What’s on this Father’s Day at the zoo?
From food and drinks, to learning and exploring, there’s loads to discover this Father’s Day. Book your tickets today and make memories that’ll last long after you leave.
Conservation starts with a gift…
Looking for a Father’s Day gift with extra special meaning? All of these gift ideas support our vital conservation work.
Plan the perfect Father’s Day at the zoo
Enjoy a relaxed and memorable day with dad while discovering fascinating animals, taking scenic walks and enjoying tasty treats.
Not sure where to start? We’ve made a rough plan to get you started. Scroll down to find out more. Or download our free app where you can search for your favourite animals, check animal talks and plan your own route.
9:30am – Grab a Bembe breakfast
The zoo doesn’t open until 10am, but Bembe Grill (the food outlet right beside the main entrance gates) serves coffee and breakfast from 9:30am. Why not start your day early with a hearty cooked breakfast, American-style pancakes or barista-style drinks before starting your adventure?
Explore Heart of Africa
Turn right after the main entrance gates into Heart of Africa. Visit a range of animals from meerkats and bat-eared foxes to warthog and African wild dogs. Continue on to the mixed savannah, home to giraffes, zebras and ostriches, as you make your way through the orange zone.
As well as a sheltered seating area looking out onto the mixed savannah, you’ll find the Hidden Savannah, an indoor habitat that’s home to a swarm of desert locusts, naked mole rats, dung beetles, reptiles and amphibians.
12pm – Visit the new baby aardvark
Womble the baby aardvark arrived just a few weeks ago and, as the second aardvark to have been born here since the zoo was founded in 1931, this is a really special arrival for Chester Zoo.
With only 68 aardvarks in European zoos – and just 114 worldwide – we’re one of just a few organisations caring for the species, which faces threats from habitat loss due to agricultural development, bringing them into conflict with local farmers.
You’ll find Womble in Heart of Africa. Follow the sign outside the Hidden Savannah entrance, past the pangolin statue. If you’re not sure whether you’re heading in the right direction, just ask a staff member or check the Chester Zoo app.
1pm – Father’s Day meal at The Oakfield
Take a break from exploring the zoo and spoil dad with a delicious Father’s Day meal at The Oakfield. Here you’ll find a mouth-watering selection of traditional Sunday roasts as well as starters, light bites and plant-based dishes.
Meals at The Oakfield are made with homegrown and locally sourced ingredients wherever possible, in fact, our kitchen garden inspires our seasonal menu. And because it’s a special occasion, we’re offering dads a free pint of Cheshire lager with their meal. Enjoy!
Visit some of the dads at the zoo
Giant otters
Manu the giant otter welcomed three pups in February. Once they were old enough, he started giving them swimming lessons, dunking them into the water and staying close by to make sure that they were safe.
Humboldt penguins
Humboldt penguins work together to keep their egg warm, feeding and protecting the chick when it hatches. Scampi and Flounder are a pair of dads at the zoo who stepped in to raise an egg laid by another penguin pair.
Wrinkled hornbills
It's nesting season for Tropical Realm’s hornbills. Females seal themselves into a hole with their eggs, with just enough space for a beak to poke out. Dad then flies back and forth passing food for her and their chicks.
2:40pm – Learn something new
At 2.40pm in the Dragons in Danger habitat is the Komodo dragon Ranger talk. Learn something new today and find out how these solitary animals find a mate and why the world’s largest lizards spend their first few years of life in trees. Plus the chance to ask your own Komodo dragon questions.
There are more Ranger talks happening throughout the day, beside the elephant, rhino, giant otter, penguin and piranha habitats. Tap the button below or visit the Chester Zoo app for the animal talk schedule.
3.30pm – Visit our gardens
You can probably guess there’s a whole team responsible for looking after the many zoological gardens here at Chester Zoo. You might even know we care for more than 1,500 orchids and 2,000 carnivorous plants. But did you know we recently became the first UK zoo to gain international botanic garden status.
If you’re planning a visit with a plant-loving dad this Father’s Day, why not take a stroll through our Sunken Garden tucked away near the giant otter habitat. This peaceful space is almost hidden away from the rest of the zoo, making you feel like you’ve stumbled into your own secret garden.
Or visit the Plant Project near June’s Food Court, a colourful haven full of exotic plants and flowers, some endangered in the wild.
