Port Lympne Wild Animal Park review of African Experience

[Arizona Docent]

African Experience is the name for their safari truck ride. Last year I ran out of time to ride it, so this year I made sure to do it right before my late lunch. What a waste of time. The seats are extremely uncomfortable wood planks with a seatbelt, which you need to keep you from falling off during the very bumpy ride and because the hill is so steep you would fall out of your seat if you weren't strapped in. People who were fragile or elderly could probably not do this ride at all. In America, a ride like this would never be put in a public zoo and I am fairly certain a ride this rough would be illegal in our country.

The hit-and-miss narration is pretty lame. Most of it is pre-recorded, although it is so infrequent you almost wonder what the point is. There are two staff people in the cab, one of which presumably is an announcer, but he spoke over the speaker only a couple times, and then only a few words. I could not help but wonder why they pay someone for doing basically nothing.

When there were actually animals to see, the driver usually sped by and the only way I could get sharp photos was by cranking up the ISO on my camera to an absurdly high setting for daylight to give me an equally absurdly fast shutter speed. When they were no animals to see at all, they would often slow down.

Plus, you have to take a 20 minute stop in the middle at this little reptile house. Since it was raining, I don't think any of us really wanted to stop and get out, but we had to. If it weren't for the red lechwe herd with three white individuals, the whole thing would have been a complete waste.

I like Port Lympne overall, but my advice to anyone going is not to waste your time on African Experience, unless you want to test your rear-end muscles to see how much bumping on hard wood they can take.

 

[Paix]

African Experience is the name for their safari truck ride. Last year I ran out of time to ride it, so this year I made sure to do it right before my late lunch. What a waste of time. The seats are extremely uncomfortable wood planks with a seatbelt, which you need to keep you from falling off during the very bumpy ride and because the hill is so steep you would fall out of your seat if you weren't strapped in. People who were fragile or elderly could probably not do this ride at all. In America, a ride like this would never be put in a public zoo and I am fairly certain a ride this rough would be illegal in our country.

The hit-and-miss narration is pretty lame. Most of it is pre-recorded, although it is so infrequent you almost wonder what the point is. There are two staff people in the cab, one of which presumably is an announcer, but he spoke over the speaker only a couple times, and then only a few words. I could not help but wonder why they pay someone for doing basically nothing.

When there were actually animals to see, the driver usually sped by and the only way I could get sharp photos was by cranking up the ISO on my camera to an absurdly high setting for daylight to give me an equally absurdly fast shutter speed. When they were no animals to see at all, they would often slow down.

Plus, you have to take a 20 minute stop in the middle at this little reptile house. Since it was raining, I don't think any of us really wanted to stop and get out, but we had to. If it weren't for the red lechwe herd with three white individuals, the whole thing would have been a complete waste.

I like Port Lympne overall, but my advice to anyone going is not to waste your time on African Experience, unless you want to test your rear-end muscles to see how much bumping on hard wood they can take.

My experience was very similiar! I had to queue for an hour to get on the Bus, the announcer wasnt very helpful, and made the odd mistake! Our driver also drove right past most animals, including the foxes. Although, I understand, we are not here to see Foxes!

I do believe it was worth it though. I wouldnt do it again though!

 

[Shirokuma]

I agree that the commentary is terrible - particularly when it says at the beginning 'we're not like other zoos' which simply isn't true anymore. I had a driver who said 'I'm switching the commentary off as it's rubbish and the monkey noises are South American!' he was very good actually.

I'm not sure why you had two people, we didn't on my visit.

I didn't find it as uncomforable as you but I did find the belts uncomfortable and they made it very difficult to turn around to see the animals behind (I sat at the back). I don't think it was as rough as you described but it isn't Disney, I thought it felt quite fun.

Maybe you had a bad day with the speed, I didn't experience this at all. I went on quite a hot day and found it quite a positive experience, the foliage in the park with lots of thorny bushes and dry grass felt the most realistic African drive through I've seen, much better than the bland flat green fields at a safari park for example.

I do agree that that the reptile house or 'Discovery Zone' is terrible, it feels like you are in a second rate amateur collection and certainly doesn't reflect well on the rest of the zoo. However the views on a good day are excellent and if you are lucky you get some close up views of the animals at the water hole at the top of the park - you have to walk down the hill for this.

My biggest criticism after the Discovery Zone would be the presence of Asian species in the park.

So I can relate to some of your points but I think you are being a bit harsh and I guess the weather makes a difference too.

 

[Maguari]

African Experience is the name for their safari truck ride. Last year I ran out of time to ride it, so this year I made sure to do it right before my late lunch. What a waste of time. The seats are extremely uncomfortable wood planks with a seatbelt, which you need to keep you from falling off during the very bumpy ride and because the hill is so steep you would fall out of your seat if you weren't strapped in. People who were fragile or elderly could probably not do this ride at all. In America, a ride like this would never be put in a public zoo and I am fairly certain a ride this rough would be illegal in our country.

Illegal? Seriously? It's hardly a Chesterfield sofa but it's really not that bad.

And steep hills? How dare they!



As with the Chester thread, after your first paragraph I generally agree with you!

The hit-and-miss narration is pretty lame. Most of it is pre-recorded, although it is so infrequent you almost wonder what the point is. There are two staff people in the cab, one of which presumably is an announcer, but he spoke over the speaker only a couple times, and then only a few words. I could not help but wonder why they pay someone for doing basically nothing.

The recorded narration is awful - they couldn't even get someone who knew how to pronounce 'Przewalski' without sounding the 'z'. Which driver you get seems to count for a lot - some of them dispense with the recording altogether.

Plus, you have to take a 20 minute stop in the middle at this little reptile house. Since it was raining, I don't think any of us really wanted to stop and get out, but we had to. If it weren't for the red lechwe herd with three white individuals, the whole thing would have been a complete waste.

I really think they ought to put in a path to this bit and miss it off the truck ride. It would allow you to see giraffes and zebra without paying extra and it would spare the wait halfway.

I like Port Lympne overall, but my advice to anyone going is not to waste your time on African Experience, unless you want to test your rear-end muscles to see how much bumping on hard wood they can take.

Oh, you wimp! It's only a bench!

 

[Pertinax]

You have to remember that historically Howletts was a private collection and even when both parks were opened to the public, it was done somewhat reluctantly and visitors were made aware of their 'humble' position with the 'here the animals come first' ethos. The visitors weren't really welcome and opening to the public was forced on them simply for them to keep afloat. As a result, arrangements for visitors at both parks have IMO always been secondary to other concerns and somewhat 'rough and ready' compared to other more conventional zoos and wildlife parks. (For a start the steep hillside location and layout of Port Lympne in particular make it just about the least visitor-friendly zoo location in the UK!) The 'African experience' ride sounds rather like yet another example of this.. Not an excuse for poor service or value if you are paying for it, but worth seeing in the context of their own particular 'culture'.

I'd say that although Howletts and PL do have an excellent record with keeping and breeding many species- they do, like all places, have their weak points. Catering for the public is perhaps one of them, Elephant indoor housing is definately another (particularly at Port Lympne...)

 

[Arizona Docent]

Now that I think about it, I believe there was only one driver. I could only see into the right side of the cab and since I saw someone there I assumed he was just an announcer and the driver was (unseen to me) on the left. I forgot until now that in England the driver sits on the right!

 

[leiclad20]

I visited Port lympne in early august. We were there at 10am and got to the african experience bus stop at 11.30. we queued for 45mins. and when the tractor finally came round (2 were sat idle along the path despite the huge queue) they didnt even both to fill every seat. It was good weather and saw loads of animals with a good commentary so i think it was worth it but i resented paying extra for it.

I agree that there should be a path from the elephants over to it, then the rides could start and finish from outside the discovery centre (which would mean theyd be quicker so the queues wouldnt be a s long). And it was weird having amazonian animals in an african experience.

Pertinax, whilst i understand that the parks did start off as a private collection and the animals (as they should) come first, the collections now only exist thru charitable donations and largely the paying public. I paid nearly 18 quid to go to that place, and for that i SHOULD be made welcome there and be made to feel like i would want to come back. as it was, i wasnt and i dont think ill return for quite a while, good breeding record or not.

By half past 2, the queue for the ride was extending back past the lion pen almost as far as the coati. Unless this zoo (?the most expensive tourist attraction in kent?) starts to consider the needs of visitors, its reputation will begin to preceed it - for the worst. Bad reputation = Less visitors = less money = less animals.

 

[Pertinax]

Pertinax, whilst i understand that the parks did start off as a private collection and the animals (as they should) come first, the collections now only exist thru charitable donations and largely the paying public. I paid nearly 18 quid to go to that place, and for that i SHOULD be made welcome there and be made to feel like i would want to come back. as it was, i wasnt and i dont think ill return for quite a while, good breeding record or not. . Bad reputation = Less visitors = less money = less animals.

Don't get me wrong- I am not defending them. Just pointing out why things are like they are there. Even now I don't think the Parks (particularly Lympne) are fully geared up for the paying public and it does not surprise me in the least to hear some less than favourable reports. As I said, if you're paying for something you should get good value for it.