When we first purchased Colchester Zoo Passes I had a carers card and Ethan had a disabled card. To enter the zoo we had to go in together. Colchester Zoo has now changed their policy and Ethan has a standard pass. He can also take whichever person he chooses in to be his carer. This meant that one of us didn’t need to purchase a zoo pass. We decided that Darren would be the person without one and I would get one in my name so that I would be able to visit the zoo with Little E. In the Easter holidays whilst Ethan was on a respite day, we had our first girly trip to Colchester zoo.
Ethan had spent so much time at the zoo when he was younger. Surprisingly Little E had hardly ever visited. We visited in December for the Twilight Christmas Experience and to collect our passes but she hadn’t seen many animals on those visits. She also visited
Something I have wanted to do with Little E for a long time is some of the animal encounters. Colchester Zoo has quite a few feeding opportunities for visitors. You can feed goats, rainbow lorikeets, giraffes, and elephants. There is no extra cost to feed the giraffes and elephants. Goat feed is 50 pence for a pot and its a £1 for the lorikeets’ food. I didn’t have enough money to feed the lorikeets but I was able to find enough money in my purse to purchase some goat feed.
Ethan used to love feeding the goats and Little E really enjoyed it too.
Near the goats, there are some great photo opportunities. You can have your very own tortoiseshell house or hatch from a tortoise egg.
You can also climb into a wallaby pouch. Ethan has also had his photo taken in this pouch, it was lovely that Little E had the same photo taken. I didn’t take any of my big camera equipment to the zoo with us as I wanted to enjoy my time with my little lady. So all of the photos we did take were taken on my phone.
Our girly trip to Colchester Zoo also included a first for me. We were able to ride on The Lost Madagascar Express to the lemur walkthrough exhibit. This is something we have never been able to do with Ethan. He would have never have been able to queue up and wait for the train. It was so nice to share this first with Little E.
We also enjoyed a girly lunch at the zoo before heading home. I love that we got to spend some time together alone and try new things. This respite time is so important for our family and gives me the time to make special memories with Little E.
