For the second year for us it’s Groupon to the rescue. Last year saw us heading to Planete Sauvage which I’ve got to say was pretty amazing ( I may make another post on that shortly ) This year we headed to the Zoo de la Boissière du Doré which is about 30 – 40 minutes outside of Nantes. It never hurts when you can avail of slightly cheaper tickets and at €19 for an adult and €13.50 for a child ( 3 – 12 years old ) the cost can quickly add up. Thankfully Victor isn’t even two yet so it was free for him, not to mention the Groupon special.

Where zoos are concerned I’ve got to admit to always having mixed feelings on them. You’re caging up animals for the amusement of visitors, so it’s slightly difficult to not feel a slight regret in the back of your mind, however I’m running away with myself.

If you’ve got little kids … they’ll probably have an amazing day. With today having been d-day … yes that’s right Ireland was Playing France in the Euros  … I’d tried to do a little planning in advance so we’d maybe be able to get home for the match. The website recommends 3 hours 30 minutes for your visit. I guess however we arrived at midday (we’d planned on arriving for 11 but one thing leads to another and that just didn’t work out) We ended up leaving around 5 so it’s a long old day for the kids ( not to mention the adults )

Warning this review may contain spoilers and hopefully a few nice pictures!!!

Now I’m hopefully not going to give away too much of the visit but I suspect the Red Pandas will be a highlight for a lot of people.

You’ll also no doubt end up with a mixture of animals ( as in those awake and those just sleeping … please don’t tap the glass or scream at them to get them to move )

If you’re into your photography then there’s a pass for the next season up for grabs. Now that’d be kinda cool to win ( though if I couldn’t bring the whole family then …. )

but hang on am I boring you?

I suspect the lion was the highlight of my day. Shooting through the protective glass however yields some mixed results but I’m happy enough with the results. ( Not all animals are behind protective glass / mainly the carnivores )

Around about this time we ended up heading for lunch … the car park has a good few bench / tables setup … nicely spread out. Thankfully when you reach the central area with the restaurant it’s actually quick enough to get back out to the carpark.

2 traditional ( as my mom used make them ) egg / mayo sandwiches later we were back in and ready to go.

Please remember to hold onto your ticket as you’ll need that to get back in.

The central area also contains a small “petting” Zoo? … we simply didn’t have the time to really visit it but there are lots of goats and birds around.

Did I mention the lion was a highlight? ( with a slight glare from a reflection in the glass )

I suspect other people loved him as well

🙂

Thankfully the life size teddy bears are well out of reach.

I have to say I’ve visited zoos before and the animals have seemed rather depressed … today I’m just not sure they seemed to be in good spirits.

Though the Giraffe above is in a compound … there’s actually a wide open space for the various herbivores to wander in and it’s beautiful to see.

There are even Rhinos out there as well as various, what look like species of deer to me.

But wait there’s more!!!

I could actually go on posting photos for quite some time. I shot around 600 today 😮 I may have a problem.

Oh did I mention there are birds? … there are birds! and lots of them. There are also shows put on featuring the birds ( we missed those so who knows … maybe next time ) There are also the feeding times for various animals.

I went to the Zoo with mixed feelings … I wasn’t sure what to expect. I took my camera and a zoom lens. I took a lot of photos and there are many that I love, ( some blurry I don’t love so much ) …

To sum it up … the kids had an amazing time, I had an amazing time and yeah I’d happily go back I suspect in a year or two.

I’ll take a bow and sign off before I go posting yet more photos…