Port Lympne Wild Animal Park
Port Lympne Animal Park
Lympne
Nr Hythe
Kent CT21 4PD
About Port Lympne Wild Animal Park
Port Lympne Wild Animal Park is a fantastic family attraction, proving that Ashford, Kent, is more than the gateway to Europe – it’s the gateway to Africa, the Americas and Asia as well!
Founded in 1976, Port Lympne Wild Animal Park gained both an international reputation as a family attraction and conservation pioneer. It acquired charitable status within a few years, indicating the good work that was going on at the 600-acre site, which is open 364 days a year – the 650 animals (and their keepers) getting Christmas Day off!
For anyone with a love of the exotic – and the cuddly – then Port Lympne Wild Animal Park is the ideal family attraction.
Port Lympne Wild Animal Park’s A-Z of 90 rare and often endangered species include the immense and impressive African Elephant – the biggest land mammal of them all - African Hunting Dogs – yes, the cheeky ones from The Lion King – the American Bison - the real cowboy ‘buffalo’ of Dances With Wolves fame – packs of chattering Asiatic Wild Dogs, the Black and Gold Howler Monkeys – which live up their names, and will have you howling with their antics – the majestic Canadian Timber Wolves, the striped majesty of the Indian and Siberian Tiger – the biggest cats of them all – the supremely cunning Lynx, the Malayan Tapir – yes, the ones with the funny nose – the beautiful Ocelot, ungainly but swift and stunning Ostrich, the rare Red Panda, fine Roan Antelope, camouflaged Snow Leopard and the powerful and graceful Water Buffalo.
What’s more, Port Lympne Wild Animal Park has the largest breeding herd of the ultra-rare Black Rhinoceros outside of the African continent and a family group of Gorillas that are fed every day at noon until three – or when they’re full! - in the world's largest gorillarium, The Palace Of The Apes. Have your family day out with theirs – there’s no other family attraction like it!
If you want to really impress your friends with a family day out that’s out of the ordinary, then ask yourself, how many of them have seen an Agouti, Anoa, Banteng, Barasingha, Bongo, Caracal, Gaur, Javan Langur, Margay, Nilgai, Red Lechwe, Samango or Sambar? Or for that matter, how many of them have ever heard of them, or know what they are. There’s not many family days out that can improve your knowledge of the natural world and your score at Scrabble! Port Lympne Wild Animal Park is just the ticket!
Also making Port Lympne Wild Animal Park a perfect family attraction is a magnificent Edwardian stately home with luxurious apartments and burnished furnishing s that was designed for Sir Philip Sassoon during World War I, along with 15 acres of beautiful landscaped gardens providing fine views of Romney Marsh. They can be visited on the same ticket to Port Lympne Wild Animal Park and have attracted royal visitors over the years, proving that Port Lympne is indeed a Royal Family attraction!
If you want to go the whole warthog, then, for a small charge over the entry ticket to Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, there are a number of Safaris to ensure an action-packed family day out, whether walking on the wide open spaces or traversing them in landrovers, whether early in the day or at dusk, in a tour ranging from 90 minutes to a full day, or even overnight. Bespoke Port Lympne Wild Animal Park packages can be created to include sumptuous meals for a special occasion and The African Experience! takes in giraffe, zebra and Wildebeest roaming the plain, providing great photo opportunities to capture wildlife in the raw, without the risk of tse-tse fly bites or malaria! There’s even an option of staying through the night at the Livingstone Safari Lodge, nodding off to the sounds of the bush just a stone’s throw away.
Among the highlights afforded by a day ticket to Port Lympne Wild Animal Park are animal births, among some of the most recent ones being a number of Barbary Lion cubs and a litter of African Hunting Dogs, as well as other endangered species, which can be viewed on a circular walk around their enclosures. Conservation is as much to the fore as giving visitors a great family day out, and Port Lympne Wild Animal Park is a world leader in conservation, as well as a family attraction, having returned to the wild numbers of Przewalski's horses, Sumatran rhino, Cape buffalo, ocelots, pythons and gorillas, among others.
As a top family attraction, Port Lympne Wild Animal Park featured on TV’s Roar series in 2006-07 and, in March and April 2008, Port Lympne Wild Animal Park held Recruitment Fairs, allowing visitors the chance to make it a permanent part of their lives, not just a family day out. In fact, anyone can meet and chat with the keepers and a day ticket also allows access to Adopt An Animal and Totallywild Challenge programmes, as well as a restaurant, refreshment kiosks, picnic areas, gift shops and an adventure playground and maze. It all adds up to a multifaceted family attraction that is soon to expand with a Treejumpers aerial walkway, making it an even more impressive family day out.
A visit to Port Lympne Wild Animal Park should take around 3-5 hours, making for a leisurely, captivating, exciting family day out. And it’s a perfect family attraction even if the weather is not, as it has Keeper talks, a Park Hopper service, an Education centre and regular special events that are billed on Port Lympne Wild Animal Park’s website. On top of that, the ticket provides free parking, plenty of toilets located around the park and even the diversion of occasional weddings and private functions at the stately mansion, which, if not open always to the public, make for an added family attraction!
Ticket entry to Port Lympne Wild Animal Park includes reduced admission for less-able guests and there are selected routes for wheelchairs, enhancing any family day out.