Last Updated on 09/10/2024 by Alex Squire
Port Lympne is a 600-acre safari park, hotel, and wildlife reserve near Folkestone in Kent. Set atop a ridge, the park offers beautiful views over the surrounding fields and towns, and lush trees cover most of the site. The park has a wide variety of animals, including gorillas (including a baby), giraffes, rhinos, lions, orangutans, tigers, and zebras. Some of the animals are part of a breeding programme and are then released into the wild, helping with global conservation efforts.
A four-star hotel on site and various other accommodations allow guests to stay for a short time in the park. These include glamping pods and treehouses, some of which are accessible. I haven’t stayed there yet, so I can’t comment on them.
Some of the animals are in enclosures that you can walk around, and for some, you can get in a safari truck that drives you around other areas of the park. Some of the trucks are wheelchair accessible, which I will tell you about later.
My visit
Prior to visiting Port Lympne, I had booked an accessible safari the previous day, which was at about 2 o’clock. So we wandered around the park until then.
We stopped by the Tiger enclosure and saw them being fed what looked like part of a Deer. There were 2 tigers in adjacent cages, and they kept roaring at each other, probably because they thought that one would try to steal their food.
My favourite was the baby gorilla, which was only one year old. We saw it playing in its enclosure, running around and swinging on ropes. At one point, it seemed to be interested in a brick on the floor and kept drumming it. It was very cute.
The weather was very hot that day, but the numerous trees across the site provided ample shade. The whole site is very pleasant to walk around, and because there weren’t too many people, I found it quite relaxing. There were still a lot of animals I didn’t have time to see and other areas of the park. I’d like to go back another day to see more.
Accessibility
The park
In my opinion, Port Lympne’s wheelchair accessibility was good, but some things could be improved.
Some areas of the park were quite steep, so it may be tricky for people in manual chairs to negotiate. I am not sure how much that could be improved because the reserve is built on top of a ridge, and there are natural hills.
All the pathways are tarmac and easy for me to drive over. There were ramps to get into places like shops or cafés and up to animal enclosures. Whenever there was a hill, there seemed to be ramps going down it rather than stairs, making it accessible for everyone.
Port Lympne’s website has a lot of accessibility information, which is good to see. It talks about the terrain, accessible safaris, and animal experiences.
There is also a helpful table comparing the accessibility of Port Lympne with Howlett’s and Wingham Wildlife Park, which are sister parks to Port Lympne.
However, I wish they had a Changing Places toilet on site, as disabled visitors could use it or get changed if they needed a hoist. If disabled visitors are going to spend the whole day at the park, which they probably would, a Changing Places toilet is required.
Safari experience
I was most looking forward to going on a safari experience on accessible trucks. These were old army trucks which were converted to be able to accommodate a wheelchair.
Some of them have a lift on the back, and some of the seats inside have been removed to create space. There were also clamping points and seat belts for wheelchair users.
I love the fact that they have made the effort to make the trucks accessible for wheelchair users. However, the experience for wheelchair users could be improved.
I had to be clamped down in the centre of the truck, whereas everyone else was sitting on seats on either side of it. So they got a better view than I did as they were closer to the windows. Other people obstructed my view. My only unobstructed view was immediately to my left and right, which was not easy to see. If I had been sitting at the side like everybody else, then I would have had a better view.
However, I did see some animals, mainly the bigger ones, because the smaller ones were more difficult for me to see. I saw giraffes, zebras, deer, rhinos, and others, which was a good experience.
The safari ride was very bumpy as the road had some potholes, so it was good that I was strapped down tightly.
Conclusion
Port Lympne Safari Park is a wonderful place to visit in Kent. The surroundings are beautiful and lush, and there is plenty to see. I didn’t have time to see everything, so you would probably need to return another day or consider staying overnight. The park is generally accessible for disabled people, but there is room for improvement, particularly with the safari trucks and adding a changing places toilet. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my visit, and I will definitely be returning in the future.
