What I love about visiting Colchester Zoo is the chance you get to feed the animals. Over the years Ethan has fed the Giraffes and Elephants but he finds it too crowded now. Last summer I got the chance to take Little E to the zoo for her to experience feeding them. With the new social distancing rules in place at the zoo, they have had to cancel their free public giraffe and elephant feeds. But animals are a creature of habit too and they missed us! So to help boost the much-needed funds for the zoo you can now book an Elephant or Giraffe exclusive feeding experience for £20 a group.
What Happens At The Giraffe Exclusive Feeding Experience?
Each group booked is for up to five people to take part in the feed. Ten groups take part during each available time slot. This means at most there will be fifty members of the public taking part in the feeds at any one time. You are taken to a ‘behind the scenes’ area to feed the giraffes. This gives you enough space to socially distance from the other groups taking part. Five groups are invited to feed the giraffes first and the next five follow when they have finished.
Feeding The Giraffes
Little E was very excited to be feeding the giraffes, I had booked this activity at her request. She has no fear when it comes to feeding animals and will happily feed any.
Over the years Ethan has become more cautious of animals. This makes him more fearful and we have to support him if he wants to take part in an activity like this. Thankfully he was willing to try feeding the giraffes himself. He did get a little bit wary at points. I think it was the giraffes long tounges that worried him. With a bit of support he gave the giraffes the food they wanted.
Was The Giraffe Feeding Experience Worth The Cost?
For us it was, limited numbers to keep social distancing is really making it easy for us to get out and about this summer.
Getting to feed the giraffes without a crowd or a real-time limit was amazing. You get to feed them until your bucket of allocated food runs out.
We also got to see the baby Rhino up close too as they come over to see all the people.
You can watch our video below of our exclusive giraffe feeding experience.
I would happily pay to do this feed again. Maybe next time we get to visit we will be able to feed the elephants.
