Longleat Safari & Adventure Park Longleat Safari Park 2025

Cat-Man said:
Was it possible, in the past, to walk round the lake towards spot and Sonia’s grazing area? If so, when was this stopped?
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Unless it was possible in the incredibly early days (60s era), no - it's only ever been visible from a distance unfortunately. The hippo feeding (and riding) took place on the near side of the lake, as is visible from old footage. The drive through safari route runs directly next to the hippo, sea lion and gorilla housing so I don't think it's impossible this will become possible in the near future.

Cat-Man said:
I think questions regarding there indoor housing is fair, but given the fact longlete are swimming with cash, I suspect they’re going to be making significant improvements before the whipsnade hippos arrive.

If anybody has some actual info on this it would be appreciated
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Nothing that hasn't already been technically answered by the links to planning permission and news stories above, but categorically - the entire old house has been demolished, and a new indoor complex has been constructed. It's been in the local news here in Bath recently due to local businesses being sourced for contractor work and materials. Notably this features a heated indoor pool which is a massive leap forward compared to the old house, but in fairness the Wiltshire winters didn't seem too harsh on the previous inhabitants. Aside from the lake itself and the main grazing paddock, the entire hippo area of the park has been completely redone. Quite literally nothing of the old house remains - it was demolished weeks before work started on the new one
 
Historically, it would be nice to see pictures of the old housing, though I imagine (as with most old hippo housing) it was nothing more than a glorified shed!

It will also be interesting to see how the hippos are managed. Old interviews from keepers (Ian Turner for example) and footage allude to the previous pair pretty much being left to their own devices (even in winter) with specific no-go areas for the keepers!
 
cerperal said:
Unless it was possible in the incredibly early days (60s era), no - it's only ever been visible from a distance unfortunately. The hippo feeding (and riding) took place on the near side of the lake, as is visible from old footage. The drive through safari route runs directly next to the hippo, sea lion and gorilla housing so I don't think it's impossible this will become possible in the near future.


Nothing that hasn't already been technically answered by the links to planning permission and news stories above, but categorically - the entire old house has been demolished, and a new indoor complex has been constructed. It's been in the local news here in Bath recently due to local businesses being sourced for contractor work and materials. Notably this features a heated indoor pool which is a massive leap forward compared to the old house, but in fairness the Wiltshire winters didn't seem too harsh on the previous inhabitants. Aside from the lake itself and the main grazing paddock, the entire hippo area of the park has been completely redone. Quite literally nothing of the old house remains - it was demolished weeks before work started on the new one
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Thanks for answering this. Hippos are generally a very hardy species, but the indoor pool and housing is a good improvement!
 
Panthera1981 said:
Historically, it would be nice to see pictures of the old housing, though I imagine (as with most old hippo housing) it was nothing more than a glorified shed!
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I imagine it was similar to West Midlands SP, the hippos there had what looked like an old garage as their indoor quarters and a land area around the size of a small carpark until the new renovations were completed recently, and that was for a pod of up to nine animals! I'm pleased to see these upgrades taking place in the safari parks nowadays.
 
Cat-Man said:
Thanks for answering this. Hippos are generally a very hardy species, but the indoor pool and housing is a good improvement!
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When Longleat first opened as a Safari Park you could still walk along that side of the lake almost to opposite the old Gorilla Island. That was before any developments started taking place along there. Of course in those days the place was far less commercialised with none of the NO ENTRY signs that cover the estate nowadays. You could pretty much still walk anywhere -apart from into the Lion Reserve.
 
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Skukuza said:
some really interesting stuff in that link.

the design statement in particular;

- stated intention to begin with a 1:2 group so watch this space for another female arriving.

- capacity for 8 hippos

- hard standing area for vip experiences

Clearly some considerable investment! Much more than I envisaged certainly.
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I am glad they poured some ambition into the plans ... unlike Whipsnade .... where to be honest I think it has been a bad choice and really Whipsnade should have tried to get a breeding group together and part with the pygmy hippo (and send them over to London Zoo or elsewhere...).
 
Panthera1981 said:
Historically, it would be nice to see pictures of the old housing, though I imagine (as with most old hippo housing) it was nothing more than a glorified shed!

It will also be interesting to see how the hippos are managed. Old interviews from keepers (Ian Turner for example) and footage allude to the previous pair pretty much being left to their own devices (even in winter) with specific no-go areas for the keepers!
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Are there any pictures of Spot & Sonia’s old house, which I seem to remember was called The Hippodrome.
I would love to see what the inside looked like, & what facilities were available to them, when they weren’t wallowing in Half Mile Lake?.
 
Not directly relevant, but fans of the Longleat wolves may like to know this news about former residents Max and Mel: Log in to Facebook

In summary, Max has sadly been put down, and Mel is being re-homed at Exmoor Zoo so that she won't be alone for the remainder of her life.
 
Embu said:
I wish these reporters would do their homework and produce the correct information. "40 year wait" & "packing their trunks" confusing a hippo with an elephant, even a kid would know the difference.
Not to mention that Spot & Sonia only died in the last 2 years
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It's local news, we're lucky that they didn't refer to them as reptiles or something. They do say in the article Spot and Sonia only died recently so it's especially impressive they messed up when the hippos were last there

Unfortunate there's no new images...the construction is a rather lot more complete currently than those photos suggest. Hopefully anyone that visits the park over the next few weeks can get a photo of the building work currently going on.

By the look of things the house hasn't really increased in size, but I suppose we won't find out until it's finished
 
Im confused, isn’t the new alpha pack of wolves meant to be meg and terry! So the hope was they would eventually breed the new pack whilst the old pack just lived out together as siblings without an alpha leader..
 
Went to longleat last wk went on a safari drive with guide and we saw a pack of wolves in main enclosure and there was a couple in the fenced off enclosure he said that,that pair were the breeding pair and that they had been den building as they were hopeful of cubs so hopefully better news x
 
Rosie183 said:
Im confused, isn’t the new alpha pack of wolves meant to be meg and terry! So the hope was they would eventually breed the new pack whilst the old pack just lived out together as siblings without an alpha leader..
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That is the current setup.

Terry & Meg as the new breeding pair, Meg's brothers are in the other pack.
The female wolves at Longleat were Meg, Mel, Max, May & Lady.

Lady & May moved to Cotswolds 2 years ago then Mel & Max moved to Scottish Deer Centre last year.
 
So who is left in the big enclosure? Is it now empty for Meg and Terry to occupy? Or are we missing more wolves from the original pack from Jango and Aliska the orginal breeding pair.. sadly both deceased x
 
Rosie183 said:
So who is left in the big enclosure? Is it now empty for Meg and Terry to occupy? Or are we missing more wolves from the original pack from Jango and Aliska the orginal breeding pair.. sadly both deceased x
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Having only visited once back around 20025/6 I couldn't tell you. Think most of the males left in big pack were named after trees I believe
 
Visit report from May 18th:
-Saw the Magnolia Snails in animal adventure today for the first time.

- Emu Chick Exploring Family Farmyard with mum.

- The spurred tortoises were enjoying the sunshine in the meerkat walkthrough.

-The stick insects have moved from koala creek and are now exhibited on a tree in animal adventure.
 
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