Great picture Steve; wanted a picture of a Barbary male but they only had lionesses on show when I was there last month (or they were young males, at least I couldn't see a male like this one anywhere).
Baldur- I think you'll find you did see the male Lions but they have been castrated except for this one(Milo). So now they look like females as their manes fell out. This applies to the past breeding male 'Suliman' and another male (his son?) 'Jabir'. 'Milo' and his brother 'Moonlight' are from the last litter of Suliman/Saffie- 'Moonlight' went to Hanover not long ago, to another new Barbary breeding set-up and a new exotic name- my guess is they'd like this one to leave too.
PL have stopped breeding them for now- reason given is overrepresentation. Yet the one son (Moonlight) has just been moved to start breeding at Hanover..
So was the new 'experience' in place then? Did you go on the truck ride around the whole park? Can you decline the 'safari' and just access the pedestrianised area for a smaller portion of the entry price? No?
Any impressions you have from your visit would be welcome, either here or in the UK Forum.
So was the new 'experience' in place then? Did you go on the truck ride around the whole park? Can you decline the 'safari' and just access the pedestrianised area for a smaller portion of the entry price? No?
Any impressions you have from your visit would be welcome, either here or in the UK Forum.
I have not one good thing to say about the African Experience. I'm sorry, I usually try to stay on the positive side and defend exhibits when I feel others are being too emotional (no names mentioned ) but I cannot state hard enough my dislike for this cheap attempt of theirs to jump on the safari park bandwagoon.
For one, given the sheer beauty of the surrounding Kent countryside, who on Earth thought it would be a more pleasant experience to jiggle around in an old army truck than to walk around at one's one calm pace. Yes, I know about the baby strollers and all that, and how uneven the property is, but still. For one thing I waited half an hour for a truck (they have 5-6 trucks but only seem to operate 2 at a time, even when the park is busy, there was a long line waiting with me) and then once you get onboard, you get rushed past Golden-belled Mangabeys, Javan Langurs (fortunately there are also JLs in the primate section but not GBMs) and worstl, Brown Hyenas. Now, I have seen Brown Hyenas here and there over the years, including very memorably during a feeding session in Prague Zoo, so I cannot complaining too much; but given that these are the UK's only, I'd hate to be the UK zoo enthusiast who has never seen this species, pays 22 quid and then gets rushed past the 'exhibit' at the speed of light.
You cannot decline the safari and pay less, not to my knowledge at least. If you book and pay online (as I did, to save a few quid) it says that the ticket price includes the safari.
It is one of the worst experiences I have had in any zoo and PL has seen my first as well as last visit. There is just nothing positive I have to say about the AE. The icing on the cake was the primate vocals they played for us at the end of the truck ride. I'm almost certain those were Siamang vocals (which are commonly seen on the Serengeti ) Moreover, due to the new arrangement, Caracal and Siberian Lynx cannot be seen, you get rushed past their enclosures as well.
And let me finish by saying that I'm looking forward to hear from the Aspinall Foundation PR team. A friend of mine wrote a piece for an IZES publication some time ago about how a trip to the PL safari lodges was more expensive (pro rata) than a safari to East Africa. Aparently they complained to the editor about his piece. Having seen the lodges from the truck, I'd rather spend a bit more (or less, for that matter) on actually going to Africa.
I had to get this out since I was being asked in the first place!
Thankyou Baldur. You have just confirmed my suspicions- this is pretty much how I thought things might turn out for the more 'serious' zoo visitor there. Whereas the average punter/family with kids probably doesn't mind being raced past a couple of monkeys or a brown hyaena. I'm a bit puzzled by your comments about the Brown Hyaenas though- can't they still be viewed from a pathway? Bwassa has just got some good shots of them which look like he was standing at the enclosure?
Its possible they may still admit ABWAK members to the 'pedestrian' areas as was previously the case( even they had to pay for the 'Safari' part) but I don't know if that will still hold good. I won't be hurrying back to PL after hearing this though, as I have no wish to use the truck system. There's always good old Howletts after all.
Thankyou Baldur. You have just confirmed my suspicions- this is pretty much how I thought things might turn out for the more 'serious' zoo visitor there. Whereas the average punter/family with kids probably doesn't mind being raced past a couple of monkeys or a brown hyaena. I'm a bit puzzled by your comments about the Brown Hyaenas though- can't they still be viewed from a pathway? Bwassa has just got some good shots of them which look like he was standing at the enclosure?
Its possible they may still admit ABWAK members to the 'pedestrian' areas as was previously the case( even they had to pay for the 'Safari' part) but I don't know if that will still hold good. I won't be hurrying back to PL after hearing this though, as I have no wish to use the truck system. There's always good old Howletts after all.
The Brown Hyena enclosure is 200-300 meters into the African Experience trail (i.e. from the start point of the trucks) and hence cannot be accessed on foot. Not sure about ABWAK members, I'm not one. I happen to know why Bwassa's images are so good (we're friends) but I'll leave it to him to explain to you in a PM rather than me telling on the forum!
