Hamerton Zoo is located near Sawtry in Cambridgeshire and was originally opened in 1990 as a conservation sanctuary. It is home to a wide range of birds and mammals. One of their more unusual residents are the red maned wolves. They have an odd gait when in motion but are quite lovely.
The Corsac Fox, also known as the Steppe Fox is a medium sized Asiatic Fox species, so called because it can be found throughout the central steppes of Asia. It is also referred to as the Tibetan Fox as it can also be found in the arid environments north and west of the Tibetan plateau.
These cute little critters are very social and can often be found with many friends. Hamerton Zoo is home to no less than 7 Corsac Foxes.
The photographic opportunities at Hamerton Zoo are great but for me, the reason I visit is for their big cats. I can honestly say that Hamerton is THE place to go to for cheetah photography. There is nowhere else where you will get such amazing photographic opportunities.
Now I’ve taken photographs of cheetahs at Dartmoor and at WHF, but I have to say that the opportunities afforded here at Hamerton is something else. It was almost impossible to take a bad picture of them here.
The zoo also has the largest collection of cheetahs in the UK, all of them are extremely photogenic and extremely amenable when it comes to photographers.
One of the reasons why Hamerton Zoo is so great for cheetah photography is because they allow the grass to grow long. As a result, your pictures could look as though they were taken in Africa and not Cambridgeshire!
The long grass also works great for natural, “in the wild” shots of the tigers.
As with the cheetahs, the photographic opportunities with the tigers were just phenomenal. My last shot isn’t something you would ever see in the wild but it is unusual enough that I thought it was worth posting.