Fun Family Days Out - Fota Wildlife Park

Fun Family Days Out

Fun Family Days Out

If you or your children have a favourite animal, Fota Wildlife Park is the perfect place to observe it in a habitat carefully designed to promote biodiversity and encourage natural behaviour.

We are proud to be working hard to conserve and protect hundreds of species of animal and plant life for the future, and we offer many educational experiences so that we can pass on this understanding to new generations.

Fota Conservation and Breeding Programmes

cheetah breeding
Fota Wildlife Park plays an important part in maintaining diverse and endangered species across the world, and our breeding programmes add an important dimension to our work. We work in conjunction with conservation zoos and safari parks across Europe to ensure that important animal species are protected, and you can find out more about this role when you talk to our expert rangers.

Spot The Film Stars

film stars fota
If your children love films about animals, they’ll enjoy finding the real animal versions of their favourite animations throughout the wildlife park at Fota. See if they can spot King Julien’s relatives from Madagascar on the Palm Walk, and look out for Marty and Melman’s cousins, who make their home on our African Savannah. If you are fans of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, you’ll find Aslan’s family and friends in our pride of Asiatic lions, and you can visit our very own Elvis in the Seal habitat, which is linked to Cork Harbour! This is the perfect location for our sea creatures as it makes the most of the estuarine environment and provides an ideal feeding ground. Our entertaining Humboldt penguins make their home here, too, and these super swimmers have proved to be one of our most popular animal species.

Planning Your Fun-Filled Family Day

fun filled family day
Children and adults alike will enjoy exploring Fota Wildlife Park aboard our Park Tour Train, and we have several locations around the park that are ideal for enjoying a picnic or an ice cream. Children of all ages will love to discover the many playgrounds around the Wildlife Park, and you can buy duck food so that they can feed our residents ducks! ! (Did you know that the money raised from this duck food goes to Madagascar Pochard Conservation Fund? The Madagascar pochard is so rare that it was once believed to be extinct.) We do ask, however, that you do not attempt to feed any of our other animals, as they have very specialised diets, and this could be very dangerous for them.You can take your time wandering through the Wildlife Park, visiting each sanctuary or habitat at your own pace. Discover the secrets of the Palm Walk and admire beautiful Fota Island as you learn more about the diverse and intriguing species that live here. Bring a picnic – with ample picnic table dotted throughout the Park, take advantage of some alfresco dining! Alternatively, there are takeaway options available throughout including at the Mu Cang Chai in Asia and at the family restaurant, the Oasis Café at the Lakeside.

What’s On Offer For Children At Fota Wildlife Park?

Here at Fota, we welcome families, and especially children, to enjoy the environment and find out more about the amazing range of wildlife we support. We love to encourage enthusiastic learners, and we will always take the time to talk with our young visitors about the work we do.

Fota Babies

Children love to find out about the baby animals we’ve welcomed to Fota Wildlife Park, and you can see many of them here. Conservation and breeding programmes are a central part of our work: we’ve welcomed more than 200 baby cheetah cubs since 1985, and you’ll fall in love with our baby gibbons and giraffes! You can meet our mothers and babies in their habitats throughout the park, and don’t forget that you can pick up a soft toy version of your favourite animal in the Serengeti Gift Shop before you leave

School Tours

Here at Fota Wildlife Park, we welcome School Tours throughout the year, and we offer programmes that cater for all age groups. We can design a day that introduces students to our animals and to our conservation and biodiversity programmes, and we pride ourselves on making learning fun! See our School Tours page for more information.

VIP Family Experience

Do you dream of giving your children a day out that they will never forget? Our VIP Family Experience is a unique way to visit Fota, with your own personal guide to take you on a fascinating VIP Tour. You can get behind the scenes, help with animal feeding and find out more about the animals we care for. This is a truly special day for families, and anyone over the age of four can take part. This experience is offered year-round for families of up to six people and includes an experience certificate. Find out more about our amazing VIP Family Experience here, and book your family in for a treat today!



Related Pages

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Thousands of animals have been born at Fota Wildlife Park over the years. Check out some of the cutest right here!

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Learning is always fun with our growing number of School Tours and Summer Camps that are organised throughout the year.

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