| Home:Wildwood:January 8th 2005 - Wildwood Trust | January 8th 2005 - Wildwood Trust |
A very wet and windy start when we set off on the 100 miles to Wildwood from Bracknell. In fact the wind had been so bad the night before we did wonder if we should still go. I had done a weather check with Darren though and he assured me it would clear up mid morning and as ever his forcast was pretty good.
By the time we arrived just after noon the wind had died down and it was a reasonably nice day.
We made good time with the accidents on the M3 being on the opposite carriageway and the M25 being unusually free flowing.
Wildwood has over 300 animals (I believe) although quite a few are in hibernation for the winter - Snakes, lizards and frogs are not too keen on the cold.
Just as I was about to leave the wolf area - after having been there for a fair amount of time (about an hour) - I spotted someone bringing across a wheelbarrow of food. I went and said "Hi" and she was kind enough to allow me to accompany her down the back track to go and put the food into the wolf enclosures.
This was a great chance for me to get a little closer to the two sisters as I could go right up to the fence and they were less than an inch away from me. I held my fist close to the fence as I would with the UKWCT wolves and they took a good sniff and tried to lick at my hand too - a good introduction?
I chatted with the keeper (which is where I gleaned the information about the relocation and potential improvements) for a while whilst she wheeled in the food and let the pack in to get it.
Wildwood is a great place, not just for the wolves, but also for all the other British wildlife that they have there. It was a very informative day - there is good information around the park and they also have a fantastic 100+ page guidebook (available as a PDF).