Until you've heard and felt the vibration of a lion's roar at feeding time, or shivered at the power and the potential menace of a jaguar, that has suddenly and silently appeared through the undergrowth, you haven't truly experienced Chester Zoo at its best.
>>Chester Zoo slideshow CLICK HEREWho could not smile at the race-around antics of the otters and meerkats, or resist the urge to ooh and aah at the innate charm of the bristle-headed young elephants and gangly baby giraffe?
It's that kind of experience which draws the crowds and has made last month the busiest July for 29 years.
Gate figures show almost 175,000 visitors flocked through the turnstiles reflecting a 17.6 per cent increase on the visitor figures for the same month last year and the busiest July since 1979.
Its popularity should be no surprise because 2007 was the best year for visitors in the zoo's history, with more than 1.3 million people visiting the 110-acre site. Visitor figures are currently six per cent up on last year, putting the zoo in a firm position to beat last year's record.
Sharon Leeson, head of marketing and development, said: "A total of 174,664 people visited the zoo during July, yet another record-breaker and cause for celebration.
"In the face of economic uncertainty, the zoo consistently bucks the trend and continues to be one of the most successful visitor attractions in the North West and indeed the UK.
"The figures prove that, even in the current financial climate, Chester Zoo remains a must-see attraction for visitors and represents good value for money.
"Continuing developments at the zoo, with new animal enclosures and activities, also mean there is something new for visitors to see and do each time they visit."
Visitors this summer have been enjoying the zoo's latest enclosure for four cheetahs and another for two rare Philippine crocodiles. A butterfly house, home to hundreds of free-flight butterflies, will also open later in the year.
Chester Zoo remains the UK's number one charity based zoo, with more than 7,000 animals and 500 different species, including some of the most endangered species on the planet.
The Realm of the Red Ape enclosure is home to the zoo's critically endangered Sumatran and Bornean orang-utans along with a wide variety of Indonesian forest species, including a group of noisy gibbons, a variety of birds, insects and reptiles, which includes one of the longest reticulated pythons in the world.
The Twilight Zone, is the largest free-flight bat zone in Europe, and is now also home to the Livingstone's fruit bat, one of the world's largest bats.
The new cheetah , which is part of the Asian Steppe area of the zoo, is especially exciting at feeding times.
On a much smaller scale are the easy-to-miss leaf cutter ants in the Spirit of the Jaguar enclosure. They are as mesmerising as they are miniscule and a perfect example, along with the jaguars, of the creatures great and small on display side by side in Chester.
The zoo has been there for as long as many of us remember but it's never been, busier, better or more thrilling.
>>Chester Zoo slideshow CLICK HEREThe full article contains 575 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
