Douglas, Isle Of Man, Curraghs Wildlife Park

This would be great if there were more animals to see! My young boys love to go as they are easily pleased and enjoy running around seeing the animals. Unfortunately, for what you get, it is very expensive and prices should be reduced. I agree with other comments re the Cafe - this really does need a shake up and the people serving don't seem to care at all. I think people go there sometimes as there is simply no where else to go. I believe it could be a great place but it needs a "make over" and definitely more animals. I have given an extra star because the last time we went we did enjoy the animal show/petting and was very informative.

Curraghs Wildlife Park, Sulby, Isle of Man

I was sadly disappointed when we visited the Park - I am a wheelchair user and had I been on my own I could not even have got into the payment office at the gate. As it was we had to go through a side gate which was very heavy. It is not easy pushing a wheelchair and trying to hold a heavy gate open at the same time. It only got worse.

We wanted to go to see the penguins at feeding time but we had a quarter of an hour to wait. We couldn't stand to see the penguins for that length of time - my heart went out to them - their enclosure was so shabby and they looked so sad and dejected.

Many of the paths were so bumpy it was difficult to push the wheelchair along. No thought had been given to the gates - they were heavy and difficult to open from a sitting position - I had to put my feet out to hold them open so we could push the chair through before they sprung shut. So we did not access all the areas - my partner went through and took photos for me to see later.

When we got to the cafe the wheelchair ramp was blocked by a sign propping the door open across it. We had to bump the chair up the pavement. In the cafe there was no room between the chairs and tables - families with buggies were having to move furniture to get in and out. There was no access for the wheelchair to get to the counter - had I been on my own I would have had to shout across the room! The staff hoovered around us while we ate - it was nowhere near closing time - we were having lunch!

Before we left I visited the toilet. The door from the cafe through to the toilet was partially blocked by a large sign and display stand. The toilet was adequate - but no sign of anything to dry hands on.

Even though this park advertise wheelchairs and mobility scooters can be hired at the gate - it would appear no thought whatsoever has been given to the less able and certainly not in the cafe - I wonder what regulations they are breaking!!!

ALL IN ALL THIS IS A TIRED ATTRACTION AND CANNOT COMPARE WITH THE JERSEY WILDLIFE PARK

A great place for children, however the penguins look terribly unkept. Their enclosure needs immediate attention. There are dreadful people who run the cafe. They are unable to say please or thank you. The cafe appears not been hoovered or cleaned since at least 2001. I would therefore recommend taking your own picnic. I give the cafe 1/10 points. This is given only due to the facility giving you shelter if it is raining. The information at each enclosure is superbly written with a detailed map - just great for the lil ones to learn. Good wildlife centre, dreadful cafe.

This is one of my favourite wildlife parks or zoos anywhere.

It well and truly is superb.

The wildlife park area is divided into 6 (or 7)different areas each displaying animals from that particular continent. They are....

1.South America

The very first area and possibly the smallest. It comes straight after entering. Your first animal is the Humbolt Penguins waddling about and swimming in their nice, big and clean pool. After this you go into a large and spacious paddock home to Llamas and Emus as well as some waterfowl. This is partially walk through with only low stand-off barriers around the path.

2. Flooded Forest

The largest area? Depicting the Amazxon the very first attraction is a large paddock complete with pond where the gorgeous Capybara live. For those of you who don't know they are the world's largest rodent and you can actually touch them here! There are other grazing animals here. You then enter the wood where there are butterfly and nature trails as well as macaws. There are some monkeys and birds here. Coming out you discover you are on a massive lake home to thousand of breeds of waterfowl and the truly wonderful scarlet ibis. In the middle is a large island which is home to the spider monkeys. It was fun watching them mess about on their interesting climbing frame. They also had a small area on land.

3. North American Trail

The shortest area this is home to only two exhibits-North American River Otters(Canadian Otters) and Racoons which are housed well. It is a pleasant walk all through woodland with informative signs.

4. The Outback

The main exhibit of this is a walk-through aviary. These were of the first walk-through exhibits in Britain. This massive aviary is home to one special bird-the Laughing Kookabura a gorgeous and hillarious bird. The paddock is home to the bouncing wallabies, kangaroos and the dinosaur-like bird Cassowary. There is also a lake home to some Black Swans

5. Europe

Another smallish area the main attraction here are the amazing Lynx with a spacious compound and the beavers in his large 'pond. Other animals here include the European or British Otter buy these were shy and never came out!

6. Africa

I do not remember much of this area but I think it was like the South America area - a spacious walk through paddock. I remember a large lake home to a group of pelicans.

As well as these there a few other animals attractions.

The childrens farm is a reasonable size home to donkeys and goats in suitably sized paddocks.

The Ark and Islands

The larger of the two is islands a attraction showing animals which are confined to islands-including Ring and Red Ruffed Lemurs who were in a well sized walk through enclosure-but we never saw them! The Ark is in the pond and is home to a range on animals, many resuces including parrots and snakes all housed comfortably

Facilities

There is a gift shop which is quite reasonably priced which I can only vaguely remember. The cafe' was very nice and reasonably priced and looked out on the stunning scarlet ibis.

The railway is minature and costs 50p a ride which is very reasonable as you get a kilometre long run through the paddocks. I saw Fred Dibnah here!

The Close Beg has a small soft play area for children home to a ball pool and a few other things and there is a playground behind the cafe. There are some animal feeding times I can only remember the penguin otter and lynx feeds

Price:

An extremely reasonable 5 pounds for adults and &pouns;£2.50 for kids.This may have gone up slighlty but I am not sure

Overall

This is a wonderful park very interesting and reasonably priced-well worth going to if you are on the Isle of Man