TIL Summer 2018

18
Photo: Tony Bates
SUPERHERO ACADEMY LAUNCHES
AT ZSL LONDON ZOO
School’s not out for summer this year,
as ZSL London Zoo visitors can enrol in
superhero training at ZSL’s Superhero
Academy – a new adventure for the
whole family to enjoy.
Children will be able to dust off their
capes and train in animal strength, night
vision, agility and speed at ZSL’s special
centre for superheroes. Once inside,
junior recruits will learn how to harness
the superpowers of the world’s most
incredible wildlife in four training areas.
After collecting their mission pack
and mask, kids will step into their first
class to learn all-important night vision
Jae Jae and Melati, Sumatran Tigers at
ZSL London Zoo.
skills from the nocturnal owl – using
special goggles to spot potential food in
its woodland home.
Next, they will unlock the power of
super speed, racing against the world’s
fastest land animal, the cheetah, before
mastering the leafcutter ant’s super
strength in time to lift a three tonne taxi
safely out of the way.
Finally, students can climb their way
to completion like the incredible gecko,
mastering their toughest skill yet –
defying gravity to crawl across the
bedroom ceiling. After completing the
Superhero Academy training, young
heroes can have their own graduation
photo taken.
New recruits will then need to use all
their new superskills to help ZSL’s own
superhero Captain Z tackle The Maze –
a tricky series of obstacles and
challenges made by his archnemesis
Plastico, a fiendish villain trying to
overwhelm the environment with plastic
pollution.
Once junior superheroes have
finished saving the day, they can spend
their downtime exploring the Zoo,
discovering even more about the 19,000
super-animals who call it home.
Superhero Academy is part of ZSL’s
2018 Superhero Takeover, a year-long
celebration of incredible wildlife and the
ZSL superheroes working to protect
animals around the world.
www.zsl.org/superheroes
THE 2018 NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL
The iconic Notting Hill Carnival
returns bigger and better this year on 25
August - 27 August. It starts with the
Panorama event on 25th, the main event
is on Sunday 26th (family day), followed
by the traditional celebrations on Bank
Holiday Monday, 27th August.
Notting Hill Carnival is Europe’s
largest free street festival and is a vital
date in the diary for any visitor to
London. It features a spectacular parade
that showcases London's rich and varied
multicultural heritage with masquerade
bands, steel bands and samba bands as
well as live music stages, sound
systems, children’s activities, and an
array of delicious Caribbean food stalls
to choose from.
Notting Hill is an all inclusive
celebration of Caribbean culture and
symbolises the effect the Windrush
generation and larger local community
has had on Britain. These people are its
heartbeat and not only laid the
foundations of Carnival, but also the
wider community groups that are now a
vital part of Notting Hill.
Although Notting Hill Carnival is still
a very community-lead event, its everincreasing
popularity over the last 5
decades has seen it swell to become the
wonderfully diverse and vibrant event it
is today. With over a million expected
over the August bank holiday, it’s second
only to Brazil’s Rio carnival in size.
t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e