During October Half Term we took advantage of a fantastic deal that Knowsley Safari had running. Kids go free with every paying adult. This basically halved the entry price for us as a family of four (Oct 2023)
As soon as we arrived we stayed in the car & set off for the car safari.
Knowsley Safari Experience
This took us about an hour to go around, there are a couple of lanes so you can queue up in your car to have a good look when there is an animal to see or you can go in the faster if you don’t want to wait. Its a 5 mile drive where you go through Bactrian Camels, White Rhino, African Lions and Baboons.
We were really lucky with the Camels, they decided to get up from their shelter and started to walk along the road right next to the cars. This was great and the girls really enjoyed watching them walk along side us. We decided to by pass the Baboons as were werent sure about them damaging our car. This is easy to miss and you can still see them through the fencing. The lions were sleeping sadly but we did also get a good view of the Rhinos.
You can go round as many times as you want too.
Sea Lion Show
We parked our car and headed into the Knowsley Safari village. We went straight to the Sea Lion theatre as a show was ahout to begin. This was definitely my favourite of the day.
Two Sea Lions called Authur and Roger showed the audience their amazing skills for about 20minutes. They showed how they are different from seals and did mind blowing acts like balancing things on their nose and jumped up out of the water to hit a ball hanging from the ceiling. The Sea Lions looked like they really did enjoy the attention and the way the show was delivered by the animal trainer made it fun while being educational. There are 3-4 shows spread through the day.
Birds of Prey Show at Knowsley Safari
With Eagles, Hawks, Falcons, Vultures, Kites & Owls. Watch them being fed and soring over your head in flying displays. On a few times a day, just turn up and get a seat to watch the fully immersive family friendly show.
On Foot Safari
Mischievous meerkats, graceful giraffes and an amazing Amur tiger trail! Sadly the tiger was fast asleep so we only saw him from a far. The Tiger Trail goes around the tiger compound with plenty of viewing areas.
The Giraffes were gorgeous, we caught some of the giraffe talk and found out they were brothers and plenty of facts about them. It was great to see them walking about and pulling leaves from tall trees. There is also a woodland walk which leads you to a waterfall.
Knowsley Safari Amusement Rides
In centre there is a selection of about 12 fairground rides. These vary between 1-3 tokens per rider to go on. Or you can buy a wristband to have unlimited rides.
These are a nice adition to the day and there are also a couple of small play areas near the rides too so you can easily break up the day with some playing between seeing all the animals. There is a Pirate Ship, Honey Pots, Swing Chairs and a rollercoaster called Rattlesnake!
Knowsley Safari Food & Drink
There are plenty of places to refuel. You can choose to dine at the outdoor food court for loaded fries & delicious pizzas. There’s the Oasis Restaurant where you can dine on delis, chill con carne, penne bolognese, rosemary focaccia & fish and chips. From the Coffee House there is hot & cold drinks and sweet treats. We took a picnic which we ate while going around the Car Safari but there are also lots of picnic benches.
Getting To Knowsley Safari
Knowsley Safari is in Prescot, Merseyside, on the A58 bypass. They are just off the M57, less than 30 minutes away from Liverpool and just 45 minutes away from Manchester.
We would have liked to have seen a few more animals on our visit, in particular the lions or tigers but the fact that the camels and sea lions were so good it still made for a nice family day out.
