The Bedford Estates, LondonWoburn Safari Park has welcomed new faces, opened new enclosures and seen an abundance of babies born over the past 12 months.
Here are just a few of Woburn Safari Park's highlights from the past year:
JANUARY
The year got off to a good start with a friendly herd of alpacas moving into the Park. Led by breeding male Amoro, the herd were a little shy at first but have since become a hit amongst visitors to the Park, who can now visit them via the Great Woburn Railway and alight to hand feed them at intervals throughout the day.
FEBRUARY
The first births of the year took place over at Farmyard Friends in the Foot Safari as twin goat kids, Frankie and Andy, were born to Anglo-nubian goat Morgan.
MARCH
March saw the first new arrivals over in the Reserves as a trio of eland antelope calves, named Tizer, Tattoo and Tyson, were born in the Savannah Reserves in the Road Safari.
APRIL
A new male eastern mountain bongo named Bowie moved to the Park as part of the European Endangered Species Programme from Belgium.
MAY
May brought along a first for Woburn Safari Park as Alpaca Outpost welcomed a baby alpaca (known as a cria) which turned out to be the first of many for the herd throughout the year. Born to female alpaca Lacquer, the youngster was named Taco.
Adorable one year old male red panda, Sanka was welcomed into his new home in Himalayan Heights, in the Foot Safari by Mali, Woburn's resident female.
Listed as ‘endangered’ by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), only around 2,500 of this beautiful species is left in the wild as their survival remains under threat, so keepers hope that Mali and Sanka will be able to help expand the red panda family in the future.
JUNE
The Reserves team welcomed the first Ankole cattle calf to be born in around 30 years at the Park, to mother Daisy and father Norbert.
A pair of tiny porcupettes were born also born in May to African crested porcupines Noko and Chewy. Despite being the largest species of porcupine, the babies weighed a tiny 100 grams when they were born – that’s about the same weight as an average lemon!
JULY
For the carnivore keepers, the mane event of the year was when African lioness Zuri gave birth to two male lion cubs, on the hottest day of 2019.
AUGUST
August was a busy month at Alpaca Outpost as the herd continued to expand with the birth of two more alpacas.
Meanwhile the Reserves team had an equally as busy month with the births of three Scimitar oryx calves arriving in short succession.
And the Foot Safari had its own exciting announcement, as the brand new and improved Land of Lemurs officially opened. Specially designed by the keepers to provide the lemurs with the very best care, the new and improved Land of Lemurs is more spacious and offers visitors an immersive walk-through experience.
SEPTEMBER
Adorable Asian elephant calf, Tarli, celebrated her 5th birthday with a specially made bran cake, which she was quick to investigate and tuck into.
OCTOBER
Visitor Cassandra Findley was in for the ultimate surprise when she visited the Park in October. Cassandra's Fiance Joel Warren asked the giraffe keepers and the herd to help him propose in the giraffe house, as part of a VIP Experience.
Led by the Head of Reserves, Sonia Freeman, Cassandra and her partner Joel Warren were taken behind-the-scenes into the Giraffe House where Joel got down on one knee to propose as the giraffes looked on.
NOVEMBER
Weighing in at less than 125 grams at birth, an adorable squirrel monkey was born in the Foot Safari.
DECEMBER
The curious lion cubs ventured out into their home in the 32-acre Lion Park reserve on the Road Safari for the first time, under the protective eye of mum Zuri. They were slowly introduced to the rest of the pride and have since been settling in well with the other adult females.
Thank you from everyone at Woburn Safari Park for your support over 2019, we look forward to welcoming you for lots more exciting adventures in 2020.
Book your tickets online for one of the best days out in Bedfordshire, and spot the amazing animals for yourself.