It's that time of year again- the leaves are changing, the air is crisp, and creepy ghouls lurk about! Which can only mean one thing...Halloween is just around the corner, and that just happens to be one of our favourite holidays. Therefore, we decided to kick off the spooky season by attending Edinburgh Zoo's Spooktacular event on their opening night. So be sure to dress warm, hold tight to a loved one, and join us as we creep about Edinburgh Zoo after hours. Start your tour with a wee welcome from a special blog guest below...if you dare!
There are fun surprises throughout Edinburgh Zoo’s Spooktacular evening, but we will only be covering a few of the highlights in this post. We particularly liked how we planned the evening as we booked the 6:15 pm entry time slot so that we could appreciate the Halloween trail at dusk and then again in the dark. This allowed us to enjoy the spooky lighting and effects in different ways as the night progressed. Speaking of lighting, the Zoo did a great job at creating the perfect Halloween ambience throughout the illuminated trail. Hopefully our pictures will do some justice to what we saw in person.
Our adventure started off with a bit of a nautical surprise as we made our way through the mist and into a pirate’s lair! Now, long-time blog readers might remember that we ran into a couple of pirates roaming about the Edinburgh city centre a few years ago. And it seems that some have now invaded Edinburgh Zoo.
On our way to the ghostly graveyard, we tread very carefully as we made our way through quite a sinister ‘toxic wasteland’.
We had a delightfully ghoulish time in the graveyard with scary surprises throughout.
Nearby, it seemed that one of the body snatchers we mentioned in our recent post on the 'Anatomy' exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland, has come back from the dead and was looking for bodies at the Zoo. Beware he was looking for ‘fresh’ blood....😬😱
Despite our macabre setting, we realised that we had worked up quite an appetite due to our eerie exploring. Fortunately, with the assistance of a nearly full moon, we stumbled upon a ‘creepy campsite’ that had some delicious food options.
We settled on the ‘New Yorker’ and 'Bad Boy’ hotdogs with a side of fries. Right next to us, fellow Halloween explorers roasted marshmallows while we enjoyed the fragrant, sweet smell that wafted our way.
Scroll through and enjoy more pictures from our exploration on the illuminated trail:
Overall, we had a wonderful time at Edinburgh Zoo’s Spooktacular evening event, and we recommend you go if you enjoy Halloween and are looking for an evening out that is fun for all ages (it’s also a great way to support the Zoo). Please head over to the Zoo’s website for more information on available evenings (on selected dates from 7-31 October) and how to book your ticket.
For those who aren’t in Edinburgh, we hope this virtual wee walk has provided an entertaining way to experience the Zoo grounds in their spooky (though not too scary) reimagined way. Also, if you haven’t done so already, be sure to follow us on Instagram or Twitter as we hope to have more fun Halloween surprises in store from our Wee Walking Tours canine crew.
Until next time- Explore & Discover!
