A genuine oddity: sixty acres of mature Staffordshire woodland populated by a colony of about 140 free-roaming Barbary macaques, the only African macaque species and now critically endangered in the wild. The animals are not caged or fenced from visitors — you walk along a marked path through their territory and they ignore you, forage, groom, and squabble at close range. A keeper gives talks at feeding times.
The forest is part of an international conservation programme that has reintroduced macaques bred at parks like this to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Allow a couple of hours including the talks. Adjacent to Trentham Gardens, so easy to combine. Open daily from February to November.