London Zoo is located on the north side of Regent’s Park and is one of London’s biggest tourist attractions. It’s run by the Zoological Society of London and has over 600 species of animals including mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and insects.
The main entrance to the Zoo is on the Outer Circle road that runs around the edge of Regent’s Park and the top quarter of the Zoo is actually on the north side of the Road and is reached by entering the Zoo and going through one of two tunnels to the other side.
London Zoo was opened in 1828 and the land had been obtained for it by Stamford Raffles of Singapore fame. It was only open to Society members until 1847 when the first paying customers were allowed in. It holds a number of first’s among world zoo’s including, Reptile House 1849, Public Aquarium 1853, Insect House 1881 and Children’s Zoo 1938.
For its first 65 years every animal from the tropics was kept inside until they finally realised they wouldn’t die if exposed to the London air.
In the main part of London Zoo, on the south side of the Outer Circle road, they’ve had a redevelopment and some new enclosures have been or are being added with Gorilla Kingdom opening in 2007 on the left as you enter.
The famous Reptile House is on the right and is worth going in if you’re a snake or lizard fan. Scenes for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone were filmed in here.
Close to the reptile house you’ll find the Aquarium and Bear enclosure’s and heading down towards the southern part of the zoo you’ll pass Komodo dragon, Hippo, big cat and monkey enclosure’s as well as the children’s zoo which has large selection of mammals that kids can go in and pet or walk with.
Up near the new Gorilla Kingdom area is a section called Animals in Action, a seated amphitheatre where keepers bring a selection of birds and small mammals to show their flying, leaping and climbing abilities with the keeper’s giving a commentary.
Not far from Animals in Action is London Zoo’s famous Penguin Pool with its curved ramps that the penguins waddle over, feeding time happens daily every afternoon at the Penguin Pool and usually draws a crowd to watch the keepers hand out buckets of fish.
If yoy cross over to the north side of the Outer Circle you’ll find the giraffe, zebra and large African mammals enclosure’s and backing on to the Regent’s Canal is the Snowdon Aviary a huge net skin over high aluminium poles that allows some of the zoo’s rarer birds a place to fly.
There’s also a small mammals area that is due to reopen after renovation in spring 2007.
London Zoo is open from 10am-4pm from now until the middle of February, after that it stays open a little bit longer as the spring and summer progress. Tickets cost £12 adults and £9.50 children, kids under 3 are free.
It’s at the northern side of Regent’s Park and the nearest tube stations on that side are Camden Town or Mornington Crescent. Probably a better way with a nicer walk is to go to Baker Street, Regent’s Park or Great Portland Street station’s and walk through the park from it’s southern side, it won’t take that long. You could actually walk to the Zoo from Oxford Circus in just over 30 minutes.
The Zoo is open all year except for Christmas Day.
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