Trentham Monkey Forest Unveils Awesome New Primate Themed Play Area
From 26th June, visitors at Trentham Monkey Forest can now come and release their inner primate in a new, interactive, monkey themed play area at the park.
Situated in an ancient Staffordshire Forest, the park is the perfect day out for all ages. Monkey Forest is home to 140 free-ranging Barbary macaques. Visitors can walk amongst the monkeys along the 3/4 of a mile pathway and be AMAZED as the endangered Barbary macaques live as they would in the wild.
With the new play area now open, the experience can now be extended outside of the monkey enclosure, providing littler guests with even more activities to do at the park.
The exciting space has been designed for children to explore and replicate various primate behaviour. Proving fun and educational.
Monkey Forest are committed to educating their guests on the endangered status of their resident Barbary macaques, so saw the new play area as a great opportunity to educate guests further on various primate behaviours.
The first part of the adventure is the Monkey Bars. The ‘Monkey Bars’ have been designed to replicate the movements of the Gibbon that use their arms to swing from branch to branch.
Jumping from ‘tree-to-tree’ using the platforms, guests can then have a relax in the ‘Chimpanzee Nest’, The Great Apes build nests high above the forest floor for safe sleeping, so try not to fall asleep for too long!
Visitors can then move onto the ‘Pole Forest’, shadowing the movements of the Sifaka Lemur, that moves with ease through pole-like-trees lined with spikes, can you move through the stump forest like a Sifaka?
Next up is the testing Balance Beams, Spider Monkeys use their long tail to help balance whilst living in the trees. The primate can even use its tail to grab hold of branches. We do not have tails, so this proves the ultimate challenge for guests!
Wanna-bee Baboons can tackle the challenging ‘Climbing Wall’. Living in the mountains of Ethiopia, the impressive Gelada Baboon can move quickly across cliff faces to escape predators. Can you move like a Gelada on the climbing wall?
One of the main features is the impressive ‘Look-out Tower’. Some primates help others in their group using an alarm call, prompting guests to climb up and be on the lookout for their human-primate playmates.
Between activities, children can communicate with each other using ‘Speaking Stumps’, mimicking the behaviour of a Howler Monkey, the loudest primate on earth. Males bellow loudly to communicate to others and protect their territory.
Monkey Forest plan to develop the play area further, adding QR codes and brass rubbings, so that young visitors can learn about the primates they can imitate while they play.
Book your tickets to see the new play area here >