Howletts Wild Animal Park
Howletts Wild Animal Park
Bekesbourne
Kent CT4 5EL
Tel: 0870 750 4647
About Howletts Wild Animal Park
This Wild Animal Park, at Bekesbourne, near Canterbury, in Kent, is a fantastic family attraction that is a site of great devotion for conservationists and animal lovers alike.
With its origins dating back over 50 years to the founding of an animal collection by Sir John Aspinall, in 1957, Howletts Wild Animal Park offers a great family day out. In 1973, he added the impressive Port Lympne Wild Animal Park (details of which can be found at the Howletts Wild Animal Park website) to help house a growing menagerie that, taken together, now numbers over 1000 animals and some 90 species, most of them rare and endangered. This is usually because of the actions of Man in the natural environments in which the animals originate, whether hunting for hides and horns, as in the case of African and Asian rhino and tigers, or due deforestation in the Americas and the Far East, as in the case of the Malaysian tapir. Howletts Wild Animal Park offers a sanctuary, both for the animals, and as a wonderful family day out.
The 90 acre site of Howletts Wild Animal Park offers the chance for visitors to enjoy a beautiful ancient parkland that is a year-round family attraction, closed only on Christmas Day – to give the animals, and their Keepers, a rest. They are on hand to chat as part of the ticket entry to Howletts Wild Animal Park, and they can fill visitors in about the UK's largest herd of African elephants and point out successes such as several new births in recent years, bringing the total of the herd to sixteen. Indeed, three cows have been transferred to Howletts Wild Animal Park’s sister site of Port Lympne, along with a bull named Kruger from Knowsley Safari Park, with the aim of growing the population and gene pool, as well as adding to an already impressive family attraction. Indeed, Howletts Wild Animal Park is currently home to no fewer than 12 elephants, and the expansion to Port Lympne bodes well for the future.
Another major element making Howletts Wild Animal Park such a family attraction is the Walk through the lemur enclosure, which is, like all the other features, included in the entry ticket. You can forget Walking With Dinosaurs – you should try Walking With Lemurs! And you’ll soon be one up on your friends, as the playful creatures skitter about and have you in stitches. (Though for all those of the terrible-lizard bent, there’s a Jurassic Mine to explore too – if you dare!)
Further adding to Howletts Wild Animal Park’s credentials as an all-round fun family attraction are a glass-fronted tiger enclosure, a whoop of gorillas, numerous clouded leopards, monkeys, tapirs, giant anteaters, macaques and other rare and endangered species from around the world.
On of the highlights of the ticket to Howletts Wild Animal Park is the Black Rhino breeding sanctuary that features a walk alongside their enclosure and a chance to see conservation in action, with innovative work in protecting and breeding wild animals even as reticent as the rhino. This work of Howletts Wild Animal Park is detailed in the Education Centre and also includes co-operative ventures with two gorilla rescue and rehabilitation projects in the central African states of Gabon and Congo, where over 50 gorillas have been reintroduced to the wild, making both a major family attraction. Indeed, the Park houses the world's largest group of gorillas in human care (60+).
At Howletts Wild Animal Park there are also lots of tigers, wolves, wild dogs, anteaters, rare small monkeys and cats to see, as well as gibbons, deer, antelope, bison, tapir and a recently opened Lion Tailed Macaque enclosure, not to mention the rare sight of pacing Sumatran tigers and foraging Iberian Wolves.
The variegated family attraction that is Howletts Wild Animal Park additionally includes a restaurant, pizzeria, refreshment kiosks, picnic areas, gift shops, a mystic cave of gems and an adventure playground, which are all included in the ticket. And if the weather threatens a perfect family day out, then there are Keeper talks and the Education centre to visit, where the work of The Aspinall Foundation registered charity and Howletts Wild Animal Park is explained in detail. Indoor enclosures where the animals can seek shelter in inclement weather can also be visited as part of the entry ticket, and have proven a favourite perennial family attraction.
The Howletts Wild Animal Park ticket also offers plenty of free parking, while toilets are located at various points around the park and marked on the map, and seasonal entertainments and activities for all the family are provided, ensuring a perfect family day out.
To add to the fun, another linked family attraction, Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, near Hythe, houses the bulk of the largest breeding herd of Black Rhinoceros outside Africa and a family group of Gorillas that are fed every day at noon in the world's largest gorillarium, The Palace Of The Apes. Have your family day out with theirs!
Also, for a small charge over the ticket entry to Howletts Wild Animal Park, there are a number of Safaris to ensure an action-packed family day out, whether walking or in jeeps, early in the day or at dusk, from 90 minutes to a full day or even overnight. Bespoke packages can include sumptuous meals and The African Experience! takes in giraffe, zebra and Wildebeest roaming the plain, providing great photo opportunities to capture wildlife in the raw, without the risk of tse-tse fly bites or malaria! There’s even an option of staying the night at the Livingstone Safari Lodge. Details can be gained from Howletts Wild Animal Park, and whether your family day out is to one or both Parks, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more exhilarating family attraction.
A visit to Howletts Wild Animal Park should take a few hours and make for a leisurely, captivating, exciting family day out. Just the ticket for animal lovers young and old!