Port Lympne, The Ultimate Staycation Safari

THE ULTIMATE STAYCATION SAFARI

Port Lympne Reserve, Lympne (Nr Hythe), Kent

Despite the feeling that covid has “gone away now”, which we all know is not entirely the case, many people are still opting for a staycation rather than travelling abroad, and that is ok when it would have been a week’s holiday in the sun to Spain or the like, but what about if you want to go on safari to see the ‘Big 5’ (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo)? Well, for those who want this incredible experience, I now have the most perfect UK option, namely Port Lympne, not in deepest darkest Africa, but in the sunny depths of Kent near to Folkestone.

The first thing I need to be very clear about at the outset is that Port Lympne is not a zoo. It is instead a breeding sanctuary set up to protect endangered species from extinction, where it lets visitors see, and learn about the animals they are saving, in enclosures designed with the animals in mind. This means that the enclosures are large and full of natural foliage, allowing the animals privacy to protect their wellbeing by recreating their natural habitats in the wild as much as they can. This makes it sometimes harder to spot some of the animals, but you will see them, and searching for them is an integral part of the fun of going on safari and a small price to pay to protect their mental health. Many of the animals here will be sent back to the wild, to boost numbers and ensure breeds do not become extinct. To that end, at Port Lympne, animals come first, and the love and respect that all their staff have for the animals they look after is a joy to see, and for me makes this a place not only to visit, but to support as well.

Port Lympne is set in over 600 acres and is home to over 900 rare and endangered animals, creating a unique family adventure, either in one day, or several days if you opt for a season pass. The cost of a day ticket is £29 for an adult and £26 for a child (which includes a 10% donation for animal conservation), and this enables you to walk around the park all day, visit the dinosaur zone as well as having a 1 ½ hour escorted safari through the park.

Alternatively, you can stay a few days, as Port Lympne have truly amazing and diverse options for staying on site. There are 14 different types of accommodation around the reserve so your party can choose the accommodation that would suit your party’s size and requirements best. These include glamping at Bear Lodge, two-bedroom Treehouses, up to the sumptuous luxury lodges such as Lion Lodge and Tiger Lodge, that are truly amazing, with spectacular, private viewing opportunities to some of the more spectacular animals. There will definitely be one which caters for your taste and pocket, with some more geared to families and some more romantic breaks for couples.

We originally visited Port Lympne six years ago when we stayed in a Treehouse, so we know how much there is to see, and we were delighted when we were invited back to stay in the newly built, luxurious Wigwams at Leopards Creek.

We had a great schedule planned, that started at 2pm for check-in, but we were so excited we arrived at 12pm, which gave us time to follow in the footsteps of luminaries such as Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin by having a classic Afternoon Tea in the historic Port Lympne Hotel. The tea is a full selection of fresh finger sandwiches and savoury bites, along with dainty pastries, and my personal favourite the scones, with as much cream and jam as you want. What a perfect way to start our safari break, especially as it was a beautiful day so all this was enjoyed in the courtyard.

At 2pm we were asked to meet a ranger who gave us our own golf buggy that was ours for the duration of our stay, which is fantastic as it means you can take your time and visit the animals you are most interested in, especially as residents are allowed to drive around the grounds once they are closed to the public for the day. Please note that not all of the accommodation offers the golf buggys, so do check with Porty Lympne when deciding what accommodation suits your needs best. I have to say they are a great addition to your stay, so I would highly recommend staying in a property that does offer them.

Our journey to our accommodation was about ten minutes, and en-route we passed by brown bears, a lion, tigers, gorillas, buffalo and horses, until we reached one of the two wigwams at Leopards Creek. This is one of Port Lympne’s premium locations, next to the Amur leopard enclosure, which gave us amazing access to view these rare and majestic creatures. The wigwams are spectacular, with a true wow factor, as they have amazing panoramic views of the Kent countryside, and are lavishly furnished along with top end appliances, a monsoon shower and a large and welcoming king-sized bed where you can look through the huge glass windows at the reserve all around.

As part of the accommodation package, you are able to take advantage of the large jeeps that take you on a safari around the reserve, driven by rangers who have great information on all the animals, and do remember to take your camera as there are fabulous photo opportunities.

After our safari we had time to enjoy our wigwam and the complimentary bottle of Gusbourne wine, (my favourite English Sparkling wine, and in my view one of Kent’s finest), whilst sitting outside looking over the beautiful Kent countryside. After an hour enjoying and relaxing in the outdoor space, we headed to dinner at the Garden Restaurant, back in the Hotel. This former stable yard has been converted to a light and airy glass roofed restaurant with a welcoming Mediterranean feel, serving locally sourced ingredients from ‘The Garden of England’. I started with the confit chicken, tarragon and leek terrine with chutney and grilled sourdough (£9) and my wife chose the buratta with heritage beetroot, lamb’s lettuce and

pomegranate molases (£11). Chicken and tarragon are a classic combination as the tarragon brings out more of the chicken’s flavour, and my terrine was chunky and packed with flavour and the sourdough was light and airy. The buratta and beetroot combination is also a classic combination with the sweetness and crunchiness of the beetroot against the creamy, but sharper buratta, and this didn’t disappoint either. The choice of mains is extensive and eventually I selected the roast cod fillet with chorizo, saffron and mussel risotto, and chimichurri dressing (£21), and my wife the twice baked Ashmore cheese soufflé, leek fondue and tenderstem broccoli (£17). My cod was well cooked and flaky, and the risotto good, but I wished that it was a little creamier and that the rich flavour of the chorizo and mussels had come through more than they did, because as a combination they should have elevated the dish and packed more flavour than they did. I know from painful experience that soufflés are not simple to cook, and so it is always interesting to see how a professional will fare with this and here it was light and full of the cheese flavour. This was well supported by the leek fondue which was creamy and provided some texture to a dish that would lack any otherwise.

For dessert we were seduced by the milk chocolate and caramel delice with passion fruit (£8) and the garden room cheese platter, where we selected 2 cheeses from a selection for £7 accompanied by chutney’s and grapes. Port Lympne is always promoting local produce, and the cheese platter offers you the chance to select however many cheeses you would like from 5 classy English cheeses, all of which are locally made and all lesser known, but ones you will want to remember long after your meal.

Wines are also available from many of the smaller Kent vineyards, so be brave and choose one as you won’t be disappointed.

One of the treats of staying at Port Lympne is that you can continue to enjoy the park and the animals long after the day visitors have left, and on our drive back to our wigwam after our meal we were able to see a few of the animals who are more active at night, and as we were the only people around it was like we were in our own personal animal park. One tip is to make sure you have a map and plan your route home, as at night paths look very different!

After a truly restful night’s sleep in our luxurious sheets, and following a generous breakfast at the Garden Restaurant, we were raring to go again, and were looking forward to the AAA safari (Access All Areas) which includes the chance to feed some of the animals. This safari takes 2 ½ hours and is an absolute must, as you are in very small groups and visit the animals with a ranger who takes you up close and personal with the animals whilst all the time educating you about them and their habitat. We learned how not to agitate a silver backed gorilla (for the record you mustn’t stare directly into their face as it is apparently a challenge to them!), watched the amazingly gentle brown bears playing, and drove through the Asian and African Experiences where giraffes, zebras, wildebeest and even ostriches’ roam freely across the Kent savannah.

The highlight of this trip for me however, was feeding the rhinos and the giraffes, which was a truly humbling and magical experience, as you get up close and personal with these majestic and gentle creatures. The giraffes are fed in the open, and although the first time we did this trip they took their food from our hands in the jeep we were in, this time we were lucky that they were in a holding area, so we got to see their true magnificence simply separated by wooden fencing. Guests can also feed the Lions and Tigers, but rest assured there is a stronger fence between you and them in this case!

After giving the animals their food, and all the excitement, we had worked up an appetite, so stopped off at the Italian inspired Babydoll’s Wood Fired Pizza restaurant. This ski chalet styled restaurant didn’t disappoint and the pizzas were light and crispy and generously topped, and this is the perfect option for families visiting the park as it is situated close to the brown bear enclosure, the tiger enclosure, and the Dinosaur Park (spoiler alert: none of these dinosaurs are alive!!).

Port Lympne is a unique place where vital conservation work goes hand in hand with a visitor attraction, and what shines through is the love for the animals from everyone who works and visits Port Lympne. The safaris, the accommodation the food are all of the highest quality and provide visitors a 5 star experience, but these almost feel secondary to the important conservation work that is performed here, where hundreds of endangered animals have been reintroduced into the wild.

Seeing animals in their natural environment on a safari is magical and unique, but a staycation safari at Port Lympne is almost as good, but has the added benefit that whilst you are enjoying the animals you are contributing to saving them. A win-win in my opinion.

Port Lympne Reserve, Lympne (Nr Hythe), Kent www.aspinallfoundation.org/port-lympne/

About The Aspinall Foundation

The Aspinall Foundation was founded out of a deep love for wildlife and a respect for nature. Their global wildlife conservation work, spanning thirty years, covers issues such as the illegal wildlife trade, the “re-wilding” of wild and captive born animals, and the recovery of threatened species and their habitat through community-based conservation. The Aspinall Foundation is one of the world leaders in wildlife reintroduction and they are extremely proud that they are at the forefront of breeding animals in captivity and reintroducing them back into the wild whilst protecting vital ecosystems around the world.

One of the projects that they are most proud of is their work in the Congo and Gabon. When everyone else told them it was impossible, The Aspinall Foundation has for over 30 years, been successfully reintroducing over 70 gorillas from both in and ex-situ populations, into the wild, with a 95% annual survival rate, and over 30 births to released animals. Not only are they responsible for the world’s first gorilla reintroductions, but also the added conservational value includes the protection of the whole reintroduction site.

The Foundation protects over a million acres over the Batéké Plateau, which spans the borders of Congo and Gabon, and by reintroducing a keystone species like gorillas, this provides umbrella protection for iconic species such as hippos, elephants, chimpanzees, forest buffalo, pangolins, leopards and lions. Since its launch, The Aspinall Foundation has worked on similar ground breaking reintroduction projects across the world with black rhinos, Javan gibbons, Javan langurs, grizzled langur, European bison, brown hyenas, and Przewalski horses.

The Batéké Plateau is their flagship conservation project, once an area where wildlife had been driven out due to hunting and poaching, it is now a thriving ecosystem, where gorillas, forest elephant and even a lion have been spotted. In 2019, they sent a pack of 7 African painted dogs bred in the UK at Port Lympne to a protected reserve in Gabon. Painted dogs are the only living members of the genus Lycaon and are so genetically divergent from wolves and dogs. This is the first time African painted dogs have lived in Gabon for over 25 years.

In Madagascar, their community-based conservation projects have helped to conserve several of the most endangered species on the planet through cost-effective in-situ work without resorting to captive breeding. As a result, the critically endangered greater bamboo lemur population has recovered from only 100 wild individuals to over a thousand in a decade. These reintroductions are implemented with a gold standard in planning and execution. Reintroductions are bold and not without risk, but, as they have proven, can yield enormous returns not only for the individual animals now living back in their natural habitat, but for species returned to areas from where they have been hunted to extinction.

The Aspinall Foundation has successfully reintroduced five Eastern Black Rhino, a critically endangered species into Tanzania and three into South Africa. It is estimated there are only about 5,000 black rhinos left in the wild and the eastern black rhino is the rarest of all. Of the 5,000 only 800-1000 are eastern black rhinos. These rhinos are not only living free, but producing healthy wild offspring. The first bull rhino rewilded in 1996 has sired in excess of 15 calves, some of which have since been relocated to areas where they can continue to breed freely, maintaining genetic diversity. Among the six rewilded female rhinos, the first of whom arrived in Tanzania in 2004, there have been 25 noted successful births to released black rhino with a total of 60 descendants.

The project in Java centres around saving the endangered Javan Langur and Gibbon, also known as the Moloch or Silvery Gibbon. With fewer than 2,500 mature Javan gibbons in the wild, these primates are one of the most endangered species of primate in the world. The Aspinall Foundation’s Primate Project has two sites in Java. One in the East and one in the West. Their in-situ team rehabilitates and releases primates rescued from the illegal pet trade. The work of their in-situ team is supported by their UK wild animal parks, which are the world’s number one breeders of Javan gibbons. Since their Javan Primate Project began in 2012, up to the end of 2019, they have released 159 primates into the forests that they protect, so that they can live in the wild – where they belong.

European bison are the largest living land mammal in Europe. Hunting for food and skins drove them to extinction in the wild in 1927. Since 2003, The Foundation have helped to reintroduce six bison to the Vanatori Neamt Nature Park in the Carpathian mountains of Romania. The 6 bison have now produced 5 calves and the project is a fundamental step towards increasing the population of a species that was once extinct in the wild. The bison population has recovered substantially in Romania, and there are now at least 42 European bison in the Vanatori Neamt Nature Park.

The Aspinall Foundation, in collaboration with a team of international conservationists, rescued 11 elephants, 4 giraffe, 19 buffalo and 29 wildebeest from a barren, halfabandoned reserve in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. The rescued animals were all safely translocated to safe new homes within days.

The Aspinall Foundation provides educational outreach to local communities, both in the UK and overseas. Their work helps raise awareness and encourages communities to protect vulnerable animals and habitats.

In the UK they work with schools to host talks, trips and workshops. Overseas, they work with schools and local communities to raise awareness of the importance of conservation. In Madagascar, they have distributed 4,000 lemur notebooks to school children. They have developed community-based microprojects to strengthen local community associations, improve training, support improved agricultural methods and support local education programmes. One project saw them distribute over 4,000 seedlings of native tree species to local communities as part of their community-based reforestation programme. They have also donated 40 beehives that help develop alternative income streams for local communities.

To find out how you can help or support The Aspinall Foundation, please email; Samanthab@aspinallfoundation.org or visit www.aspinallfoundation.org