The much anticipated Sea Life Centre, Manchester is now open at the Trafford Centre just in time for the long school holidays. The famous Sea Life chain has 35 locations across the world at the moment – with sites including Paris, Birmingham, Berlin and Texas – and it is expected that there will be 51 in place by the end of 2013! The centre allows you get close to and in some cases, interact with, a host of beautiful and fascinating creatures such as seahorses, sharks, stingrays and clownfish (made famous in ‘Finding Nemo’).
While the Sea Life Centres provide a fun and educational day out for adults and children, they also make a significant contribution to the conservation of marine life. Their own independent charity ‘The Sea Life Marine Conservation Trust’ is funded in part by the profits from the entrance fees paid by guests to the centres, so by paying a visit you are also supporting a fantastic cause.
Charty Work That Works
The charity works with experts, governments and local communities on campaigns around the world that protect marine creatures and their habitats. The initiatives the centres are involved with include the running of global breeding programmes for endangered rays and seahorses, rescuing and rehabilitating injured and sick seals; and taking action against pollution through the organisation of ‘beach clear ups’. In addition to this, Sea Life also provides permanentfor injured or disabled creatures that may otherwise have been put to sleep. Where animals can be rescued, nursed back to full health and returned to the wild, then the centres will make every effort to ensure this happens.
A First Class Experiance
The Manchester centre really offers a first class experience – it boasts over 5,000 creatures, allows you to hold a crab and touch a starfish down at the rock-pool and provides fun talks and feeding shows throughout the day. There is also the truly beautiful underwater tunnel, which you can pass underneath as an array of sharks and rays swim above you! Perhaps the most exciting attraction at Sea Life Manchester is the ‘Sea Trek’ – which is the only one of its kind in Europe. This comes at an extra charge but allows you to dive underwater and walk the sea bed – providing a truly close encounter with the creatures of the deep – including hundreds of fish and Ernie the resident Giant Green Sea Turtle. The centre is now open daily until 7pm.