Howletts Wild Animal Park Is Howletts the best Zoo in the UK?

No idea, tbh I'm not really a Pizza person. I doubt they are frozen pizza's at Howletts, but granded they are probably not the freshly made ones at Baby Dolls either. But I think a £2 difference in chips and burgers and that is noticeable.
I agree PL is aimed at the higher market and city folk.

I have no issues with Whipsnades posh restaurant, having eaten there and found the food really nice. The only thing I didn't like was having to order off a tablet.

 

I've no idea on the catering prices (we're at Howletts on Tuesday though so I will report back with an opinion!) but I disagree on the 'unlucky' point. Port Lympne is deeply hard work at the best of times. The safari experience has been underwhelming every time we have attempted it. Sections of it (bears for instance) are almost guaranteed to be a fail and the commentary is rubbish. They have clearly made the decision to make their money from the plethora of accomodation on offer (plus gold buggies) and it shows imo. I would take a day at Howletts over PL any day of the week. If only they would open up some of the inexplicably closed paths it would be an improvement...

 

Guess that's what £1200 a night gets you, a Gold buggy !!! (I know you meant golf).

 

Lol - give it time and there probably will be gold buggies on offer

 

I agree on the closed paths!, port Lympne was a much better place 10 years ago (also better than Howletts), now maybe Howletts is marginally better, though I saw the bears on my last 2 visits. For the record, I am not a fan of safari parks or drive throughs anyway....

 

Me neither.

We saw one bear today, outside it's house but not in the paddock. The ranger told us he hadn't seen the bears in 3 weeks before today !

Today we had no shows of Pallas Cat, Ocelot, Malayan Tapir, & Lowland Tapir,

Viewing for Cheetah, Hunting Dogs, and Rusty Spotted Cat is really really poor.

 

Fair enough, but I have had a lot of no shows for carnivores and primates at Howletts over the years! I really don't think one is the best zoo in the UK and the other is rubbish, there isn't that much between them ....

 

I don't think either are the best - but I still enjoy visiting Howletts. Afraid I can't say the same for PL.

 

What on earth does this mean? That something about PL appeals to a more urban market? That “city folk” are somehow wealthier than their country cousins? That PL is in some way more sophisticated than Howletts? None of these is in any way true. The immediate area surrounding PL is one of considerable poverty; Howletts, meanwhile, is in a much wealthier neck of the woods - if this is relevant (which I’m not sure it is).

 

Just because you've got money and can afford things doesn't mean you become unaware of prices and don't still want value for money (how do you think most of the wealthy became and remain wealthy).

Personally, as reported, I find it kind of bizarre that two close-together sister zoos have noticeable, arguably unjustifiable, differences in food prices.

 

Hopefully the path to the gorilla pavilion is still open?

 

This thread is interesting but without end. Until there is a definition for "best" the question can not be answered. I have not visited either collection because they are too far away from where I live. If I found myself in their neck of the woods I would visit them.

So they are too far away from me to comfortably visit. Does that make them "good" or "bad", "best" or worst"?

As it seems to be the policy of the current owners to return all species to their country of origin they will soon qualify as the emptiest zoo.

 

No but you appear to mince my words.

Let me explain, whilst in some people's eyes the admission fee to Port Lympne may be fair, they clearly have their eyes on a different market.

Their experiences are pricey, and they are not overly good value for money. I can say their personal Safari tour (not the general one you queue for) is expensive, you don't get any closer to the animals out on the safari, and all it gets you is a slower drive round and to stop now and again to be told about some of the animals.

Now Port Lympne is pretty much set up as a resort, offering lodges that look out on to exhibits, but the prices of these are eye watering to say the least. But this is definitely the focus of the park.

No I don't class people who live in a City as wealthier as people from the Countryside, when I refer to The City, I mean London. It is well known that people who can afford to live in the centre of London are wealthy and Port Lympne is clearly designed to appeal to people from The City, to stay in one of their expensive lodges.

The location of each of the two parks is not factor for me in this.

My basis on Howletts being more the family attraction, is that it's a Zoo, with lots of animals and losts of things for kids to do (big play area).

Port Lympne in my opinion is designed as one thing and one thing only and that is to promote it's resort which charges a fortune for people to stay at. Now I've stayed at some resorts on Zoo's or done lodge experiences, and even BCS, Whipsnade, Chessington, give you VIP treatment and behind the scenes animal experiences as part of your stay in their resorts and are not overly pricey either.
Port Lympne charge huge amounts but give you nothing except the lodge and breakfast. I understand a family may consider it good value to spend £1200 to be in a Lodge that looks into a Lion Exhibit, or £600 for a house, which has garden where you can overlook the wolf enclosure, but this is what they are pushing at the park.

Even on the safari tour we had, the ranger was quick to stop at the lodge and tell us how amazing it was and unique to see animals so close and that staying at Port Lympne was an absolute must for the full experience, they are clearly on a script to push this as much as possible. All over the park the lodges are advertised and so on.

There is no way your everyday family could afford to stay even 1 night at the park, when you are talking the cheapest is £249 for a double room in the hotel for a night, up to £1200 for a 4 person lodge, PER NIGHT, you would think they may struggle to book them out, but nope, pretty much all weekends throughout the year they are booked up! The are even building more and more lodges around the place. The resort is the money maker in this place and is very much designed for your people from the City who want to boast about staying in a room that looks out into a exhibit.

Howletts in my opinion has far better viewing enclosures, good talks and is very inviting for families with a lot of ABC animals.

In regards to Port Lympne, the mere fact you have to be very lucky to see a Lion, Tiger, Hunting Dog or Cheetah aside of the ones you see for a few seconds on the safari bus is disappointing.

In fact viewing of a lot of exhibits is poor, the mesh makes it difficult for photo's, and whilst Howletts have many exhibits with Glass viewing areas, there are hardly any like this at Port Lympne.

I also didn't enjoy it's a lot of walking around looking at near empty paddocks and so on. The Pallas Cats exhibit was very good and I liked that, but for me I couldn't really see kids being enthused at Port Lympne with lots of hills, long walks, not really viewing friendly exhibits and very little in the way of play areas. I noticed one may two very small ones (By the Meerkats and by the Safari pick up).

In my opinion Port Lympne is being designed to attract the London market, with people staying at the resort and making it's money that way, rather than Howletts which feels to me a very modern zoo with plenty to do and a bigger range of animals, more for kids to do and so on.

Port Lympne to me feels like that are trying to give the impression that it's like going on a safari in Africa or somewhere, that you get close to animals and can see them from your lodges. At £1200 a night to stay in the Giraffe house, or Lion Lodge, you could get a cheaper week away actually going to a reserve in Africa !

 

It is still open and you can see the Warty Pigs on the way down to the Gorilla's and then access to the Rhino hard standing and paddocks of the ones which are Mother and young.

 

It was a few months ago. For some years it was closed off- I never understood the rationale behind closing it in the first place, or then re-opening it again some years later...

 

Okay, sorry. The figure of Speech has always been stated as "The City" though. Highlighting the celebs, Russians, bankers and so on who are considered as the wealth. Hence how companies talk about attracting "The City" trade.
I'm sure I'm not the only person who has heard of this figure of speech, and I thought my post was quite clear in what I meant by stating "The City" in it.

 

Okay point taken and noted.