MEETING THE MEERKATS!

Myself and my boyfriend recently enjoyed a wonderful experience of meeting meerkats!  

The experience took place with Will's Wild Animal Encounters at the Hoo Farm in Telford where we had a full hour to interact with both the wild and hand-reared meerkats. The first half an hour was spent with the 5 wild meerkats where we got to feed them. As these weren't as human-friendly, we were advised not to pet them but they were still interactive jumping up onto our laps and running around our feet (maybe just because of the fact we had food).

One of the wild meerkats only had three legs but he was the cutest and kept up with the others. I admit, I did give him a little more food than the others as I felt sorry for him.

Throughout the whole experience, the meerkat handler was amazing; she gave us so many facts about them and made the experience really interesting. We learnt about how they behave in the wild, how the female meerkats are more dominant and that they are very territorial animals (and so much more).

The next half an hour was spent with the two hand-reared meerkats. We got to hold them, pet them and they loved the warmth of my coat. One of them ended up inside the jumper of another woman on the experience - I think they liked the warmer places. The one in the picture to the left especially liked a tickle under his chin.

It was such a lovely experience and I enjoyed it 10x times more than I had expected beforehand! I wouldn't hesitate to do it again and I really recommend it to anyone interested in animals (I also think it would make a really lovely present!).

The farm itself was also such a lovely, intimate place with so many lovely animals! From donkeys to cockatoos to otters (and I saw my first real-life warthog!). It didn't feel at all like a zoo where the animals were just there for display; there was a much more warm and comfortable atmosphere where the animals were obviously very well cared-for and loved.

 

If you are at all interested in visiting the farm, the meerkat experience or any of the other experiences they do (animal keeper experience / lemur experience / reptile experience and so many more!) please click on the links provided in this blog post, I can't praise the farm, the staff and the whole experience enough.

Thank you for reading, as always!

Holly Amber x