Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent has won the Best Tourism Experience Gold award at this year’s Enjoy England Awards for Excellence. The wild animal park is set in 600 acres of the Kentish countryside and offers an exciting day out for the whole family. More than 1,000 animals of 80 species roam free in the park, including the largest breeding herd of black rhinos outside of Africa. Port Lympne is also home to the largest gorillarium in the world, The Palace of the Apes.
Visitors travel across the open plains of the park surrounded by giraffe, black rhino, wildebeest, zebra, ostrich, antelope and other wildlife roaming free. To complete the experience, and get a real taste of an African safari adventure, visitors can even stay overnight at the park at the new Livingstone Safari Lodge. Guests will be woken up by the sounds of the African grasslands, before venturing out on a dawn safari. This snapshot of Africa is a fantastic introduction to the continent at a fraction of the cost, and a great ‘taster safari’ for anyone thinking about booking this type of holiday.
Everything at the Lodge is designed to create as authentic an experience as possible, from the rangers, to the jeep safaris to the African-style dinner around campfire grill. The Overnight Safari Experience starts from £125 per adult per night; with only children aged nine or over allowed.
Port Lympne Wild Animal Park was set up in 1957 by the late John Aspinall, and is today run by The Aspinall Foundation charity, which also runs Howletts Wild Animal Park. The charity aims to protect rare and endangered animals and, where possible, return them back to the wild. Funded solely by charitable donations, The Aspinall Foundation also operates a wide variety of animal conservation projects overseas, including two gorilla rescue and rehabilitation projects in the central African countries of Gabon and Congo where over 50 gorillas have been reintroduced to the wild.
To find out more about Port Lympne Wild Animal Park and the Livingstone Lodge, please visit the website: http://www.aspinallfoundation.org/
