Longleat is a stately home in Somerset and is the seat of the Marquesses of Bath. It is known for its Elizabethan country home, maze, landscaped parklands and of course its Safari Park. It was the first stately home to open to the public, and the first Safari Park outside Africa.
Longleat Safari Park opened in 1966 as the first drive through safari park outside Africa and is home to over 500 animals including giraffe, monkeys, rhino, lion, tigers and wolves. For those who are familiar with the TV show Animal Park, will know Longleat. Longleat is where the programme was filmed and is what made me want to visit. I have had the pleasure of visiting twice now and it was just as beautiful the second time as the first (though my photography skills have improved since then!).
Animal Park was first broadcast back in 2000 and follows the lives of the animals, keepers, the day-to-day running of the safari park and running of the house. Some of the animals captured the hearts of the viewers including one of my favourites Nico, a Silverback Gorilla. Sadly Nico wasn't there on my latest visit has he died in 2018 at the age of 56 years old.
The weather was against us on this visit but for October what did we expect? It was cold and wet with torrential rain at times so shooting conditions were not the best and some of the animals decided it just wasn't worth coming out to play. The giraffes decided to stay in their hut at the top of the hill and Anne the rescued Elephant decided to stay in doors too but there was still plenty to see.
The forecast said it would be heavy rain in the morning with sunshine and showers in the afternoon so with this been spot on we decided to do the Jungle cruise first with hopes of seeing the gorillas, sea lions and hippos. The gorillas were been sensible and stayed indoors and though we did spy the hippos I didn't get a decent enough photo to show. But the sea lions came alongside the boat for some fish. From the boat you get a good glimpse of the house and many water birds. After the boat trip we decided it was best to keep dry and so made our way back to the car, though the house gardens to go on the safari.
The website boasts "Wind up your windows. Hide all the sandwiches. You’re going on a safari tour that’s wilder, furrier and growlier than you ever dared imagine."
We drove to the African Village which has refreshments, gift shops and toilet facilities and should have a walking safari but due to Covid this part was closed so we didn't get to walk through the lemurs. This is also the where the giraffes should have been but the lady at the refreshment stand told me that they refused to walk down the hill from their enclosure that morning and with the torrential rain shower that happened I could not blame them.
So we wasn't expecting much on our drive around with the weather, thinking that the animals will be sheltering from the rain. But the sun peaked out and ended up with some good photos.
The map of the route shows which animals we would hopefully be seeing.
Monkey Mayhem is worth taking a trip around though you can bypass if you want to keep your car intact. Monkey Mayhem consists of a troupe of rhesus macaques which are highly intelligent, inquisitive and mischievous but are also incredibly cute. We managed to come away with all car parts in place and in working order.
Big Game Park was next which homes some Bactrian camels, scimitar horned oryx, ostriches, Ankole cattle and white Rhino's. Sadly the Rhino were not roaming free but we still got a glimpse. The sun was shining and so more and more animals ventured out.
Now we moved into more dangerous territory and entered the tiger enclosure. Up until 2019 there was 2 separate streaks of Tigers at Longleat. One was made up of 3 Siberian sisters where one died during a medical procedure, the eldest died of cancer and the third was killed by the other, younger group of Amur tigers.
But it wasn't all sad news in 2019 as also in this year, saw the first tiger cubs to be born at park in over 20 years. We didn't notice 4 tigers in the enclosure when we drove through, we only saw 2 so unsure who we saw but they were still magnificent.
Lion County is home to 2 separate prides of African Lions. These big pussy cats were one of the first attractions when the park first opened and is still one of the star attractions today. There is a massive 28 lions at Longleat. 2016 brought the 50th anniversary of the parks opening which saw investment to the lion enclosures. Both groups are in six and a half hectare enclosures. The website states "...our lions will now have free access to both their indoor and outdoor areas throughout the day and night, making us one of the first zoological collections in Europe to provide round-the-clock outdoor access to its big cats"
From the big cats to the big dogs as we headed to wolf wood. Wolf Woods is home to a pack of grey wolves. Wolves are highly sociable animals and live in family groups. We found the pack snoozing under the trees which is common as they are known to be more active during the night or early morning. The wolves brought us to the end of the drive through safari but not the end of the day as there is lots more to see and do in the park as we head off to the main square.
Main Square is where you find the food court, playground, maze and the smaller animal attractions like koala Creek, animal adventure and jungle kingdom. Due to covid a lot of exhibits were closed but all I wanted to see was the koalas. Though Isaac was disappointed that we couldn't see the crocodiles.
Koala's are the newest inhabitants of Longleat that arrived in 2019. There is currently 5 koalas at Longleat who are hoping to boost the koala breeding program. Koala numbers are decreasing rapidly due to disease and habitat loss. It has been estimated there are fewer than 100,000 koalas in their native Australia. The numder could be even less after the devastating bushfires last year.
Last animals before the rain came back were the parrots. These were so pretty.
I would highly recommend visiting Longleat. Its a great day out for all the family though I do need to go back again as I haven't been inside the house on either visit.
Although I ended up with some good shots the conditions were hard. Not every photo you take is going to be perfect. The more photos you take, the more you learn and the better you get.
Thanks for reading, as always.
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