Fota Wildlife Park

We spent today visiting Fota Wildlife park, a fantastic amenity right on our doorsteps.
It is visited by tourists and locals in their thousands each year, there is the wildlife park which is charged for but the gardens of Fota House and the Arboretum are free to visit just pay a E3 parking charge on the way out.
The entrance has been completely revamped since I visited last and these lifelike Giraffes greet the visitors

The interior of the Orangery in the gardens has been restored, when I visited first this was almost derelict.


The restored orangery which you spy through the trees

The sunken Italian garden

In the wildlife park, we spotted this Peahen with her chick

The peacock preening himself, no babysitting for him!

Not an African skyline but Fota!There are Giraffe, zebra, and oryx here.

There are 2 seals ,this one was out sunning itself

The beautifully restored Palm Walk.

Why am I depressed?

'Cos he got the sweetcorn!
There are islands in the lake where all sorts of monkeys live, swinging on ropes and trees.

A lemur and the G'kids eyeballing each other

Lemurs are free to roam all over the park, and are quite used to being near people.

The Flamingoes which to my eye looked distinctly orange rather than pink!

Birdwatching

Why is the tastiest piece always just out of reach?!
We spent hours between the wildlife park and the gardens and saw much more animals than I have space to put here, it is just to give a glimpse of Fota.
If you are ever near enough to visit it is definitely worth it, especially if you have only seen exotic animals in a Zoo, to see them walking around acres of grassland is special.