Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park

While our daughter from Bulgaria was over we decided to do some good old touristy things in Scotland these included a day trip to Edinburgh Zoo and another day at Highland Wildlife Park. 

At Edinburgh Zoo you get issued tickets to see the Giant Pandas, these are free but allocate you a time slot so the Pandas don't get crowded.  When we have been in the past, we have always queued and gone in at our allotted time and this is what we proceeded to do again. However, this time there was no queue, our tickets weren't checked and we were just let in. Whether it was because it was a quiet day at the zoo, or not I do not know but it worked out well, as we then took the chance to nip back later, on the way out of the zoo, to see them again.

  

On our first visit to the Giant Pandas, the girl one had chosen to go into a quiet area where she could 

not be seen. At the moment they do not know whether she is pregnant or not so are being very careful 

with her, as they don't want her upset or to jeopardise a possible pregnancy. The boy panda, as you can see was just chilling, having a wee nap in his bed. 

We slowly meandered around the Zoo, it was a lovely day for a walk, we didn't even need jackets. As it was quiet we easily saw all the animals and even had time to stop for a picnic.  We spent ages watching the monkeys. 

Right at the top of the hill there is a new area all themed on dinosaurs which was very good. The dinosaurs are electronic, making noises, moving and one even squirts water at you. The youngsters there loved it and were very excited by the models. I must admit we were impressed too! 

On our second visit to the pandas the girl could be seen but was sound asleep. The boy on the other hand was having a wander around and eating bamboo. 

As you come away from the pandas you come across the Penguins which are lovely to see and comical to watch. When we were there they were busy nesting, 35 eggs had already been laid but none had hatched.  One penguin was being cheeky and sneaking pebbles from one nest to put in his own. 

As you enter and leave Edinburgh there is an animal enclosure which used to have a sealion  in it, this is now for the meerkats and seems a lovely area for them. If they have filled in  what used to be the water bit with sand they must have a good area to burrow in. 

This meerkat was keeping lookout while a group of babies played close by. 

A couple of days later we headed  up to the Highland Wildlife Park. It is a long drive to get there but once more it was nice and sunny, so you could enjoy the scenery . At this park there are two sections, one part you drive around in the car as the animals wander around you , the other section you park your car and wander around looking at animals in their enclosures. 

At the park there are three polar bears, two boys and a girl. The girl is just new to the park so when we visited she was not on show as they are giving her time to settle in. The males were out wandering about and were actually having some lunch. 

This one first of all sat down to eat his lunch then totally made himself comfy, sprawling out. 

Every time we come here we are just as interested in the wild birds that visit ! 

There was a large herd of bison on the road who gave us the eye then slowly ambled past.

We made a couple of visits to see the Red Pandas, they are just adorable and were quite active when we were there. Again this park was quiet, even though it was the weekend, so at times we were the only people at an enclosure. 

The polar bears can be seen both from your cars and by a path that you can walk on. When we were on the path we could see that the males were now pacing up and down along one part of the fence, apparently that is because they are aware of the female bear on the other side of the park and they want to see her. Mmmm,  cheeky chaps. 

While  we were there, the skies got darker and darker and it started to feel colder and colder and that is when I realised that I was the only one who had brought a jacket with me.  An emergency shopping trip to the gift shop was needed to buy hoodies to keep the other two warm. Don't they realise we are in Scotland, sun to rain and even snow in minutes and that is what happened, the snow came down. 

This made the red panda run for his shelter. 

The snow  got heavier and heavier, too heavy for just wearing hoodies so we had to leave without seeing all the park. This was a shame as we missed out on seeing the wolves and red squirrels.