highway directional sign

April 28, 2013. Very helpful, as the park is on small country roads and is hard to find. Made even harder if you have a rental car with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the vehicle, changing the stick shift with the wrong hand, and trying to stay on the left side of the road and not cause a head on collision.

I love the Kent countryside around Howletts, and the approach under the railway bridge at Patrixbourne and then you drive past the Gorilla enclosures on the way to the visitor entrance.

One of my favourite drives used to be the half-hour one between the two parks along the B2068, which is an old Roman road and so very straight for much of the route. (But more than once I've missed the right turnings though to get onto it) I would be anticipating whichever park I was going to. I have often done that drive around lunchtime when doing one park in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

However, I don't feel the same about Port Lympne since 'the changes' and wonder if I shall bother to revisit, or just do Howletts from now on.

Pertinax said:

However, I don't feel the same about Port Lympne since 'the changes' and wonder if I shall bother to revisit, or just do Howletts from now on.

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I'll be having my first ever visit to Port Lympne next month; I will be interested to see how I feel about the place having never known it before the changes.

To be frank, even if I do enjoy the place, it is sufficiently difficult to reach that I likely won't be visiting again in a hurry

Well Port Lympne is easy to reach by bus (I have done this on both previous visits), whereas Howletts is inaccessible without a car as far as I can tell.

I have not been to PL since the changes but I have looked at the map and the changes do not appear to be as drastic as most here make them out to be. Also with the new pallas cat walk-in exhibit, I am sure I would enjoy PL still.

Arizona Docent said:

Well Port Lympne is easy to reach by bus (I have done this on both previous visits), whereas Howletts is inaccessible without a car as far as I can tell.

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The bus to Port Lympne ceases to serve the park some hours before the park closes, frustratingly, which means if reliant on the bus you have to leave early. Conversely, Howletts is about a half-mile from Bekesbourne railway station and provides a free shuttle bus from the station to the park if you phone ahead (and in winter, as there is only one train an hour, they sometimes have the shuttle bus go to the train station anyhow just in case anyone disembarking is going to Howletts)

My trip to Port Lympne will require a 3 mile walk from Westenhanger railway station - not the worst walk I have done, but the trains are awkwardly timed.

Arizona Docent said:

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I have not been to PL since the changes but I have looked at the map and the changes do not appear to be as drastic as most here make them out to be. Also with the new pallas cat walk-in exhibit, I am sure I would enjoy PL still.

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What's happened as you are probably aware, is that a number of pathways have now become non-accessible, while a greater proportion of the total stock can now only be viewed from the uncomfortable lorries. I don't think the new Pallas Cat exhibit is a fair exchange for the losses. But for a small cat enthusiast like yourself(?) the losses are negligable, virtually all of them are still accessible.

Pertinax said:

What's happened as you are probably aware, is that a number of pathways have now become non-accessible, while a greater proportion of the total stock can now only be viewed from the uncomfortable lorries. I don't think the new Pallas Cat exhibit is a fair exchange for the losses. But for a small cat enthusiast like yourself(?) the losses are negligable, virtually all of them are still accessible.

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I much preferred Port Lympne as it was before, but think anyone who makes a 1st visit now wont miss whats gone and i would still say anyone who hasn't been should give it a try. Having been back after a 5 year gap recently, i will definitely return.

When I was at PL, the bus at closing in evening did not enter the parking lot, but it did still stop outside the entrance. It is a LONG walk through the grass fields to the road, perhaps almost a mile, but I was able to do it and stay until closing time.

pipaluk said:

I much preferred Port Lympne as it was before, but think anyone who makes a 1st visit now wont miss whats gone and i would still say anyone who hasn't been should give it a try. Having been back after a 5 year gap recently, i will definitely return.

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Agree, any first-time visitor won't be aware of the more limited access nowadays. And for the small cat enthusiast of whom there seem to be a number on here, most of them are still fully accessible too.

I just don't like the extended safari-style approach they have now- not to my personal taste to have no other option to view many of the animals except from a moving (and very uncomfortable) vehicle crowded in with other folk and an inane(for me) commentary etc, but I certainly wouldn't try to put anyone off going- there is still plenty to see of course.

Arizona Docent said:

Also with the new pallas cat walk-in exhibit, I am sure I would enjoy PL still.

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I read your trip report on the Europe Forum, and was particularly surprised by the section on your Howletts visit- that you found it as unsatisfactory as you obviously did if you were thinking of leaving so soon and trying to get to Port Lypmne instead! My preference nowadays would bevery much the other way round, as I've mentioned above, but that may be to do with our relative interests e.g. small cats aren't very high on my interest list, while Primates are.

Not sure if you had the car available for the day, but if so, as I indicated above, it is perfectly feasible to do both Parks in one day, with about three hours(or more) spent at each and the half-hour journey between them. I have done this many times over the years. Whichever one you go to in the afternoon, you can usually get longer at as they seem in no hurry to kick people out at the end of the day.

IMO Howletts these days is vastly superior, but as I said, for small cats, PL is obviously still the place.

P.S. Out of date maps and changed enclosures are pretty much standard there.