let her underneath his chin, so you could tell he was enjoying it. 

Capturing Ellie with Darwin was quite amazing and I’m sure it’s an experience she will remember forever. 

After we said goodbye to Darwin, that was it. Our Animal experience was over and what a brilliant time we had. Ellie collected her goody bag from reception and we went to meet up with the family for some lunch and more exploring of the zoo.

Was the Animal experience worth £125? Without a shadow of a doubt. It was such a hands-on and educational experience that I could not recommend enough. Our keeper Craig at Blackpool Zoo was amazing, so a big shout-out to him. 

If you have a zoo near you, check them out and see if they have any animal experiences available. Most zoos I have seen are doing it now, mainly because it’s such a popular thing to do. We loved ours and no doubt it will be something the younger ones will want to do for their birthday too!

If you liked this post you should check out our day out at Dublin Zoo!