Amazon World Zoo Park has a huge range of unusual rare and exotic animals; at the last count it was somewhere in the region of 200 different species, spanning the entire animal kingdom!
 

Lighting conditions inside many of the enclosures is low necessitating the use of low shutter speeds and/or high ISO speeds; the former at long focal lengths increases the likelihood of camera shake whilst the latter results in reduced picture quality from increased noise. Furthermore, many of the enclosures are not conducive to allow photographs to be taken, so the number of images shown here are far less than the number of species on display.
 

Whilst most of the exhibits were well presented, I thought that the outside area was looking rather tired with a number of enclosures signed for closure or extension; in particular the Flamingo enclosure appeared to have no water where they could stand and the Penguin enclosure contained just 3 sad looking Penguins with an empty water pool with putrid looking mucky water in the bottom of the tank.

Derek Curtis had always had a passion for animals and birds and when fate steered him to the Isle of Wight he came across a large tropical house that contained some exotic plants and free flying birds. The then owners wanted to move on and as he had a collection of my own birds he thought that this would make a pleasant way to enjoy his hobby as well as giving other people some pleasure.
 

The hobby quickly turned full time and shortly after deciding to give Amazon World 100% I visited the Amazon Basin in South America and saw for myself the effects the destruction of the rainforest was having on the native wildlife and the indigenous people. I came home determined to make people aware of the desperate situation and how close to extinction some of the animals and plants really are.
 

So Amazon World evolved into something more than a just a collection of animals; it is a zoo and a centre for education and conservation. As members of the British and European Zoo Associations we participate in international breeding schemes that help safeguard the future of some of the rarest animals in the world. Thousands of school children pass through our education department every year and our new Rainforest conservation project is helping to save acres of Rainforest in Ecuador!