Night Lights: A Walk Around Dublin Zoo

Last night we all went up to the Dublin zoo, for a special evening walk that they only tend to do for about 3 months of the year, known as the night lights.

We were up there for my dad's birthday back in October and noticed that they were putting out all of these creatures made of tent kind of material and they were only setting it up back then. But, for my sisters birthday in January we all decided to book our tickets and the only slot availble was the 8th, even though it was a week after her birthday, we all had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it.

I managed to take a fair few pictures of the walk and I thought I'd put together a post and share it. The tickets were about 24 euro each and if anyone finds themselves in Ireland from November to January, I'd advise grabbing a ticket.

I had no idea what to expect and kind of thought it would be a mix of looking at the animals, while also enjoying the lit walk. But, all of the animal enclosures along the walk were blocked out by fabric so they wouldn't be annoyed. I was actually happy to see that in the end, as keeping the animals up throughout the night would knock their routine off and would be a bit cruel to them.

The Bee Hive was brightening in layers as you can see by the second picture.

This was one of the first scenes you come across when entering the zoo, there was a large display leading you forward along the walkway, which showed butterflies and stuff, but there were so many people that I couldn't really stop to take any pictures of it. I think my sister took some video footage of that walk-through.

It was cool, for every display like this they would play some light music and it was really peaceful.

This is an example of the displays along the way and is one of the only pictures I managed to get as we were entering the park.

I just thought this was class and as soon as I took my phone out I realised how bright the displays were. Usually, my phone doesn't do so great during the night, so I was pretty surprised when I saw the quality of the pictures.

Around the corner from the beehive was this display, I've always loved things like this; there's a nice park not too far from my town called Victors Way, I have to get out there again when the good weather comes in, but, he has a lot of statues like this. Huge hands coming out of the ground and things of that nature, it always lets my mind run away with itself, imagining some huge stone giant just under the surface.

I thought these were cool, I've always loved praying Mantis, if there is one insect that looks like an alien these are it. Especially if you see them in a David Attenborough documentary.

They really went all out with their displays, the pictures don't do the trees justice, but, those streaks of light are moving and it's so interesting when there are multiple trees with multiple colours shimmering.

I tried to get a picture of the baby mama at this display, but sadly she was all silhouetted in front of the light. I should have asked her to stand beside it, but, with so many people around it's tough. Most people wouldn't mind waiting, I just didn't really like holding anyone up.

I was able to get this one though where she isn't silhouetted, but that's just because this display was so bright and vibrant, the light was most likely so powerful it was able to bounce off the surfaces behind me and back onto her.

I had to stop to take a picture of this, I know there are no display animals in it, but, I just thought the range of colours were so nice.

Each area was a little bit different, some were insect heavy and others were animal and plant-heavy, but all of them were really nice.

I love ants and wanted to get a picture of them, they look so small in the photo, but, in person, they were about the size of a bicycle each.

Here's an example of the trees being different colours, again, not so great in stills, but impressive in person.

This display was cool, it was on a river and the waterfall and bears at the end were moving. It was really easy to get lost just staring at some of the displays.

Here's just one of the many animals you'll come across and the size of each of them is pretty impressive.

This was another cool display behind a fence, it was hard to get a good spot to capture the whole thing, but, it still looks pretty nice.

Here's one I got the right way, with no silhouettes, I should have tried to do this at the mantis display, but, sure look, there's always next year. In fact, next year will be even better as we'll have the baba with us, I think things like this are really geared towards kids and as he gets older these little days out will be great.

About mid way through we got a coffee and just a few steps past the shop there was this nice picnic area with benches and a nice display above.

I tried to get a selfie under them, but, it didn't capture the lights very well. I did capture a ghost in the background though.

This was the final display out on an island as you get to the end, I've always loved reflections and with this multi-coloured light display I think it looked great and I'm so glad I was able to capture it and do it justice. Obviously, in person, it's a lot more vibrant, but the ole' phone did well this night.

When I tried to get a cute couple's photo, it didn't really show off the light in the background too well, that's fine though. It's rare that an idea for a photo turns out as it's imagined.

Anyway, I've been Killerwot and this has been my Ted... Walks lol

For the price of admission, this walk is so worth it, we had to wrap up warm though because it was freezing, but, at least we got lucky with the weather and it wasn't raining.

I love interesting lighting so something like this is right up my street. In any room I spend time in, there has to be some ambient lighting. I hate stark house lights, colourful LED's are always on cycle once the sun goes down, and small lamps litter my bedroom.

I said it at the start of the post, but I may as well say it again, if you're in Ireland from November to January, try and book a night out in the zoo, you won't regret it.

(All pictures were captured on my Samsung Galaxy A7)