Fota Wildlife Park

Fota is Daycent, they feed the cheetahs @ 4:00 , well worth a look see. it’s like jurassic park.

A great place for a family or a group day out . Lots of wild life and lots of things to see .

Take a trip to the souvenir shop to remember your day here.

FOTA WILDLIFE PARK 12.10.10

Went through the smashing new entrance to Fota Wildlife Park yesterday and enjoyed a great stroll in the sun. The animals too enjoyed the extra heat and seemed to be even livelier than usual. The new entrance was hardly tested at all yesterday as the season winds down. There are also new toilets, with sinks at just the right size for the kids to wash their hands. The new café and shop also looked well and work continues around the parking areas.
Great spot for a visit. If you are a local, you should consider becoming a member. For just over the price of a couple of visits, you’ll get a pass for the full year. I find it invaluable as I vary my visit times and, without fail, see some action or animal in a situation that I haven't seen before. Quite a lot of activity yesterday morning but perhaps the highlight was the sleeping red panda baby Rua, born just about a month back.

FOTA WILDLIFE PARK 24.06.10
Fota Wildlife Park is always worth a visit as it invariably throws up something different. Take the Siamang Gibbons for instance. To-day, they put on a noisy display (twice a day, I was told by one of the helpful assistants (green tops)).
I’ve usually seen and hear them in noisy action around noon in summertime but never as close-up as to-day. Usually, the gang put on their display high up in the trees. But today, they were right in front of me, just across a little channel of water.
The female took the lead, puffing up and letting out her cacophony. Every now and then she encouraged the alpha male to do likewise and he obliged, slowly taking in the air and then taking the lead when ready, usually getting to his feet so the audience knew who the real boss was.
One of the young males was a bit put out and discreetly stayed at the back of the “stage” but the baby, a few months old, was enjoying the show and right in the thick of it (see photo). Spectators gathered, including a school tour who were fascinated by the spectacle.

Fota today 24.12.09 Away from the shops today at an icy Fota - see n-ice set of pics at http://corkandabout.blogspot.com Happy Christmas!!

Fota today 06.12.09. Go to http://corkandabout.blogspot.com/ to see today's photos....

FOTA WILDLIFE PARK

Fota is one of the three bigger islands in Cork harbour. Easily accessible by rail and road, its major attractions are the golf course, the restored Georgian House and the Wildlife Park. A visit to Fota can be combined with a trip to nearby Cobh where huge cruise liners dock in the town centre and where you can visit its Famine heritage centre and the hillside Cathedral.

The Wildlife Park is well worth a visit. It shares its car park with the House and Arboretum. The park is well laid out and a circular walk, at your own pace, can take between an hour and two hours.

Straight away you will the see giraffes as you start the circular walk (there is also a mini-train). You will meet emus, Maras, peacocks, and guanacos on the roadway and will see the European bison behind the timber railings on your right. Oryx and peacocks are also at hand.

Then you come to an area of little islands and lakes where you will see wildfowl (a huge collection of ducks and geese), various types of monkey and lively gibbons (who may put on a noisy show for you, usually at noon), lemurs, penguins, flamingos, pelicans, black swans and seals.

The cheetahs are the pride of the park who have just opened Ireland’s first Cheetah Run. Come and watch Cheetahs being fed on a special device which makes them sprint! They are fed every day at 4pm.

Highly recommended for children of all ages.

Further info at http://www.fotawildlife.ie

The Fota Wildlife Park first opened in 1983, which was a joint project by University of Cork and Zoological Society of Ireland.

The objective was the conversation of the wildlife which is now home to just over 90 species of exotic wildlife, some of the speices include zebra’s, Giraffes and antelopes and many more.

The have a restaurant called Oasis where you can relax, giftshop and a playground facilities for children.

The best part of my experience was the Awacachi train tour, that shows you sights of the whole park.

Ah you gotta love this place.

As a child we used to have family trips to Fota Wildlife Park, it was a tradition that we would go in the summer holidays and take a picnic with us. When I was on holiday last year my family and I went there. The first thing I noticed is that it really is quite expensive - 13 euro per adult and 8.50 per child. In the interests of nostaligia we took a picnic with us and made us of the picnic tables in the car park. It was a cold day so we didn;t linger long but set off walking around the park.

Fota isn’t a traditional zoo but the animals are chosen for their ability to adapt to the Irish climate and to roam outdoors. Giraffes, bison, apes, monkeys, cheetahs, flamingos and lemurs are just some of the species that live in the park. A relatively recent 'attraction’ is the cheetah run - the cheetahs are fed using a special device which swings the food around the enclosure until one of the animals catches it.

It’s still a great place to go for a day out and the facilities are good - there’s the aforementioned picnic and rest areas, toilets including an accessible toilet, baby changing facility, a gift shop, restaurant, playground and a little train that tours the park.