Port Lympne Wild Animal Park Port Lympne 2018

Good question! I was led to believe they still have the bachelor group of hybrid giraffe. But do not shoot the Messenger.

 

Yes they do still have a bachelor group but only 3 individuals now according to their facebook page Cillian, Settanta & Sebastian. Jonathan may of possibly passed away

 

Keepers are concerned about the 2 new Giraffe calves:

We are sad to announce that we are concerned about our giraffe calves. The older calf who is a boy has a gastrointestinal infection. He remains bright and well but is being given medication daily. Our younger calf, a girl, has been spending more time sleeping than we would like. She also has had problems with her left hind leg since birth.

Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve

 

Drills- From their FB page. PL have built a new enclosure fot their 10 strong Drill group, 4 times larger than their previous one. A very welcome development. If anyone visits soon, could they note if this is an entirely new enclosure or an extension to the old one. Thankyou.

 

Will do!

 

Took my first trip to Port Lympne a few days ago so I’m not sure how the drill enclosure was before, but the current set up is a large wooden aviary type building adjoining a paddock taking up a large portion of the hillside. Could that be the extension? It was located in the “Basecamp” area in line with the wolves.

 

Thanks for the response. The Drills used to be in an old style Howlett's wooded/wire enclosure roughly opposite the 'Palace of the Apes' Gorilla enclosure, so yes, this sounds like a complete relocation to a new site. And on re-reading their announcement it does say 'relocated' also.

 

Any news on the amur leopards, or where they will be held?

 

Unfortunately the male giraffe calf has been put to sleep after breaking his leg.

 

Update on Port Lympne.

Visited the other day. IMO it now resembles more a leisure complex with all the golf buggies, lodges and glamping experiences and the animals seem more like props set amongst all this...but they have to make this place pay and I think its a clever solution, despite not liking it.

Few changes (at least animal-wise) since my last visit. New Drill enclosure is excellent but is actually sited just inside the non-pedestrian area.. I endured the Safari-ride again just to see the parts of the park that are no longer accessible otherwise. Its all fairly dire-with little chance to even see the animals that are passed, let alone view them properly, most visitors seem only really interested in the African area though and that is better. The newer South American (spectacled Bears were invisible and consequently not even mentioned) and Asian sections are just drive-bys in comparison. Commentary innacurate/misleading- hog deer= smallest deer etc but who cares? It does smack of commercialism at its worst. At the African 'waterhole' its all change, with glamping tents now instead of a visitor centre where the tour used to stop for some time. There are plenty of semi-derelict animal enclosures dotted around nowadays too, like much of the old Elephant housing and the old round Chimp house., and signs around the park that have not been changed/updated in years. It all looks like its been left to rot...

Of interest to me were the Asian deer and Antelope- 11 Sambar including a stag( is this the only group in UK now?). circa 21 Barasingha- (no male except a pricket/young stag). 5 male blackbuck(castrated). But these groups seem to have little longterm potential.

I have to agree with others about the sad and dramatic changes that have altered this place in recent years. Will post a few photos in the gallery.

 

I think perhaps you were unlucky, on my recent visits I've seen everything on the truck ride, bears, takin...

I'm not sure the current set up is as good as my first visit in 2009, I certainly preferred more walking areas, but I would definitely place port Lympne on a par with say Marwell, probably better!

 

I saw the Takin, but not the bears, though honestly if I'd particularly wanted to see Takin there, the short glimpse you get from the passing truck would have been very frustrating.

Species wise its still at least Marwell's equal IMO, but the viewing of some species on the Safari section is so unsatisfactory you can virtually discount them.

 

I sympathise with the opinion on the truck ride, I'd much rather it was all walk around . I'm not really a fan of Safari Parks and the truck ride gives even less flexibility. It's a shame because Port Lympne has the space and already a fair few species, so could easily be one of the best zoos in the UK. Visitor numbers probably prevent any major developments though, I've never seen it crowded!

 

I think Port Lympne is so huge it wouldn't seem crowded at any time- though the car park was as full as I've ever seen it, it was one of the final days of the school holidays. The Safari trucks were very full and with a queue till later on. I think their problem at PL is the huge area and hilly location mean much of it is beyond average families with children, older folk etc. JA probably never factored visitor accessability in the original purchase, and the trucks became a later answer to this. Its the good range of species they still have that draws me back every so often, though I far prefer Howletts nowadays.

 

I find PL massively frustrating - and bloody hard work to get around. We probably don't do ourselves any favours as we tend not to wait for the safari truck to give us a lift up the hill - but if you want to see everything (even discounting the safari) it is an absolute mission in repeat attempts and hillwalking. I can understand why they've brought in the golf buggies for people staying there for this reason - but imo letting your average family loose with a golf buggy is a bad idea. As evidenced on our recent visit where we saw people driving them up paths that they absolutely should not be...

Don't get me started on the safari.

 

It is very frustrating. I think John Aspinall's original vision for it was simply to give much needed space for some of his breeding projects from Howletts. The public accessability was probably never even considered at that time, as the site certainly isn't visitor -friendly. Originally the main African Safari experience area was an extensive offshow area called 'Coombe Farm' which just had herds of Axis deer etc living in it. Then the younger Aspinall took over and opened up the Safari idea, bringing in common/non-endangered African species that were never there originally, in an attempt to make the whole place more viable financially and allow visitors a better experience. But I think its a very unsatisfactory way of seeing the animals and the commentaries...oh dear... then the camping and luxury lodges started to appear more recently still, and the buggies...all creating a very different feel to how it used to be.

 

Malacca, one of the female Malayan tapirs has passed away 2002 - 2018.

Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve

 

Poor Tapir

 

Only 16 as well, half the normal age. Poor girl.

 

The safari concept had nothing to do with Damian Aspinall, it was the keepers idea in order to make the park more financially viable as it was haemorrhaging money. Both parks used to be sustained by John Aspinall’s gambling profits but that all changed after he died.

I believe that, given the choice, Damian would close PL and continue with Howletts. The staff rarely see him and, when they do, it’s usually unannounced and with the gorillas!