Yesterday the weather looked good so we decided to head to Fota Wildlife Park for a family day out. I had been there last year with the 4 kids whilst pregnant and we’d had a very enjoyable day so we were all looking forward to it.

Although it opens at 10am, this time we didn’t get organised enough to arrive till 12ish. There was already a queue to get it, but thankfully it moved quickly. We paid the €50 for family (2 adults, 4 kids and 1 baby) entrance fee, recieved the maps and in we went.

There is a suggested route around Fota, a track which is fine for walking on and no problem to push the baby’s buggy around on too. If you take it, the first animals you see are the giraffes. They are in a field with zebras.

It is great to watch them walking around, drinking and eating leaves from the high poles. The kids love them. The bison are in a field opposite. The next area is the monkey island. This I found a bit dirty and smelly and there was a distinct lack of monkeys and gibbons to be seen. There were plenty of ducks and peacocks. The area looks a bit run down. We saw a couple of penguins and various other birds.

The kids also loved a small playground area on the way. A big log to walk on and some monkey bars.

The cafe area was filled with people. The playground here is a great idea and it was full of kids. All picnic tables were taken so we ended up eating our lunch on a bench. An extra number of picnic tables would be ideal. The restaurant was packed and seemed to do plenty of burger and chips. We just bought drinks and icecream to go with our sandwiches. Service was good. The day was sunny so you couldn’t beat eating al fresco. It was gorgeous.

Further on, we saw llamas, kangaroos, lemurs, flamingoes, an ostrich and cheetahs.

The highlight for the kids was 2 llamas bounding past us on the track as we ambled along and seeing small monkeys jumping in the branches of the tree above us!

Overall we had a very enjoyable day there. Its high season so the crowds of visitors there were to be expected but it would have been a better experience had there been more picnic and toilet facilities. They could do with a revamp around the monkey island area too.

We’re looking forward to revisiting in the autumn or early next spring as the children loved it.