The Living Rainforest

Rainforest Animal Experiences

Get up close and personal with the animals at the Living Rainforest

Keeper Experience Square
Keeper Experience

Our amazing rainforest animal experiences have proved to be very popular, allowing you to work alongside our keepers as they feed a selection of animals. As you go round, the keepers will tell you all about the animals you are seeing, show you how we look after them and describe what makes them so special. Each and every animal has a unique character and our keepers know them all.

We offer three Rainforest Animal Experiences

1/     Animal Experience “Taster Session”

This is a 20–30-minute encounter that allows you to get up close to your chosen animal* and feed it along with the help of one of our highly knowledgeable keepers. This is the perfect experience for animal lovers everywhere. (* Five options available)

2/   Deluxe Animal Experience

Our deluxe animal experience is a 90-minute hands-on encounter that allows you to get up close to a broad range of our most popular animals.**  During this time you will accompany one of our experienced keepers as they do their rounds. (** All experiences are different, and some animals may not be included depending on circumstances)

3/  Rainforest Flora & Fauna Experience

Your 2-hour Flora and Fauna experience begins with a 20 – 30-minute animal feed / encounter with one of our highly experienced keepers. This will be followed by a lovely afternoon tea in the cafe and finally to finish your event you will go on a journey with a member of our botanical team as they weave a thread of wonder through the interconnecting worlds of the plants and animals.

 

In the interests of animal welfare, we no longer offer Goeldi’s monkey or Pygmy marmoset experiences as primates are susceptible to Covid 19. In addition, we do not offer sloth experiences as we cannot guarantee that Cinnamon will make an appearance during your visit. 

It exceeded our expectations

We just wanted to drop you a line to say how great Darcey’s keeper experience was, she has talked of nothing else since! The keeper she was assisting was wonderful, friendly, bubbly and passionate about the animals. Best of all she explained everything to Darcey at just the right level. We definitely feel this experience was value for money. Karen, Simon and Darcey T. (age 6)

A memorable birthday

My daughter has just had a fantastic 12th birthday junior keeper experience. She spent just under two and half hours feeding a variety of animals. The accompanying keepers were welcoming and knowledgeable, happy to talk and answer her questions about the animals. For the price this is a really great experience and I can't thank the keepers enough it will be one of the birthdays she will remember for a long time. From TripAdvisor

Amazing experience

My six year old animal-mad son recently did a zookeeper experience at the Living Rainforest and it was wonderful. He got to choose the animals he met & fed, and even got to meet some beyond the scenes animals including an asian water monitor which he loved. He asked questions constantly & the real zookeeper, Claire, was lovely with him; explaining everything at just the right level and adapting the experience to suit his needs. It was fantastic value for money and a wonderful way to ignite a child's passion for animals. From TripAdvisor

Get the most from your experience

Choose your package to spend time with an expert member of our keeper team

Animal Experience "Taster Session"

   This is a 20–30-minute encounter

    A perfect introduction for animal lovers everywhere.

£70 for 1 person 

   or £90 for 2 people

 

Deluxe Animal Experience

 A 90-minute hands-on encounter

       A full blown experience for the animal connoisseur.

£120 for 1 person 

   or £140 for 2 people

 

Rainforest Flora & Fauna Experience

      Be pampered with this 2-hour experience

       All things flora and fauna with an afternoon tea

Who could ask for more!.

£170 for 1 person 

   or £190 for 2 people

*All junior experiences (under 14) include one free accompanying adult


Further Details about the Animal Experience "Taster Session"

This is a 20–30-minute encounter that allows you to get up close to your chosen animal* and feed it along with the help of one of our highly knowledgeable keepers. This is the perfect experience for animal lovers everywhere.

During your visit you not only get to spend time with one of the animals (listed below) but you will also get the opportunity to take wonderful once in a lifetime photographs during your encounter, and later on your visit to our rainforest.

*Start times will vary dependent of the animal you chose from the list below

** These may only be available on selected days – Our keeping staff can advise you on application

 

Option 1       1.30pm Bug experience – See our amazing invertebrates, learn from our keeper about the importance of                                                                                                invertebrates

Option 2       2pm Armadillo experience – A chance to feed our energetic Armadillo with great photo opportunities.

Option 3**       2.30pm Reptile experience – The opportunity to feed our friendly Green Iguana and our yellow footed tortoises.                                                                                            Looking at how different herbivores eat.

Option 4**       3pm Fish experience – Feed our enormous Tambaqui fish, amongst other fish as well as our variety of turtle species.

Option 5**       3.30pm Snake experience – Feed up to 2 snakes, a special occurrence which is rarely seen and learn from our highly                                                                                 experienced keepers.

Further Details about the Deluxe Animal Experience

Our deluxe animal experience is a 90-minute hands-on encounter that allows you to get up close to a broad range of our most popular animals**. These could include Armadillo, Iguana, Yellow-footed tortoise and /or Tambaqui.

You will accompany one of our experienced keepers as they do their rounds. During the visit you get the opportunity to see the animals close up and help to feed them. Your 90 minutes experience will show you all the things our keepers do to keep the animals happy and healthy.

If there are any animals of particular interest to you please mention them at the time of booking

Disclaimer ** All experiences are different, and some animals may not be included depending on circumstances on the day of the experience. We do not run dedicated ‘sloth experiences’ because our sloth is free roaming and may not be accessible on your visit.

Our deluxe animal experiences all start at 2.00pm

Further Details about the Rainforest Flora & Fauna Experience

Explore the rainforest without leaving the UK. The Living Rainforest is home to 600 species of plants and animals. As you walk around you can watch birds and lizards as they roam free in our warm tropical glasshouses.

With our 2-hour Flora and Fauna experience, your journey starts with one of our highly knowledgeable keepers, during your time with them you will get an opportunity to feed one of our animals and hear all about their world.

Stop to take on board the delicious gems of knowledge imparted by our zoological team as you have refreshments served in our café.

Finally, alongside one of our specialist botanical team let them give you a special treat as they weave a thread of wonder through the interconnecting worlds of the plants and animals.

This is a perfectly immersive experience for the curious/inquisitive souls amongst you and a great place to take once in a lifetime photographs of your encounter

Our flora & fauna experience would start at 2.00pm (Sorry only available Monday to Friday)

Cinnamon the sloth

We do not run dedicated ‘sloth experiences’ because our sloth is free roaming and may not be accessible on your visit. Instead, we suggest you book one of our other experiences and if the sloth is accessible, we will include her as a priority. If she is not, then you will still have plenty to do and avoid a wasted trip!

More information

How do I book an experience?

The best way to book your experience is to contact us by email with the following information: Name of recipient, age of any children, duration of experience, preferred Rainforest Animal Experience, (Including the preferred options for the “Taster” session, preferred dates, daytime phone number for payment. Please also let us know of any severe nut allergies beforehand so that we can avoid animal feed containing nuts.

Note that weekend experiences fill up very quickly and normally need to be booked at least a couple of months in advance.

We will contact you to arrange payment over the phone by credit or debit card. Once your payment has been received, we will send an information letter confirming your booking and letting you know what to expect from your experience. A receipt will be provided on the day of your experience.

Please note that the bookings are managed by our team of animal keepers who are not office based, this means they are not able to check emails every day so there may sometimes be a delay before they respond.

Email experiences@livingrainforest.org

 

 

Can I choose animals for my deluxe animal experience?

Most of our animals are available for the deluxe animal experience, please let us know when you book if you’d like to tailor your experience to include particular animals and we will do our best to include them. See below for more information about what you can expect from your experience.

Please note, our free ranging animals are not always co-operative and it cannot be guaranteed that they will be visible when you visit. However, the keepers know their habits better than anyone and will do their best to find them when possible.

Note that we reserve the right to restrict access to any animal if we feel it is necessary on the grounds of health and safety. Animals may not be included in your experience if they are on medication, breeding, or showing signs of stress or aggression.

Green iguana

The green iguana is fed fruit and vegetables which she will usually take from tongs.

Armadillo

The armadillo is a very friendly bundle of energy and will often come up to investigate the interesting smells on your shoes. He is not aggressive when he does this but he is very strong with large claws and so is not very well suited to people who are a little nervous of animals. We cannot hand feed him as he is very clumsy with his mouth, so this involves placing food around the enclosure for him to find. He is fed on fruit and vegetables, and sometimes may also include live invertebrates or a dead mouse.

Aquarium

The stingray and turtles are trained to come to a feeding point at the side of the aquarium. They are fed using tongs. As the feed point is quite high up it is not suitable for the younger age groups and an accompanying adult is important to be present. We usually feed the aquarium inhabitants with fish or crustaceans, and occasionally live invertebrates as well.

Snakes

The snakes are fed a dead mouse, chick or similar item using tongs. You will offer the food to the snake in its enclosure and wait for it to strike and take it- this is very fast and will probably make you jump! Please note that as our snakes are only fed every other week, they may not be available for every experience and will be subject to the date you choose.

In the interests of animal welfare, we will no-longer be offering Goeldi’s monkey or Pygmy marmoset experiences as primates are susceptible to Covid 19. In addition we do not offer sloth experiences as we cannot guarantee Cinnamon will make an appearance during your visit. 

 

Do I need a Living Rainforest entry ticket as well?

No, all the Rainforest Animal Experiences include a free entry to the rainforest for the whole day, but any friends or relatives with you will need a ticket to enter the rainforest (excluding one free adult with the “Junior” Experience). Entrance to our shop and café are free to everyone.

 

What time does the experience begin?

All experiences take place in the afternoon and normally begin around 2pm. For the “Taster” sessions there are different times dependent on the animal chosen. In winter experiences may begin slightly earlier due to fewer hours of daylight.

Can I buy one as a gift?

Yes you can. Simply let us know the name and age (if under 14) of the recipient and when you book the Experience. We will send you a confirmation letter with the date left blank, the recipient can then contact us to arrange a date at their own convenience.

 

What is the age limit for the "junior" experience?

Children between 6 years and 14 years of age are eligible for the “junior” experiences. Please bear in mind that young children will be more limited in the activities they can participate in.

 

What’s the difference between a “junior” and “adult” experiences?

Every junior keeper experience includes one free accompanying adult place. The adult will be alongside the child (but not participating) throughout the experience.

 

Can I take photographs of the animals?

We highly recommend that you bring a camera with you on your experience, but please leave behind any expensive or bulky equipment such as tripods and lenses. Many animals do not like flash photography so make sure you know how to turn off this feature on your camera.

 

How many people can join the same Experience?

We recommend no more than two people at a time. This is due to the small size of many of our enclosures and because most of our animals are kept in small groups. If there are more than two people in your group then each person gets to do less and we feel your experience is not as enjoyable. Note that we cannot allow more than two participants in an enclosure at the same time.

 

Will I get to touch or hold the animals?

You will not be able to touch or hold any of our animals. None of our animals are treated like pets and we prefer for them to choose how much contact they have with us. Whilst some animals are happy to approach people and take food from the hand, others prefer to maintain some distance from strangers. We can promise that you will get closer than you are able to as a normal visitor and have the opportunity for some excellent photographs without glass or netting between you and the animals.

 

What happens if I'm ill on the day?

Please contact us as soon as possible so your visit can be rescheduled if necessary. Many illnesses are transferable from humans to animals so we cannot allow anyone into the enclosures if we feel they may put the animals at risk.

 

Request an animal experience

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      Taster ExperienceDeluxe Animal ExperienceRainforest Flora & Fauna Experience

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