Watatunga Wildlife Reserve

Today G and I treated H to a day out for her birthday earlier this year (winter birthdays are better celebrated with a Summer treat). We booked a golf buggy guided tour at Watatunga Wildlife Reserve near King’s Lynn in the morning, followed by a lunchtime 'afternoon tea' at a local pub, then a visit to Oxburgh Hall (National Trust) on the way back which is now scaffolding free following recent major repairs. A great day was had by all, I particularly enjoyed the tour around Watatunga, a 170 acre wildlife reserve near King's Lynn which opened in 2020 (bad timing!). It's home to over 20 different types of ungulates (large mammals with hooves) and rare bird species. You drive your golf buggy round the reserve for 90mins in a small convoy with a commentary over radio by your guide. There are brief stops where there's something interesting to see, so even the driver gets a chance to take photos (I drove and was a passenger as we swapped half way through - taking photos was easy as the non-driver). I've added two collages to extras, one of more animals and one of some birds including 'Dave', a great bustard who was quite a character and who had to be chaperoned by the Reserve Manager who led our tour, as he likes to nip the visitors! I'd definitely recommend a pre-booked visit if you're in the area
 https://www.watatunga.co.uk/

We did unfortunately have a horrendous journey home. It should have taken about 1.25 hours and ended up taking twice as long! We needed to drive North through Swaffham, as do most people coming to North Norfolk from the South / West, but the road was closed. The diversion sent us back South about 7-10 miles, then diverted us onto small country roads. Following the diversion signs led us in a circle back to the road we'd been diverted off - we assume some idiot had moved a diversion sign. So we went back towards Swaffham and following the road map tried to find our own way round on minor roads. We encountered 3 more unrelated road closures, several road signs with missing 'arms' and mostly single track roads without laybys or passing points. We eventually found our way around Swaffham by putting sequential place names into the sat nav that eventually led us back to the main road. It was a nightmare and G who was driving deserves a medal! Appalling traffic management.