WIN family tickets to West Midland Safari Park

THE Stratford-upon-Avon Herald has teamed up with West Midland Safari Park at Bewdley to offer readers the chance to win one of three family tickets - worth £78 each.

These great prizes include admission for two adults and two children, who can enjoy a drive-through safari, Elephant Valley, the Land of the Living Dinosaurs, Meerkat Mayhem and much more, including animal encounters, feeding time and special talks.

This year the Park’s Summer Nights season has been extended to cover the whole of the school summer holidays, and will run up until Sunday, 4th September.

This means opening hours of the park and rides are increased to run from 9am to 9pm, giving the animals more time to explore, meet the public and play outdoors.

This is good news for the three playful African elephants who live in Elephant Valley at the Park; 24-year-old Five, 23-year-old Latabe and two-year-old bundle of fun Sutton.

Elephants are well known for their love of water and in the wild, they are always on the move searching for it.

Luckily this is not a problem for the park’s residents, who have constant access to water, including an elephant-sized paddling pool, just on their doorstep.

The head keeper of elephants, Andy Plumb, said: “Like any toddler, Sutton loves to play, especially when it involves mum.

“Elephant calves are extremely playful and with Sutton being the only baby at the moment, naturally his favourite playmate is mum.

“Although, when it comes to water, Aunt Latabe takes on the babysitting duties, as she loves nothing better than a good bath. “On warmer days, we often see all three elephants head over to the main pool and Latabe is usually the first one in, closely followed by Sutton.

“They splash around, throw water on to themselves and use their trunks to suck and blow out the water, which always looks spectacular.

“Hopefully, some of our guests will get to witness this for themselves over the longer summer period.” Summer Nights activities are included in the park’s standard admission charge of £22 for adults, £17 for children aged three to 15 and £20 for concessions.

To be in with a chance of winning, pick up a copy of the Herald of the 11th August, 2016, and answer the question on page 2.

Further information about all the attractions at the West Midland Safari Park is available from its website at www.wmsp.co.uk or by calling 01299 402114. You can find out more animal news on the Safari Park’s official Facebook page at www.wmsp.co.uk/facebook