Knowsley Safari Park: All You Need to Know Before You Visit
Liverpool is known for many things, from music to history via food and fashion, but one thing that not many people will think about when they discuss the city is nature. In fact, when a lot of people discuss animals and Merseyside they will no doubt point towards the existence of Chester Zoo, where animals of all shapes and sizes can be found.
To those in the know, meanwhile, the presence of Knowsley Safari Park presents a great opportunity to get along and see the likes of monkeys, giraffes and zebras take a stroll right past your car window.
The question is, what is and is it worth visiting?
A Brief History of Knowsley Safari Park
The Safari Park in Knowsley opened its doors for the first time back in the July of 1971. Back then, the roads covered 3.5 miles and the park itself was created by Edward Stanley, the 18th Earl of Derby, and Jimmy Chipperfield. The expertise of Laurence Tennant was called on, thanks to the fact that the park’s General Manager had been the Chief Game Warden of Parks in both Uganda and Botswana.
Visitors to Knowsley Safari Park in the early days could drive past the likes of elephants, lions and cheetahs, as well as antelopes. It was so popular that it was extended four years later.
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That was when another 1.5 miles of road were added, whilst camels, white rhinos, buffaloes and tigers were added in terms of the animals. Changes took place in the years that followed, including a bypass to go around the baboons for people who were concerned about damage being done to their car.
Similarly, tigers can now be found in their own enclosure, rather than along the previous route of the Safari Park that was in place when it was extended in 1975. In 2012, the park was a venue for the Olympic torch relay, resulting in 6,000 people arriving to see it pass through.
Visiting the Park
The safari drive is easily the most popular attraction at Knowsley Safari Park, presenting visitors with the chance to see more than 29 species across seven different zones. The zones are as follows:
| Zones | What’s in There |
|---|---|
| 1 + 11 | Père David’s deer, kiangs, yaks, camels |
| 2 + 8 | Nilgais, chitals, blackbucks, Eld’s deer, swamp deer |
| 3 + 4 + 6 | White rhinos, elands, roan antelopes, wildebeest, lechwe, plains zebras, ostriches, waterbucks, African forest buffaloes |
| 5 | Blesboks, bongos |
| 7 | Olive baboons |
| 9 | Fallow deers, European bison, European moose |
| 10 | Lions, Somali wild asses |
Whilst the animals in the safari are the obvious central attraction, they aren’t the only things that encourage people to attend. There is, for example, a 381 millimetre gauge railway, known as ‘The Lakeside Railway’, which gives visitors the chance to tour certain parts of the site.
You can also engage in the likes of fairground rides, paint balling, aerial extreme rope walks and off-road driving experiences on the Knowsley Safari Park site.
Things You Need to Know
When it comes to taking advantage of the presence of Knowsley Safari Park on Merseyside, there are certain things that you need to know. The first thing is that you will be able to is save yourself some money by booking your tickets in advance.
Here is how much it costs to attend as of the November of 2025, depending on whether you book ahead or pay on the day:
| Ticket Category | Advanced Price | On the Day Price |
|---|---|---|
| Adult (16 and over) | £24.75 | £27.50 |
| Concession (65 and over) | £22.50 | £25 |
| Children (3-15) | £22.50 | £25 |
| Toddlers (1-2) | £2.50 | £2.50 |
| Babies (Under 1) | Free | Free |
The cost of your ticket to go on the 5-mile drive around Knowsley Safari Park also includes the ability to enter the Foot Safari.
Here you can enjoy the likes of animal talks and specially designed displays, whilst you might want to add a ticket to go on the Baboon Bus or pick up a Guidebook, which obviously costs extra.
What is the Baboon Bus?
Baboons are cheeky little blighters. Anyone who has ever gone on a safari with baboons there will know that they have a propensity to grab your window wipers and pull them off, or do numerous other forms of damage to your vehicle.
For the last 4 years we’ve gone to somewhere super touristy a few days before the kids finish school. Sadly this is our last go.
This year: Knowsley Safari Park.
— Alex Nurse (@alexnurse.bsky.social) Jul 21, 2025 at 16:59
As a result, some people choose to take a detour that allows them to miss out the baboon area altogether. This is a sensible choice, but also a sad one given the fact that you don’t get to see one of the key animals housed at Knowsley Safari Park.
What you can do, though, is take the Baboon Bus instead, which takes you through the baboon area but means that it is someone else’s vehicle that will suffer any consequences.
