Visiting Fota Wildlife Park In September | Guide Of Cork ♥

Every September we visit Fota Wildlife Park as a family, just the three of us. We don't plan it this way, it just always seems to be September by the time we choose to go. I think it works out better this way though as the park is far quieter and we get to walk around on our own without throngs of people beside us. Plus, we still get the lovely sunny day to enjoy the park as the last remnants of summer fade away...

Now that Tyler Lee is a year older, he was decidedly more excited about the prospect of seeing the animals. He paid far more attention to them this time around and we decided not to bring his buggy, knowing that he's outgrown it now and prefers to walk run away from us... but we were pleasantly surprised when he walked alongside us all the way around the park, going up on Jacek's shoulders when he got tired. It's amazing to see just how grown up he's become since last September, a time when he ran all around the park, tried to jump into the duck pond and roared his way around in parts when he didn't get his own way. This visit was a dream and I'm so glad Jacek decided to bring us.

The park has grown considerably in size since last year thanks to the new Asian Sanctuary, which is a lovely new addition to the park. I've been visiting Fota since I was a baby myself - there's a lovely picture of one year old me somewhere with the giraffes in the background which I must dig out... and not much has changed within that time so the Asian Sanctuary and the new animals it has brought to the park is a very welcome addition, especially for old-timers like myself!

It was great to see Tyler Lee paying such attention to the animals. In the above picture he was sitting down watching the bison as they were feeding. He's such an animal lover and it's lovely to see. In the Asian Sanctuary we captured our first glimpse of Jamil the Indian Rhino. I had never seen a rhino before so this was a real treat - I can't say I didn't think of that scene from Ace Ventura Pet Detective when I saw him, big thumbs up to you if you know what I'm on about!

The lions were being typically cat-like and were sleeping in the sunshine. When we sat down at a picnic table - having been instructed to do so by the toddler, we spotted a robin in a nearby tree. This was such a hard picture to capture because of all the branches. I love Fota Island, not only do you see exotic wildlife but you capture glimpses of some Irish wildlife and birds too - love it.

Our next port of call was the tropical house which houses all the reptiles, fish and some beautiful giant butterflies. I'm surprised we didn't all lose a few pounds after our visit inside there because it was so humid and sweltering hot - I was actually sweating! These pictures of the butterflies were so hard to capture due to the humidity steaming up the camera lens but I'm pretty happy with how the turned out, especially the second one, so much detail on those stunning wings.

 I joked that these guys were Jacek and Tyler Lee - I can see a real likeness! How adorable is the white one? Tyler Lee was very interested in these guys - "monkey!" he cried out, he loves monkeys and although these are part of the monkey family I can't for the life of me remember what they're called...

The little penguins and the flamingos have always been some of my favourites. I loved how the penguins looked together on the rock surrounded by the daisies, very sweet.

Who needs a barrage of animals and playgrounds when you can climb and sit on wooden stumps? I think these stumps may have been Tyler Lee's favourite part of the trip to Fota... but we really don't want to admit that to ourselves...toddlers, that is all.

One of the best things about visiting Fota Wildlife Park in September is that you can get a feel of what the park is like in summer but also see it transitioning into autumn. The trees with the bright red leaves were just gorgeous, especially with the sun breaking through them.

We spotted more 'monkeys' for Tyler Lee to take glee upon. There seemed to be a distinct lack of monkeys on this visit though. Usually they're swinging about on the structures on their islands but even Jacek was sad to not see that many of them, maybe they were asleep?! On our last stretch of the park we spotted the oryx, an animal which I've not heard much of before but I love this shot that Jacek captured of them.

Our last animal sighting for the day - due to it starting to lash rain - was the giraffe family and two headed giraffe... I jest, I jest... I'm loving these artsy shots that Jacek captured of them. The giraffes are always my favourite attraction when we visit Fota. Some of my favourite photos ever were taken in front of them.

We thoroughly enjoyed our annual family visit to Fota Wildlife Park. I'm pretty sure it's something we'll do every September and it's great to see Tyler Lee loving the animals and the park itself more and more with each visit. What I will state though is that it made for quite an expensive day out for the three of us. It's €15 per adult and €9.50 per child, although Tyler Lee was free. That's €30 for our visit there and next year it'll be past the €40 mark by the time we pay for parking (which is €3) and food. That's just something to keep in mind if you are visiting but it really is such a lovely family day out. The money goes to the conservation of the park too so basically you're giving money to charity in exchange for seeing the animals and enjoying the park.

You can find more information about the park on the Fota Wildlife Park website and follow their updates on their Facebook page.

You can also read about our first visit as a family to Fota Wildlife Park here.

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