Giraffe Safari & Unit 1
Sunday. Time for another outing with the Steely-Eyed Ninja Speed Walkers; this time, we returned to the Royal Military Canal in Hythe. Starting at Unit 1, we followed the canal west along the perimeter of the Port Lympne Safari Park. The ground rises sharply to the north along a ridge that was once the ancient shoreline of Romney Marsh. It is along this escarpment that Port Lympne Reserve occupies some 600 acres of what the park's own literature describes, with reasonable accuracy, as Kentish savannah.
The estate has a long and somewhat varied history. The Edwardian mansion at its centre was built for Sir Philip Sassoon in the early twentieth century, with landscaped gardens designed by the architect Sir Herbert Baker.
John Aspinall purchased the property in 1973 — primarily to relieve pressure on his existing animal collection at Howletts Wild Animal Park near Canterbury — and opened it to the public in 1976. Since 1984, the park has operated under the auspices of the Aspinall Foundation, a registered charity now led by Damian Aspinall, with a stated focus on the breeding and reintroduction of endangered species.
Port Lympne is careful to distinguish itself from a conventional zoo, and the distinction is at least partially warranted. The reserve holds the UK's largest breeding herd of black rhinoceros, and its conservation credentials extend well beyond the perimeter fence: over 60 western lowland gorillas have been reintroduced to protected areas of Central Africa, and the Foundation manages rewilding programmes spanning gorillas, black rhino, Javan gibbons, and European bison. The park also houses tigers, lions, leopards, giraffes, and a large collection of primates — the Palace of the Apes, its gorillarium, is reportedly the largest in the world.
From the canal path, the reserve is largely invisible behind the ridge, though there is something quietly surreal about walking this peaceful stretch of Napoleonic-era waterway knowing that a breeding herd of black rhino grazes the hillside just out of sight above. From the footpath, we could see Common Eland, one of the largest species of antelope, grazing in their field, and even caught a glimpse of a few zebra.
A few kilometres along the trail, there’s a public footpath leading into the grounds of the park, which provides a little free giraffe-spotting as it passes right next to their enclosure. It’s a steep path, and very muddy in winter, but luckily we’ve had enough dry weather lately to make it viable. After the walk, about 6.5 km in total, we stopped for lunch at Unit 1 before heading home. Thanks to Tamara, Caroline, Charlotte and Bento for joining the walk today.
Unit 1, Riverside Craft Centre, West Hythe Road, West Hythe
Postcode: CT21 4NB
From the B2067 Hythe–Lympne road, turn off into West Hythe. Unit 1 is at the Riverside Craft Centre on the south bank of the Royal Military Canal. Street parking is available nearby on West Hythe Road. No direct public transport to West Hythe; Sandling railway station is approximately 3 km.
