Wildlife Reserve - What animals did you see?

[ConvincedHubbytoCruise]

Hello,

Just wondering what kind of animals people saw at the Wildlife Reserve? I booked a tour to see this and I hope it won't be a disappointment.

 

One poster mentioned this: "cute little deer and things called Maro's which are like a giant rabbit/deer cross"... Has anyone else seen animals like this?? I am excited to see these!

 

ONLY 2 MORE WEEKS TO SERENADE OF THE SEAS!!! :cool:

[winniesbestm8]

Did you book this through your ship or independantly as we want to go there too, but we were going get a taxi straight there when we arrive.

[ConvincedHubbytoCruise]

Did you book this through your ship or independantly as we want to go there too, but we were going get a taxi straight there when we arrive.

 

We are going thru the ship, only because i don't want to miss the "feeding time" when they supposedly come out where you can see them. Most posters say the feeding time is 2pm, but in the cruiseline brochure it says that sometimes it is in the morning, I think.

 

I'm also thinking that I'll do a swim with the turtles in the morning...

[SqueakyDust]

Hope you're not already away!

 

We were there in December 2005. It's a great place where you could spend a long time, especially if you go over to the forest part where the monkeys live. Here is an extract from my review on the reserve, and a picture of a Maro. We hired a car.

 

We found the Reserve easily and as we parked at the back we went to what turned out to be the Grenada Hall and Rainforest part first. We paid here – US$40 for 2 adults & 2 children. We got our change in Barbadian dollars and were asked if we had smaller notes, than the $50 note we initially offered. We walked up to the Hall and had a quick look around. There are great views of the East Coast from the top windows. Sadly we didn’t take in the History as the call of nature promptly brought us back to the Reserve! The kids just loved this and we could easily have spent a whole day here if we'd been staying on Barbados. There were loads of Tortoises (some trying to make more too which was fun explaining to the kids!), cute little deer and things called Maro's which are like a giant rabbit/deer cross.

We even saw a baby one trying to hide, which was gorgeous. In another section there is a huge snake, which had killed it's mate!, loads of Iguana, Flamingoes, tropical Birds, Pelican, Alligators, a walk through Aviary... But NO monkeys! We met Spike who lives in his own cage. We were wondering if this was because he was naughty, as he was very noisy. However, one of the staff came over, let him out and explained that he was there for his own protection. Because he could do tricks and speak the other Parrots in the large aviary attacked him (except for his parents). He did some tricks for us and says “Hello” in a very posh English accent! There is a restaurant and a small shop selling refreshments. They had T shirts, which weren’t very prominent. I wish I’d bought some as I never saw them anywhere else. Afterwards we set back off to the rainforest bit and were told that there had been Monkey sightings that day. It is a very long and undulating walk, which is rather steep in places. Wear good shoes as it's slippy even when it's dry! We heard lots of noises but never even saw a monkey tail :( Purely down to luck. Another family did see one but their baby scared it away!!

 

Hope this helps.

[SqueakyDust]

Hope you're not already away!

 

We were there in December 2005. It's a great place where you could spend a long time, especially if you go over to the forest part where the monkeys live. Here is an extract from my review on the reserve, and a picture of a Maro. We hired a car.

 

We found the Reserve easily and as we parked at the back we went to what turned out to be the Grenada Hall and Rainforest part first. We paid here – US$40 for 2 adults & 2 children. We got our change in Barbadian dollars and were asked if we had smaller notes, than the $50 note we initially offered. We walked up to the Hall and had a quick look around. There are great views of the East Coast from the top windows. Sadly we didn’t take in the History as the call of nature promptly brought us back to the Reserve! The kids just loved this and we could easily have spent a whole day here if we'd been staying on Barbados. There were loads of Tortoises (some trying to make more too which was fun explaining to the kids!), cute little deer and things called Maro's which are like a giant rabbit/deer cross.

We even saw a baby one trying to hide, which was gorgeous. In another section there is a huge snake, which had killed it's mate!, loads of Iguana, Flamingoes, tropical Birds, Pelican, Alligators, a walk through Aviary... But NO monkeys! We met Spike who lives in his own cage. We were wondering if this was because he was naughty, as he was very noisy. However, one of the staff came over, let him out and explained that he was there for his own protection. Because he could do tricks and speak the other Parrots in the large aviary attacked him (except for his parents). He did some tricks for us and says “Hello” in a very posh English accent! There is a restaurant and a small shop selling refreshments. They had T shirts, which weren’t very prominent. I wish I’d bought some as I never saw them anywhere else. Afterwards we set back off to the rainforest bit and were told that there had been Monkey sightings that day. It is a very long and undulating walk, which is rather steep in places. Wear good shoes as it's slippy even when it's dry! We heard lots of noises but never even saw a monkey tail :( Purely down to luck. Another family did see one but their baby scared it away!!

 

Hope this helps.

[hpuk]

I went to the Wildlife Reserve, which I enjoyed, but would never go back again after finding out that they also run the Primate Research Centre, where they capture the monkeys & are used for testing. Ok I no testing has to be done, but find it very hypocritical that they have a wildlife reserve also & make out they care for the animals when they capturing them & send them for testing!

 

Heres a link, you will see in the Methods Section

 

http://www.brown.edu/Research/Primate/lpn26-2.html

 

 

Methods Monkeys are captured live, usually in large wire-mesh traps, but occasionally by using remote-controlled shooting nets. They are immobilized with 25 mg/kg ketamine hydrochloride, taken to the BPRCWR, processed while still sedated, and retained in captivity. Processing includes recording sex, approximate age, and locality of capture, and examination for gross signs of disease or injury. All animals are bled at capture, and after centrifugation the sera are stored at -20deg C. Eventually, the majority of the monkeys are exported. From time to time batches of sera are sent to specialized laboratories to be tested for a variety of microbial agents. Additionally, overseas laboratories perform their own tests on the monkeys they purchase. The pharmaceutical companies and other importing firms which buy monkeys for vaccine production and research purposes are understandably cautious about releasing information on the tests which they carry out. Despite the cooperation which we have received, we are not always given detailed results, and much of our data is therefore limited.

[judyzoo]

hpuk,

 

Thanks for the heads up. Was seriously considering visiting the Wildlife Reserve in December, but this is definitely making me rethink that idea.

[RAFink1]

Don't miss the Wildlife Reserve! Hundreds of turtles, many deer, wallabies, etc.

 

Feeding time is 2:30. The monkeys show up for this and will be there until 3:30 or 4:00 pm. Other than that, they are free to go anywhere and are not kept in the reserve. The feeding area is a circular area that is literally covered with turtles. The monkeys walk on the backs of the turtles and reach down among them to get fresh fruit. Deer also get some of the fruit. You are a part of this with no fences.

[North Carolina Cruiser]

Where is the wildlife reserve? We are looking at renting a car also and would like to see this?

[North Carolina Cruiser]

Can anyone tell me where this is? We are planning to rent a car also:)

[Toto2Kansas]

We booked this tour through the ship and to put it mildly, I could never recommend it to anyone. Although we got to see a good part of the island itself, the preserve was no more than a small totally contained zoo. Never did see any monkeys except one baby monkey they were raising by hand. Very very disappointing and not worth wasting a day in Barbados for. IMHO

[Sunniebgi]

NC Cruiser, the Park is located on the northern part of the island across from Farley Hill national Park. Fairly easy to get to both of those places.

 

Toto, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the Reserve. I have taken my children many times, and have gone with school groups. Enjoyed walking the trails and seeing the animals walking around with us. Well we are a small island, so maybe it looks like a small zoo.. but it's not as Contained as you say. ok.. there is a really nice Aviary for the birds, and reptile house among other things, and if you are lucky you get to see the Monkeys (they don't contain them and they are allowed to roam free around the island (many visit my backyard during the morning hours, just passing through). so while they do have a "feeding" time, you may or may not see them).. if this were a "contained" zoo I guess you could see monkeys 24/7 like at other larger Zoo's around the world.

[thatbloominplace]

we went to the reserve while we were in babados for a 10 day stay. while it was a wonderful experience it would take up the better part of the day. you will need to rent a car and then head up the west coast. we stopped at the marine rerserve on the way up for some snorkeling from the shore and then hit a local eatery on the way to the reserve. do the food closer to the snorkeling area as their are fewer places to eat as you drive north. the monkeys are fed around 2:30. the day we were there we saw about 50 monkeys including a dozen or so young ones. they allow you to get fairly close, but not too close. the rest of the animal reserve also has a nice little hike to an observatory as well as some other animals of interest. on the way back we stopped at a pottery place. this itinerary is doable, but you need to be organized, have a good map and be careful driving on the left.

 

steve