Meerkat Encounter for Two

Animal Experience in Stretham

Tzarina from Marketing

What did you get up to?
My Auntie and I visited the Animal Experience in Stretham, where we met the most adorable family of meerkats; all with names inspired by Toy Story - Jessie, Woody, Slinky & Rex!
Once inside the meerkat enclosure, it wasn't very long before the meerkats started jumping up onto our laps. They loved being stroked and one meerkat even wanted to have their belly rubbed! We also got to feed them and whilst meerkats may be small, their characters exceed their size!
Mitch (experience provider) was very knowledgeable, and it was interesting to find out more about these adorable animals.
After our meerkat encounter, we were taken around the rest of the zoo. We saw baby sugar gliders, a snowy owl just like Harry Potter's Hedwig, chinchillas, chameleons, pythons, tarantulas (not my personal favourite) and more! We both got to hold a lizard too!

What did you enjoy the most?
Feeding the meerkats was my favourite part; when Mitch said they don't like to share their food he wasn't joking! It was fascinating to see how meerkats compete for food and hearing them communicate using different voices.
Sharing this experience with my Auntie was another highlight - she's always been a massive animal-lover; she loved the meerkats so much she wanted to take one home with her, especially the meerkat who wanted a belly rub!
Also, holding a lizard felt very surreal as I've never been completely fearless around animals, but it felt amazing to step outside of my comfort zone!

The Animal Experience (Stretham, Cambridgeshire)

Verity from National Accounts

Visiting the meerkats was great. We got to sit in the enclosure with them while we fed them and played with them. I was amazed at how friendly they were! I was also surprised at how spacious and clean the enclosure was. There's plenty of things in there to entertain them and keep them happy and active. The staff were also really friendly, helpful and gave as plenty of background information about each meerkat. After a while of chilling with them all their unique, playful personalities came through! When our time in the meerkat enclosure was over, we were able to hold other reptiles, including a snake.

Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World, Telford

Melissa from our Customer Testing Panel

What did the experience entail?
We eagerly arrived at the zoo reception explaining we were there to meet the meerkats. The friendly staff gave us our wristbands and said we had to meet at the action barn 10 minutes before the allocated time. We were greeted by our meerkat expert Jody, who gave us a safety briefing and explained that the first half of the experience would be with the indoor Meerkats and the second half of the experience was in the outside enclosure. Even though the weather was changeable, there was a shelter to sit under outside so when it rained, it wasn't a problem, and it didn't spoil the experience at all. In fact, the Meerkats wanted to sit on our laps even more so that they could get our body heat! We were given latex gloves and in we went, sitting on large pieces of tree trunks in and amongst the animals. Jody talked to us about where they are from and shared all sorts of interesting facts about how they live in the wild. At regular intervals Jody gave us fruit and veg to feed the Meerkats, which they seemed to love. They jumped all over us and they seemed to know when it was time for mealworms. These were a firm favourite and even though Stumpy only has 3 legs, he still managed to push some of the others out of the way to get his food. All of the meerkats had names, although so many, I can't recall them all. Steve was a very photogenic meerkat and I'm convinced he posed and smiled for the camera! When we moved to the outside enclosure, it was more of the same but with different Meerkats, there were a few much smaller younger ones in this pack which was really cute as they could only just climb on to our laps. Such cheeky and inquisitive animals at one point we counted 6 sat on my husband's knee, including Itchy and scratchy both were adorable. He must have had warm legs! Basil tried to open my zip pockets which made me giggle a lot. To see them move so fast when the food came out for them was incredibly entertaining. A truly delightful experience. We were welcome to stay at the zoo as long as we wanted after the experience. This seemed fantastic value as the price of admission was included with the experience, so it felt crazy not to. In addition to the Meerkats there were many other animals at the zoo, including a fabulous Lemur enclosure that you could walk through, wolves, foxes and Ostriches and Llamas to name a few. A great opportunity to learn about all the exotic animals that they look after. For the younger generation there was plenty to do and see including a Dinosaur Woodland walk encounter so a great day out for the entire family. The zoo had great facilities and refreshments, so we enjoyed having lunch there. A day I will remember always. Meeting the Meerkats was by far the highlight of the day and a wonderful memory I will treasure forever.

What did you enjoy the most? Having the Meerkats sat on my lap was incredible, they make the cutest little squeaky noise, and they enjoy a cuddle but watch out! They move fast and go crazy when the mealworms are given out. They are so tame and even though they have long fingernails, they don't hurt or scratch, they use these more for digging. Learning all the facts about them was brilliant. Such as did you know, the reason they stand on their back legs is not because they are inquisitive, it's because they want to warm their tummies in the sunlight. Just like me on my summer holidays!