You might be forgiven for assuming that our first night time away from our new child could be a fairly wild affair.
And also you’d be proper.
My husband and I peep out from beneath the rumpled covers, eyes extensive.
A low grumble builds into a protracted, hair-raising roar. Someplace close by, a handful of lions are letting Kent know they’re hungry.
We’re shut sufficient to snack on — have been it not for an electrical fence. We’re tenting within the new Lookout Bubble, a clear domed abode that sits metres from Europe’s largest lion enclosure.
Hannah Summers and her husband take pleasure in ‘a fairly wild affair’ staying on the new Lookout Bubble (pictured) at Port Lympne wildlife reserve in Kent
Having been on a safari in Africa, Hannah wonders whether or not seeing lions, rhinos and giraffes beneath a dreary UK sky could be slightly underwhelming. ‘Not so,’ she concludes
Port Lympne is a wildlife reserve previously owned by the late zoo and on line casino tycoon John Aspinall.
Whereas South-East England is an unlikely habitat for the rhinos, tigers, gorillas and lions, that is their patch.
A workforce of 57 keepers work to guard them day and night time, earlier than rewilding many of their pure habitats, together with Tanzania and Indonesia.
You may take a truck safari or wander between enclosures stuffed with tigers, baboons and ostriches on a day go to.
Or, in case you keep in a single day, there’s an opportunity to sleep in wigwams or treehouses — sensible for households. However the Lookout Bubble was constructed with a extra romantic agenda in thoughts.
The see-through dome is kitted out luxuriously, with a big mattress draped in cosy throws
The dome incorporates a freestanding tub with geranium-scented Bamford tub soak
Hannah’s neighbours are a pair of northern lynx with fluffy fur and enormous eyes, snoozing on the department of a tree
The Bubble seems out throughout the Kentish countryside
The see-through dome is kitted out luxuriously, with a big mattress draped in cosy throws, freestanding tub with geranium-scented Bamford tub soak, fiddle-leaf fig vegetation and cozy armchairs.
The rainshower and bathroom are discreetly tucked behind a zip-up panel.
Whereas it’s tempting to bury ourselves underneath the cover, you don’t go on safari to sleep.
Lookout Bubble bookings include an electrical golf buggy, so we whizz alongside paths mapped out on the 600 acres of Kent savannah.
Our neighbours are a pair of northern lynx with fluffy fur and enormous eyes, snoozing on the department of a tree, as howler monkeys hoot and scream close by.
We’ve been on safari in Africa, and I had questioned whether or not seeing lions, rhinos and giraffes beneath a dreary UK sky could be slightly underwhelming. Not so.
In truth, it’s an opportunity to witness wildlife shut up: each crinkle on the rhinos’ backs, each thick lengthy lash over the giraffes’ eyes. On the giraffe safari, the ranger tells us how the animals’ tongues can develop as much as half a metre lengthy.
On the giraffe safari, Hannah remembers being advised by the ranger how the animals’ tongues can develop as much as half a metre lengthy
On the park, you may wander between enclosures stuffed with tigers and ostriches on a day go to
The giraffes sway in direction of the four-wheel drive and, inches from our faces, their tongues curl across the branches in our fingers to allow them to feed on the leaves.
Later, we go to Rosie the rhino, who has lived right here since 2011. I feel again to a rhino I’d seen in Tanzania, at a reserve cherished by the Obamas and Oprah Winfrey.
It had spent a lot of its youth on this very paddock at Port Lympne, and was one of many eight black rhinos that had been rewilded.
Close by is the Gorilla Expertise — a few of the nice apes have tiny infants. ‘This one is understood for throwing sticks,’ Helen, the ranger, warns us. She’s labored right here for greater than 20 years and has helped to rewild greater than 70 gorillas.
Whereas South East England is an unlikely habitat for the rhinos, gorillas and lions, that is their patch, writes Hannah
We toss greens into the cages for the larger apes, earlier than the smaller ones scoop up the scraps.
Then onto the most effective bit: the large cats. We spot a tiger with large paws and lengthy whiskers sprawled languorously throughout a log.
Later, we experience a relaxed meal of steaks, brownies and purple wine, earlier than navigating the pitch-black park in our golf buggy.
Tucked up in mattress I hear the low rumble of a lion. It’s the very last thing I hear earlier than I drift off. Undisturbed sleep. The hallmark of a wonderful night time away.
