The park serves as a rewilding site where native British species, including bats and hazel dormice, are actively monitored and encouraged.
The Bear Wood exhibit uses elevated boardwalks to allow visitors to view predators from a height while keeping the forest floor undisturbed.
The Bristol Zoological Society manages the site to prioritize animal welfare through 'landscape-scale' enclosures rather than traditional zoo displays.
The park includes the 'Gelada Rocks' exhibit, which provides a cliff-side environment for a troop of Gelada monkeys.
The site hosts a significant ongoing project to restore and manage ancient woodland within its boundaries.
The Bristol Zoo Project is a 136-acre conservation-led wildlife park situated on the northern outskirts of Bristol. Formerly known as the Wild Place Project, it serves as the primary wildlife destination for the Bristol Zoological Society following the closure of their historic city-center site. The park is designed around expansive, habitat-focused enclosures featuring species such as cheetahs, giraffes, zebras, and lemurs. Visitors explore via a network of woodland trails and large outdoor paddocks. The site functions as a center for international conservation breeding programs and ecological research. It features an immersive 'Bear Wood' exhibit, which houses European brown bears, wolves, lynx, and wolverines in a shared woodland habitat. Interactive conservation exhibits highlight the biodiversity of African and local British ecosystems. Much of the park remains dedicated to natural woodland and meadow conservation.
The elevated boardwalk in Bear Wood provides an unobstructed vantage point for photographing wolves and bears.
Wear sturdy, weather-appropriate footwear as the site is large and involves extensive walking on woodland paths.
Check the daily keeper talk schedule upon arrival to observe animal feeding sessions.
Pack layers, as the open-field nature of the site makes it susceptible to wind and changing weather conditions.
Attempting to see the entire park in under two hours, as the scale of the site requires significant travel time between animal exhibits.
Open daily throughout the year, except for Christmas Day.
Maintain quiet around animal enclosures, do not feed the animals, and keep to designated paths to protect local wildlife habitats.
