I'm back after being offline for over a month. It felt more like a lifetime! I never noticed how much I relied on it until it was gone. A common phrase in our household is "ask google" because that is pretty much where we get all our information from these days. Everything went to pot! I had no online banking, the DVD boxsets had to come out due to the lack of tv on demand and the blog and entering competitions completely went out the window. Lots has happened since the start of the internet drought. Most importantly my sweet little angel Mia has turned into a terrible teenager!!! lol I can't believe I am a mum to a 13 year old. One of her big loves in life are Red Pandas. She is crazy about them so I thought what could be a better present than getting up close and personal with some. Something I knew she never would have expected. I chose Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne because as a child I really enjoyed going there and had never taken the kids. Plus I thought the price was pretty good at £99 compared to other Red Panda experiences I had seen online. We arrived when the park opened at 9:30am buying tickets for just myself and my dad because Mia's entrance was included in with the experience. We didn't have to be at the Discovery Centre for an hour to meet the Red Panda Zookeeper so we thought we would take a walk through the World of Dinosaurs attraction which boasts of 30 life size moving Animatronic Dinosaurs and I have to say I was pretty impressed. They are very lifelike and the way they move is amazing. Plus there are loads of dinosaur facts and figures dotted around and a gift shop and restaurant at the end of the trail. When you are drinking your coffee there is even a big sand pit where the kids can excavate bones. The only thing that let it down were that some of the dinosaurs were still being worked on which took away from the atmosphere a little, but I would say given a little time for the work to be completed and it would be the perfect place to take your dinosaur loving child. I'm not very interested in them and I still found it fascinating. After seeing a great many furry faced distractions along the way we made it to the Discovery Centre where we were given somewhere comfy to sit and a hot drink while we waited for the zoo keeper. Mia was also given a goody bag containing amongst other things a 3d red panda picture and a certificate that said she had been to visit and feed the Red Pandas. We weren't left to wait long and we were on the way to where the staff prepare all the food for animals all over the park. While not glamourous in any way shape or form it was very interesting. People were bustling around chopping fruit and veg and pulling meat out of freezers. Mia was given an insight into the Red Pandas diets and what the keepers had to do behind the scenes to look after them. Next we were off to the enclosure holding boxes of their favourite treats and trailing behind us was a big shoot of Bamboo the main staple of their diet. Myself and my dad stood outside the enclosure as we hadn't paid for the experience, but still had an excellent view all the way around so we could see what Mia was getting up to and had no problem taking pictures of her either. Mia was given a quick safety briefing about how to behave when in the enclosure and then she got to step in to what can only be described as her heaven. Seeing her face light up was definitely worth the whole experience. First down to see her was Nam Pang (pictured above) the young male Red Panda who had only been with them a few years. He caught on to the fact Mia was holding onto a box of his favourite treats rather quickly making his way down from the treetop where he was lounging. He feed straight from her hand whilst posing for a few pictures and as soon as the box was empty he was off again a bit higher into the tree. Tilly the older female on the other hand was going to take a lot more persuasion. She was comfortable where she was. After Nam Pang had been back down for some Bamboo and Mia had had a long chat to the keeper about conservation, the pandas themselves and cubs that had been born in previous years Tilly decided it was time she put in an appereance. She scoffed her treats and then went for a lay down in their box in the tree. After saying our goodbyes to the keeper and the Red Pandas we decided to make our way to the Tiger Treetops Café and it is exactly what it sounds like a café that looks over into the Tiger enclosure. It really was a treat to sit so close to them. After we had got our energy back we walked round the park looking at all the animals and we all had a great day. Mia also had an experience she will never forget. I would highly recommend it to anyone that is interested in going.
Thank you for visiting my blog Just Holly Marie x x x
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