Longleat safari park

Longleat safari park opened in 1966, and the 'Lions of Longleat'  became famous. It was the first drive through safari outside of Africa. The park is situated in the grounds of Longleat House, an English stately home in Wiltshire. The house is open to the public and is the home of the 7th Marquess of Bath.

Longleat Safari Park was the concept of Jimmy Chipperfield of Chipperfield's Circus. I went with my parents in 1967 -

We went back again in 1968 -

My next visit was 2016. And it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. There was so much to see as there are now so many types of animal. However it was a bitterly cold day in November and some of the animals had been brought in for the winter.

 These guineafowl were huddled by the fence because of the cold -

We then walked through the lemurs enclosure. The poor little things were so cold. Several were cuddled together in their boxes. I've seen lemurs in their native Madagascar in 1999.

 Mum keeping child warm with her tail -

Next was a walk through Wallaby Wood, but we only saw a few and they looked cold as well -

We then started the drive through the park.

Ankole cattle

zebra and gnu

nyala (?)

 The rhesus monkeys had fun climbing over cars -

We saw flamingos and vultures. Anne the elephant wasn't visible, she must have been in her warm house. The next enclosures was the big game park -

ostrich

 

oryx

deer

Bactrian camels

People could buy food for the red deer. The deer came to every car checking which one had food for them -

southern white rhino

pelicans

We then went through the security gates to the big cats. First was the tigers, they are Siberian tigers. Tigers are one of my favourite animals. I've never seen a wild one, despite having spent time looking for them in various places in India, in Nepal and in Malaysia. The closest I got was seeing very fresh foot prints in Malaysia. My story on chasing tigers and elephants.

Then we went into the lions enclosure. Longleat has 2 prides of African lions. It was their lunch time.

 Onto the cheetah kingdom -

 And lastly the Canadian timber wolves -

From here, we went to the house and gardens, and later to the festival of light.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission