Blair Drummond safari park is located just outside Stirling, around a 20 minute drive from the centre. It’s a great place to visit with children, or just as adults. The park has a range of rare species and is also involved in animal conservation.
But you can also enjoy peddle boats, a train ride, dinosaur forest and adventure play park. All watched over by Blair Drummond House in the background.
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When Should You Visit Blair Drummond Safari Park
Blairdrummond Safari Park is open daily from mid-March to the 23rd December each year. Of course the park it’s busiest during the warmer summer months and it’s best to book tickets in advance. However it’s great at any time of year.
Do You Need A Car For Blair Drummond Safari Park?
You can arrive at the safari park by bus at the road end and walk into the park from there. However, you do need your own car to drive around the safari drive-thru.
So if you would like to do the drive through area, then yes you need your own vehicle.
How Long Should I Spend at Blair Drummond Safari Park?
There is a lot to see at Blair Drummond Safari Park, so I’d recommend around 4-7 hours. You can easily spend around 45 minutes on the drive-thru area watching animals, 2-3 of hours visiting the main area with animals, walking to chimp island and exploring lemur land. Stopping for lunch at the cafe, watching the Bird of Prey display, visiting the dinosaurs, kids playing in the park and going on the big slide and peddle boats will be another 2-3 hours. So yes, definitely a whole day adventure!!
The Safari Park – What To Expect
Animal Conservation
Blair Drummond Safari Park are part of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for white rhinos. This helps distribute breeding animals throughout Europe to ensure more young of endangered species are born and can be released to the wild.
The Park also helped raise funds for in-country conservation projects around the globe. From chimp-friendly crop sin Uganda to tiger fences in India, they have raised thousands of pounds over the years.
You can also find out more about research carried out by top universities at the safari park. This research can then lead on to help further conserve wild animals.
Safari Drive-Thru
The safari drive-thru takes around 45 minutes to get around. You begin opposite the peddle boat area and slowly drive in through the gate. From here you may spot a variety of different animals from rhino’s to Kudu, Eland and cattle. Then you enter a separate enclosure to see the African lions, it’s always best to see them earlier when they are more active!
The next enclosure is the Barbary Macaques (the monkey enclosures). This is where you may have macaque’s jumping on your vehicle and others! It’s always entertaining to see them jumping on the motorhomes and larger vehicles!
The final enclosure is for the camels and deer, just watch out for the camels walking right in front of the car!
Exploring On Foot
Park up in one of the safari park car parks (there’s several to choose from!) and then proceed on foot to visit the other animals. The area next to the main car park is where you will find the petting zoo, sea lions, meerkats, penguins, Amur tigers and red-ruffed lemurs. The tigers are often hiding, so when you do see them it’s quite exciting!
You can walk past the play park to find more animals, particularly the walkway to see the lions, giraffes and then down to the rhino and elephant enclosures (don’t miss the leaf cutter ants in the elephant enclosure!). Across the road is the walk down to chimp island and then back up toward the peddle boats you can cross the bridge to Lemur Land. You will find lemurs, tortoises and more in this area!
Animal Talks
There are animal talks throughout the day, check your park map and leaflet for times. If there’s certain animals you would like to hear more about then definitely plan your day around their talks.
Birds of Prey Display
The birds of prey display is always a great show. During the summer and at weekends the seats are always full, waiting to see the birds showing off. When the display show isn’t on you can also visit the birds of prey on their perches at the centre. It’s excellent for educating the children more about rare and endangered birds from around the world.
Dinosaurs
Not the most active inhabitants of the safari park, but the perfect place for dinosaur lovers! Explore the dinosaurs and watch the little ones staring up in awe at their favourites. Most of the dinosaurs are animatronic, so the kids will be excited when they move and make noises!
Don’t miss the photo ops at the end of the trail too!
Kids Play Areas
There are several play areas and kids activities throughout Blair Drummond Safari Park. The main adventure play area is the fort and pirate ship beside the main restaurant. The fort is huge with big nets, bridges and slides to explore. The pirate ships are better for smaller kids and there’s a toddler area undercover too. The kids can easily spend hours just at the adventure park!
You will find some small areas with diggers or other small play equipment elsewhere. Although the favourite things are normally the big slides near the sea lions and the peddle boast by lemurland (both included in the price). You can also pay for the funfair rides and mini land rovers at the park entrance area.
Safari Park Shops
There are several shops at the safari park selling everything from sweet soft toys to plastic toys. You can find the main gift shop at the main entrance from the car park beside the restaurant. There is a second newer shop that has pocket money toys, found beside the sea lions.
What Food Outlets Are Available at Blair Drummond Safari Park?
There is the main indoor restaurant with hot food, sandwiches and kids meals, all undercover. However, you can also buy takeaways from the other smaller food outlets, from taco’s to pizza. You’ll find a dessert bar, doughnuts and even several ice cream vendors around the park too.
If you prefer to bring a picnic there are plenty of picnic areas to use. Or you can even bring your own barbecue food and use one of the BBQ’s next to the dinosaur area. It’s a charge of £3 for use of an BBQ (first come first served) and the staff will even have the BBQ lit and ready for your reserved time. Simply ask at the ticket office upon entry to the park
What Type of Events Does Blair Drummond Safari Park Offer?
Blair Drummond Safari Park offers plenty of events throughout the year. You will find Hallowild at Halloween, wizarding workshops, Christmas fun and even springtime events. Check out upcoming news and events on their website here.
Blair Drummond Safari Park Animal Experiences
Blair Drummond Safari park offers several animal experience and a Keeper experience. The keeper experience is for 16+ only and is an all day activity I to find out what it’s like to be a keeper for the day.
Other experiences are fro 8+ years old and are only for 30 minutes at a time. You can currently book tickets for both giraffe and meerkat experiences. Other animal experiences may open up again for booking in the future. Check them all out here.
Other Nearby Places To Visit!
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