I can’t believe it’s been 3 months since my first re-opened visit to Edinburgh Zoo! There are still limited numbers of guests allowed in the zoo, however it is more now than in July when I made my last visit. This time I had a week off from work so made a mid-week visit, I wanted to avoid the weekends as there would be a lot of school-age kids about, there are also quite a lot of tourists around the city too. I wasn’t sure I would have enough photos to share from another trip so soon, however we really picked a great day to visit – it was sunny and crisp, and it seemed like all of the animals decided to be active, well, apart from the pandas! But you can’t win on every visit, and the other animals really did make up for less panda activity. The one-way system is still in place, and is the same as it was back in July, however now a few of the indoor viewings are open, mainly the Budongo Trail and the koala habitat. We had to queue for the koalas, with only one group allowed in each of the viewing sections at a time. A staff member was manning this well, and we didn’t have to wait long but also found we had plenty of time to see the koalas. Masks are also required in indoor areas, e.g. the entrance, gift shop and indoor viewings. We weren’t sure if this included the cafe (take away only) or restaurant (sit in only, limited capacity), so we wore our masks in the restaurant until we were eating, and put them back on again to leave once we’d finished. And as per the last visit, there were hand sanitising stations around the zoo as well, and the recommendation to touch things as little as possible.
Continue Reading “Edinburgh Zoo in October 2020”Edinburgh Zoo – Reopening July 2020
Edinburgh Zoo closed back in March 2020, and finally at the end of June was able to re-open again! There are of course a number of measures in place to keep it safe for everyone, with limited numbers of guests permitted, timed entry slots and social distancing observed to name a few. As a Zoo member, I was able to book a members slot to visit and went on the first weekend of opening on the 4th of July, at this time there was still a 5mile travel ‘ban’ as such, you shouldn’t be travelling more than that distance from your home, so it was still local guests, however that was soon lifted and has allowed more guests the option to visit. Tickets are selling out almost a couple of weeks in advance, so if you’re looking for a specific date, definitely check to book sooner rather than later. It was a little damp on our visit, but not enough to spoil our visit! There is also a new map with the one-way system marked on, and around the paths are various arrows and signs indicating where you should be going – some visitors seemed to not be paying too much attention to these, however there were staff members around to help direct. There were also hand-sanitising stations available, and the toilets (along with some animal viewing areas) were designated as ‘one troop at a time’ to keep with distancing (again, some guests were ignoring this at viewing areas). Some of the animal viewings also had queue systems set up, particularly at the pandas and the lions, however everyone was pretty orderly, and distancing was mostly observed between groups. Now onto the animals!
P A N D A S @ E D I N B U R G H Z O O
My home zoo! This should perhaps have been my first post to write, because I’m from Edinburgh, so these are my ‘home pandas’ as such. Pandas arrived in Edinburgh in 2011 on a 10 year loan from CCRCGP – most of their stay in Edinburgh has already passed, and there are less than two years left unless a new deal is made to keep them on. The above picture is the original outdoor space in the panda enclosure – in 2019 a new enclosure was built, further up the hill in the zoo and in a more secluded area with more space outside. Below you can see the space under construction and Yang Guang’s yard completed. The pandas moved into their new home in the Summer of 2019, so they’ve been there for almost a year now.