Some days out need planning. This one just needed coats, hats and a full tank. Drusillas Park sits just outside Alfriston in East Sussex, and it’s the kind of zoo that’s built for small people: everything is close together, low down and easy to see. We were through the doors just after ten and didn’t stop until about quarter to three.
A morning with the animals
We did the animals first while everyone still had their listening ears in. Otters, a mongoose, a rock hyrax, a marmoset with a very questionable haircut, a gibbon deep in thought, and the meerkats, who were exactly as nosey as you want meerkats to be. The serval was asleep in the sun. Fair enough.
Penguins and pink
The penguin pool was the big one for the boys. Bright turquoise water, low sun, and penguins zipping past the glass close enough to touch, if the glass wasn’t there. Then round the corner to the flamingos, standing about on one leg like they owned the place.
Dinosaurs and a red panda
Jurassic Jungle had a triceratops staring down the boys over the fence, and the red panda had found the top of a tree and curled into a ball. We waited. It did not move. Then the lemurs, sitting up and sunbathing like they were on holiday.
All aboard
After lunch it was rides. The Safari Express train, the Jungle Jeeps, the Flying Cheetahs, a digger you can actually drive, and the Rainforest Carousel. Plus every photo opportunity going: a giant meerkat, a giraffe, the jaws of a crocodile and a pair of dinosaur eggs.
A hundred years of Drusillas
Drusillas turned 100 last year, and the big 1925–2025 sign is still up by the exit, with holes to stick your face through. So that’s how we finished: two faces in the zeros, one last photo board, and two very tired boys in the back of the car.
