As we had been in the Camping & Caravaning Club for the last seventeen years Sylvia and I thought it was about time we attended a club rally. So when one was to be held in the grounds of a local zoo we decided the time had come.

After checking visas, passports and inoculations we plotted a route on the sat-nav and drove the thirty miles from home to Banham Zoo in our native Norfolk. After we had been welcomed and checked in by stewards Peter and Ineke we were free to pitch and settle in, then with our reduced price entry tickets (valid all weekend) we could visit the zoo next to our site.

I must say that both of us were very impressed with the obvious health and well being of the animals and the general high standard of cleanness of the enclosures and of the whole zoo.

A lot of thought had obviously been put into the publics viewing of the animals with lots of thick glass/Perspex instead of wall sections down to ground level, enabling wheel chair users and small children to see without the danger of youngsters being held high to see over boundary walls. One of the spin-offs of the healthy and relaxed state of the inmates was the large amount of young they had been producing. The most popular with the visitors seemed to be the six-month-old Siberian Tiger twins.

We were lucky to be around at feeding time, where, whilst one keeper fed another gave a talk on those particular animals.

The highlight of the day was (for me anyway) the free flying of the birds of prey. In an open-air arena with stepped seating we saw large and small Vultures, Black Kites and the fastest creature on earth, the Peregrine Falcon. All flying and feeding within inches of our heads as they swooped and performed their acrobatic displays. This may have been our nearest outing in our faithful camper-van but the memories of it will stay with us as much as the further flung trips.

For more information on the zoo click on www.banhamzoo.co.uk