Blair Drummond Safari Park

Blair Drummond Safari Park

Date opened	1970
Location	Blair Drummond, Stirling, Scotland
Land area	120 acres (49 ha)
Coordinates	56.165°N 4.038°W / 56.165; -4.038
Number of animals	300
Memberships	BIAZA, EAZA
Owner	Jamie Muir
Website	www.blairdrummond.com

Blair Drummond Safari Park is Scotland's only African Safari Park. Located near Stirling the park is one of the major attractions of the area. The safari park is overlooked by Blair Drummond House, built in 1868–1872 by J. C. Walker, and is spread over 120 acres (49 ha).

The park has drive-through reserves, a boat safari, with the remainder being accessible by foot. There is little chance of vehicles being damaged as the reserves no longer contain monkeys, and for those without their own transportation, there is a free safari bus available.

There are a range of wild and exotic animal species to visit at the park, including African elephants, African lions, tigers, chimpanzees, rhinoceroses, brown bear, giraffes, lemurs penguins, sea lions, otters and a number of birds of prey. The park is open to the public from late March until early November.

History

Blair Drummond Safari Park is one of the original three safari parks to open in the UK along with Woburn and Longleat. Animals were originally brought over from Africa to stay in the park, which opened to visitors in 1970.

The park opened on the grounds of Blair Drummond house, purchased by a Glasgow tea merchant named Sir John Kay in 1916. Since he had no sons, Sir John Kay passed the property to his nephew Sir John Muir, the father of the present owner, Jamie Muir. The house was a family home until it was sold to the Camphill Movement, a charity that cares for people with special needs, in 1977.

The original family home, built in 1715, was sited in what is now the giraffe enclosure. The current Blair Drummond House was entirely rebuilt in a new location in 1868–1872 by James Campbell Walker, and again in 1921–1923 by James Bow Dunn after a fire.

The park today covers 120 acres (49 ha), houses exotic and endangered animals species, and is involved in several captive breeding and research programs for endangered species.

Driving through the lion reserves

The Reserves

Visitors to the park can view a number of animals as they drive through the reserves section. Here, a number of animals can be seen roaming and grazing and often co-existing peacefully with other species. The animals that can be seen in the reserves include:

• Père David's Deer
• Southern White Rhino
• Ankole-Watusi Cattle
• Common rhea
• Dromedary Camel
• Kafue Lechwe
• Sika Deer
• African Lions
• Amur Tiger
• Bactrian Camel
• Ostrich
• Fallow Deer
• North American Bison

The Park

The park has many attractions, including a host of animals to be viewed on foot and by boat, a kids' adventure area, bird of prey and sea-lion displays, pedal-boats, rides and amusements. The following are included in the standard ticket price:

Ring-tailed lemur relaxing at Lemur Land

Lemur Land

Lemur Land is reached by bridge next to the Boat Safari, and is a sanctuary for ring-tailed lemurs, brown lemurs, and red-ruffed lemurs. Visitors walk through this area and the lemurs roam free, with tall bushy trees and a network of thick ropes for them to play on. Several feed tables around the walkway let visitors get close to the lemurs, but visitors can also watch the lemurs living and playing in their natural habitat.

Visitors' view of Chimp Island from the boat safari

Chimp Island

A short boat trip along-side Lemur Land and round the bend takes visitors to view Chimp Island - an island home to three chimpanzees. Here the visitors are taken round the island on a boat by an experienced guide, who gives information on the chimps as they survey the boatloads of people.

African Elephants

The park is home to three female African elephants. These spend their day foraging around their enclosure and using the various pieces of enrichment provided for them by their keepers. On some days, if the elephants are willing, the keepers will engage the elephants in a demonstration of how they care for the elephants at the park. Here the visitors can get up close as the elephants present their feet, mouth, ears and tail to the keepers for inspection and cleaning.

Sea Lion Show

Four times a day the visitors can enter the sea-lion house, where they can see one of the sea-lion keepers working with the four California sea lions at the park. Here the visitors can experience the intelligence and physical abilities of these animals as they leap, clap and play with their keepers.

Snatch, the sea eagle, taking a lure from the loch

Bird of Prey Displays

Three times a day the visitors can see some of the abilities of the birds of prey that reside at the park. Here the birds are flown by the park's experienced falconers, who explain and demonstrate the birds' capabilities as they swoop over the large loch. Often the park's white-tailed sea-eagle can be seen snatching a lure from the loch. Birds here include the harrier hawk, eagle owl, buzzard, Rüppell's Griffon vulture, saker falcon, kestrel and barn owl.

Kids feeding a llama at Pets' Farm

Pets' Farm

This area of the park homes many exotic and domesticated species of animals. Feed can be purchased here and some of the animals can be fed by the visitors as they make their way round. Animals in this area include parma wallaby, red-necked wallaby, pygmy goats, ponies, clydesdales, donkeys, llamas, somali sheep, guinea pigs, guinea fowl, pot-bellied pigs, meerkats, humboldt penguin, oriental small-clawed otter and free-roaming marmosets.

Viewing Platforms

Viewing platforms are positioned throughout the park, which allow visitors to view into some of the enclosures from an elevated position. They are located at the giraffe/zebra enclosure, the lion reserve and the tiger reserve.

Other activities

Rides and Amusements

The park has a variety of activities for kids and adults. There is a large astraglide slide and adventure playground, where visitors will find a pirate ship and climbing maze with slides, all housed within a sand arena. There are also pedal boats (the 'splash cats') positioned underneath a large flying-fox.

Visitors can purchase tokens for some of the other rides and attractions including dodgems, kids' dragon rollercoaster, bouncy castle and a carousel. Facepainting is also available for visitors of all ages.

Eating at the Park

Restaurants, grills and snack outlets are found throughout the park, and a variety of food is offered, from baked potatoes to hot dogs and donuts, and can be eaten indoors or outside.

Barbecues and picnic tables are available for visitors who bring their own food.

Education

Throughout the day, the education team make their way round some of the enclosures, giving talks on some of the animals at the park. The talks include information about the natural environments, behaviours and biology of the animals, as well as specific information on the individuals at the park. Some of the talks include a feeding and so provide a good opportunity to see the animals active if they are having a lazy day.

In addition, the zoo has both animal related and education related volunteer programs. Animal volunteers help with the daily tasks of the zoo, including mucking out and cleaning of animal enclosures, feed preparation, and implementing enrichment for animals. Education volunteers help with daily education of visitors, including working at the touch tables, talking with visitors, helping with education talks for schools, and helping organize and plan events and fundraising.

"Keeper for the Day" and "Junior Keeper for the Day" are paid packages let people to work hands-on with a number of the animals at the park along with their keepers.

Conservation

Blair Drummond Safari Park has been a member of British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) since 2004. Being a member of this organisation lets the park participate in coordinated breeding programmes with other zoos in the United Kingdom and Ireland for endangered animals. They also recognise all the research carried out at the park and the conservation work the park supports abroad.

Alba with mother, Mitzi

Breeding successes at the park

The most recent success story at the park was the birth of 'Alba', a bactrian camel. Bactrian camels are native to the steppes regions in Eastern Asia and are listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN.

Other animals that have successfully bred in the park include:

• Lions
• Giraffes
• Zebra
• Pere David's Deer
• Lemurs
• Southern white rhinos
• Marmosets
• Llamas
• Lechwe
• Chimpanzees
• Fallow Deer
• Ostriches

In February 2010 staff at the park where alerted to one of their rhinos giving birth by a woman in Cyprus who was watching the rhino enclosure on the park's webcam.

Annual Conservation Campaigns

As a modern safari park, Blair Drummond accepts the importance of educating and raising the awareness of visitors to the plight of endangered species, and one way in which this is addressed is through conservation campaigns. Annually Blair Drummond contributes to conservation campaign run by European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and in recent years have won awards for their involvement towards the cause. Blair Drummond has participated in the following EAZA campaigns:

• EAZA Tiger Campaign 2002/04
• EAZA Shellshock Campaign 2004/05
• EAZA Save the Rhino Campaign 2005/06
• EAZA Madagascar Campaign 2006/07
• EAZA European Carnivore Campaign 2008/09

In addition to contributing towards EAZA campaigns and fund-raising events, Blair Drummond donates money towards other conservation campaigns. One of these is Friends of the Mau Watershed (FOMAWA) in Kenya, to which Blair Drummond donates £5,000 annually. The project aims to protect the forests of Kenya, the wildlife found there, the surrounding environment and the people, through in situ conservation.

In 2008, the park hosted their own conservation campaign, SOS: Save Our Squirrels, to raise awareness of the plight of the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in Britain. The funds raised during this campaign were used help the red squirrel population living in the park.

Animal Adoption

Animal adoption packs are available at a range of levels. The adopter can contribute to the welfare of their chosen animal at the safari park and have their name displayed on an adopters’ plaque next to their animal’s enclosure.

External links

• Official website
• www.biaza.org.uk