Pumpkinfest is in Full Swing

Pumpkinfest is back at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, just 6 miles from Bristol, from 17th October until 6th November.

Our famous pumpkins are grown in a very unique way. In 2019 Staff discovered pumpkins growing from an Elephant dung pile after elephants ate pumpkins and the undigested seeds self-planted to create an unexpected organic pumpkin patch.

Since then, Noah’s Ark staff have planted and cared for a dedicated pumpkin patch which has had a bountiful harvest ever since. Our gourds are grown using a unique blend of mainly African Elephant and White Rhino dung as manure. Noah’s Ark has proudly been pursuing a green future, with Elephants producing up to 150kg of dung per day, it is a great sustainable solution for this unique Zoo Farm. This year's pumpkins range from your typical orange colour to ‘ghost’ white pumpkins.

Despite a hot and dry summer, the team harvested over 1,000 home grown pumpkins of all different shapes and sizes. These have all been moved to our wheelchair accessible and buggy friendly patch within the zoo itself for families to explore! Families are encouraged to grab a wheelbarrow and adventure around the patch to pick out some weird, wacky and wonderful pumpkins of all different shapes, sizes and colours. Tickets to our Pumpkin Patch Corner are included within zoo admission with Pumpkins starting at £2.50 each. 

The whole zoo is celebrating all things autumnal with fabulous pumpkin themed treats at the Food Barn and Farm Shop including delicious homemade Pumpkin Soup and Pumpkin Paninis!

In addition to pumpkins; the zoo has put on lots of additional family friendly activities including daily bug talks, Birds of Prey displays featuring lots of Owls and an 'Owls of the World' trail complete with autism friendly pictorial sentences.

During our Creepy Crawly Bug Talks visitors can find out fun facts about some of our smallest creatures at the zoo and get hands on with some of our bugs. These include Giant African Land Snails, Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches and Stick Insects. 

Autumn is a fabulous time for the zoo’s animals, with pumpkin treats spread over the enclosures for enrichment. Elephants, Goats, Capybaras and Giant tortoises all love to eat pumpkins. Previously, Shaka, the African Elephant was featured squashing a 14 stone pumpkin and Meerkats always love clambering in and out of their pumpkins.

“Many of our animals absolutely love getting a special pumpkin treat. They can provide great enrichment for our meerkats to explore, our elephants to squash and our lions to play with.” Said Curator Chris Wilkinson.