Review Of Port Lympne - 28th Of May
(Check the gallery for my photos.)
Port Lympne as pointed out by the members here is a pretty special collection, it has a good range of animals including some that you wouldnt find in your average zoo.
Key points of the zoo
Sifakas - Saw my first ever Sifaka, in fact two! According to a younger guy near by they recently had a female arrive and she is currently being introduced to Noel, can anyone confirm this?
Primates - An incredibly large collection of these and all pretty well housed in my opinion. Most enclosures were wooden and wire meshed which didnt make for great photography but i saw some very unusual species including the Samango monkey and Moloch Gibbon which were both very active in their enclosures. The baby Colobus, howler monkeys and guinea baboons were on show and it looked as if a few more were on the way.
Carnivores - The park mainly specialises in Barbary lions and small cats. Most the barbary lions were well housed but the enclosure all seemed on the small side to me. The snow leopards had a excellent hilly enclosure but no sign of them as did the cheetah who seemed focused on the elephants over the hill! We didnt have much time to look around the small cats but we did get quick glances of the Fishing cat, ocelot and siberian lynx who all well planted and displayed enclosures.
Hoofstock - Port Lympnes main focus on hoofstock seems to be Black rhino and Antelope. During my visit i managed to count at least 10 Black rhinos but no babies this time round. The park also had an extensive amount of Roan Antelope, European bison, przewalski's horse and water buffalo all housed within the deer park at the park.
African Experience - This is advertised as the main part of the zoo. At an additional cost visitors embark on large jeeps (taking about 20 at a time) round the African experience paddocks and also some of the zoos other paddocks. The main African experience paddock is home to giraffes, zebras, lechwe, rhino, buffalo, wildebeest, eland and axis deer. The jeep sticks to the road but you usually get a great view of the animals (apart from the giraffes who seemed to be pretty shy that day) Half was round you stop at the discovery zone which has a gift shop, cafe and a small reptile house which is home to pygmy marmosets, reptiles amphibians etc. You then board the jeep again which takes you past the rhinos, gorillas and back to the starting point. Overall its well worth the money and has some great photo opportunities.
Bad Points of the zoo
Price - If your paying for the the food for the meerkats, the african experience it comes to a large amount, plus you have to buy your own map. It seems the zoos is overly desperate to get your pockets empty
Layout - I found the entrance layout quite longwinded, when you step outside the gift shop the sign directs you right for the tigers/lion and then left for the rest of the zoo, i found it weird for the big cats to be in a separate area. The walk to get to the actual animal collection is also very long and i felt very sorry for the many families i saw with pushchairs!
Map - The map in short was very badly labelled, half the animals seemed to be in the wrong place and the location of several enclosures on the path was very unclear causing a lot of confusion, dont worry if you cant find it because it is likely to be near by as we found out!
Gift shop - Yet another pricey zoo shop, what i found odd here was when you entered the park they forced you to walk through the shop immediately forcing kids to start searching through the shelves, bad planning if you ask me!
Fell free to ask any questions, Tigerlemurguy.
(Check the gallery for my photos.)
Port Lympne as pointed out by the members here is a pretty special collection, it has a good range of animals including some that you wouldnt find in your average zoo.
Key points of the zoo
Sifakas - Saw my first ever Sifaka, in fact two! According to a younger guy near by they recently had a female arrive and she is currently being introduced to Noel, can anyone confirm this?
Primates - An incredibly large collection of these and all pretty well housed in my opinion. Most enclosures were wooden and wire meshed which didnt make for great photography but i saw some very unusual species including the Samango monkey and Moloch Gibbon which were both very active in their enclosures. The baby Colobus, howler monkeys and guinea baboons were on show and it looked as if a few more were on the way.
Carnivores - The park mainly specialises in Barbary lions and small cats. Most the barbary lions were well housed but the enclosure all seemed on the small side to me. The snow leopards had a excellent hilly enclosure but no sign of them as did the cheetah who seemed focused on the elephants over the hill! We didnt have much time to look around the small cats but we did get quick glances of the Fishing cat, ocelot and siberian lynx who all well planted and displayed enclosures.
Hoofstock - Port Lympnes main focus on hoofstock seems to be Black rhino and Antelope. During my visit i managed to count at least 10 Black rhinos but no babies this time round. The park also had an extensive amount of Roan Antelope, European bison, przewalski's horse and water buffalo all housed within the deer park at the park.
African Experience - This is advertised as the main part of the zoo. At an additional cost visitors embark on large jeeps (taking about 20 at a time) round the African experience paddocks and also some of the zoos other paddocks. The main African experience paddock is home to giraffes, zebras, lechwe, rhino, buffalo, wildebeest, eland and axis deer. The jeep sticks to the road but you usually get a great view of the animals (apart from the giraffes who seemed to be pretty shy that day) Half was round you stop at the discovery zone which has a gift shop, cafe and a small reptile house which is home to pygmy marmosets, reptiles amphibians etc. You then board the jeep again which takes you past the rhinos, gorillas and back to the starting point. Overall its well worth the money and has some great photo opportunities.
Bad Points of the zoo
Price - If your paying for the the food for the meerkats, the african experience it comes to a large amount, plus you have to buy your own map. It seems the zoos is overly desperate to get your pockets empty
Layout - I found the entrance layout quite longwinded, when you step outside the gift shop the sign directs you right for the tigers/lion and then left for the rest of the zoo, i found it weird for the big cats to be in a separate area. The walk to get to the actual animal collection is also very long and i felt very sorry for the many families i saw with pushchairs!
Map - The map in short was very badly labelled, half the animals seemed to be in the wrong place and the location of several enclosures on the path was very unclear causing a lot of confusion, dont worry if you cant find it because it is likely to be near by as we found out!
Gift shop - Yet another pricey zoo shop, what i found odd here was when you entered the park they forced you to walk through the shop immediately forcing kids to start searching through the shelves, bad planning if you ask me!
Fell free to ask any questions, Tigerlemurguy.
