8am. The start of what would become a glorious trip to the wilds of Kent had begun.
Myself and pocket have been visiting zoos together for nearly a year now, and already have various notable collections under our belt (Twycross, Chester, the ZSL zoos etc) and many more planned. On our continuing quest, we had begun our latest trip; a weekend trip to Kent to visit the Aspinall zoos (Howletts and Port Lympne) and (a late addition) Wingham Wildlife Park. The plan was to visit Wingham on the Saturday morning and Howletts on the Saturday afternoon, and Port Lympne on the Sunday. So, off we went.
After a shaky drive down from London (I am known by my friends and family for getting migraines, and had one on the way down, plus a sudden bout of queasiness) we arrived at Wingham at 9:50am in a cold drizzle. On our way past we glimpsed Howletts from the outside, an exciting glance at where we would be headed later. Upon entering we immediately headed to the chimpanzee enclosure. This was very interesting to see. They have clearly put a lot of work into the new exhibit, despite it seeming a tad empty (less so now that the chimps are finally there!!!) and the white walls looking slightly bleak. Nevertheless we saw both of the males (Fritz, born 1988, and Lucas, born 1993) as well as two of the five females (Faye, born 1992, and Tara, born 1993). All seemed content, foraging and lounging around, with Lucas playing a game of chase through the windows with the children present. Upstairs in the chimp house there are five smaller enclosures home to mixes of small monkeys and other 'small' mammals; cottontop tamarins and a four-toed hedgehog in the first, Goeldi's monkeys and another four-toed hedgehog in the second, golden-handed tamarins and a Brazilian three-banded armadillo in the third, bearded emperor tamarins and a third four-toed hedgehog in the fourth, and common marmosets, Linnaeus' two-toed sloths and a yellow tamandua in the final one.
The rest of the collection was interesting to experience. Many species I had never seen before (pardine genets, little red flying foxes, pumas, smooth-coated otters, Buffon's turaco, grivet monkeys and Spix's night monkeys) and they had a few of my favourites as well (mandrills, chimpanzees of course and eclectus parrots). However, lots of the enclosures were very small, some were empty (e.g. butterflies) and there were a few features I, and others on here I imagine, wasn't too keen on; a children's farm specialising in feeding animals (it breaks my heart to see all the animals looking at you hoping you have some food for them) and those ****ing animatronic dinosaurs that infuriatingly are becoming more and more common in zoos. Some of the enclosures also failed to give some of the animals privacy (the caracal and the Scottish wildcats had no offshow house, with both their indoor dens being entirely visible through large windows). The tropical house, despite being one of our highlights, could also have been a little warmer, and this was clearly noticeable with the complete lack of butterflies in the butterfly walkthrough exhibit in there. However, the visit didn't disappoint and the zoo itself still shone through, with friendly staff, good food and some memorable moments (showing Lucas the chimpanzee some photos on my phone and pocket being scared half to death by a very sudden display from the alpha mandrill Malik). We left the zoo at 12:30 thinking happy thoughts.
OVERALL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ZOO:
- The chimpanzees
- The pumas
- The mandrills
- The tropical house
WINGHAM FINAL SCORE: 4/5
Myself and pocket have been visiting zoos together for nearly a year now, and already have various notable collections under our belt (Twycross, Chester, the ZSL zoos etc) and many more planned. On our continuing quest, we had begun our latest trip; a weekend trip to Kent to visit the Aspinall zoos (Howletts and Port Lympne) and (a late addition) Wingham Wildlife Park. The plan was to visit Wingham on the Saturday morning and Howletts on the Saturday afternoon, and Port Lympne on the Sunday. So, off we went.
After a shaky drive down from London (I am known by my friends and family for getting migraines, and had one on the way down, plus a sudden bout of queasiness) we arrived at Wingham at 9:50am in a cold drizzle. On our way past we glimpsed Howletts from the outside, an exciting glance at where we would be headed later. Upon entering we immediately headed to the chimpanzee enclosure. This was very interesting to see. They have clearly put a lot of work into the new exhibit, despite it seeming a tad empty (less so now that the chimps are finally there!!!) and the white walls looking slightly bleak. Nevertheless we saw both of the males (Fritz, born 1988, and Lucas, born 1993) as well as two of the five females (Faye, born 1992, and Tara, born 1993). All seemed content, foraging and lounging around, with Lucas playing a game of chase through the windows with the children present. Upstairs in the chimp house there are five smaller enclosures home to mixes of small monkeys and other 'small' mammals; cottontop tamarins and a four-toed hedgehog in the first, Goeldi's monkeys and another four-toed hedgehog in the second, golden-handed tamarins and a Brazilian three-banded armadillo in the third, bearded emperor tamarins and a third four-toed hedgehog in the fourth, and common marmosets, Linnaeus' two-toed sloths and a yellow tamandua in the final one.
The rest of the collection was interesting to experience. Many species I had never seen before (pardine genets, little red flying foxes, pumas, smooth-coated otters, Buffon's turaco, grivet monkeys and Spix's night monkeys) and they had a few of my favourites as well (mandrills, chimpanzees of course and eclectus parrots). However, lots of the enclosures were very small, some were empty (e.g. butterflies) and there were a few features I, and others on here I imagine, wasn't too keen on; a children's farm specialising in feeding animals (it breaks my heart to see all the animals looking at you hoping you have some food for them) and those ****ing animatronic dinosaurs that infuriatingly are becoming more and more common in zoos. Some of the enclosures also failed to give some of the animals privacy (the caracal and the Scottish wildcats had no offshow house, with both their indoor dens being entirely visible through large windows). The tropical house, despite being one of our highlights, could also have been a little warmer, and this was clearly noticeable with the complete lack of butterflies in the butterfly walkthrough exhibit in there. However, the visit didn't disappoint and the zoo itself still shone through, with friendly staff, good food and some memorable moments (showing Lucas the chimpanzee some photos on my phone and pocket being scared half to death by a very sudden display from the alpha mandrill Malik). We left the zoo at 12:30 thinking happy thoughts.
OVERALL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ZOO:
- The chimpanzees
- The pumas
- The mandrills
- The tropical house
WINGHAM FINAL SCORE: 4/5
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all looked happy and displayed no stereotypical behaviour. We later headed to the Old Gorilla Complex and got there (again) just in time for a feed. We saw the newest group; Tebe, Sammi and Kibara. Tebe and Kibara stuck together a lot of the time, whilst Sammi stayed by himself for the brief period he was outside for. They all looked very happy and healthy, Sammi is looking very impressive already. We also saw the whole of Djanghou's group (Djanghou, Kwimba, Sanki, Kimba, Kidiki, Masindi, Kisane, Nkoumou, Affy, Jouki and Soundi) including the newest addition Soundi, who got given some nuts by a keeper whilst her mum Sanki was eating by the mesh. However, we didn't see Baby Doll unfortunately (the only remaining gorilla from Howletts' original group). Finally, as we were leaving we managed to catch a glimpse of Sidonie, a female gorilla formerly a part of but now separated from Kifu's group in her bedroom at the back of the New Gorilla Complex. We also saw the remainder of Kifu's group join those we saw earlier for their dinner outdoors (so we saw Mushie, Kifu and Emba again, as well as Tambabi and Bamilla).
I would be surprised if any members rate the Truck Ride that highly, although it's fun enough.
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