Port Lympne Wild Animal Park

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Port Lympne Wild Animal Park" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Port Lympne Wild Animal Park
Date opened	1976
Location	Lympne, Kent, England (South Kent)
Land area	600 acres (240 ha)
No. of animals	650+
No. of species	50+

Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve near the town of Hythe in Kent, England is set in 600 acres (2.4 km²) and incorporates the historic Port Lympne Mansion, and landscaped gardens designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker, for Sir Philip Sassoon.

The estate with an Edwardian mansion near Lympne was purchased in 1973 by John Aspinall; the intent was to solve lack of space at the nearby Howletts Wild Animal Park. It was opened to the public in 1976. Since 1984 the animal parks have been owned by a charity (The John Aspinall Foundation, currently led by Damian Aspinall). The collection is known for being unorthodox, for the encouragement of close personal relationships between staff and animals, and for their breeding of rare and endangered species. The park now includes tigers, lions, leopards, gorillas, bears, giraffes and the UK's largest herd of black rhinos. The facility also plans to release some of the animals into the wild.^[1]

Royalty and many other famous people have stayed at the mansion at the centre of the park. The rooms are lavishly decorated and the landscaped gardens have views of Romney Marsh. Other accommodations are also provided in the Park, some in Lion Lodge, Tiger Lodge, Bear Lodge (glamping), Rhino Lodge, Treehouse Hotel, The Bubble, Hogdeer Creek, Giraffe Cottage, Giraffe Lodge (glamping), Pinewood (glamping), Wolf Lodge and Forest Hideaway.^[2][3][4] The latest accommodation options are Lion Lodge and the 20-bedroom Giraffe Hall.^[5]