Next Level Hot Tubing Part 2 - Flamingo & Shark

So Holly kept stealing my hot tub inflatable hammock and so I decided to buy a pink one for her. Whilst hunting around on Amazon I found a twin set with a shark and flamingo which I thought is absolutely perfect for me and H. How lucky to find our two favourite animals in a pack. Needless to say Holly was very pleased (as was I as she no longer steals mine!).

I think Holly approves of the two new hot tub hammocks.

Just enough space in the hot tub to use 2 hammocks. So a 5 seater hot tub now becomes a 2 seater.

Port Lympne Bear Lodge Glamping Day 2

So day 2 of our little weekend break and started the day by heading back to Port Lympne to go on the Safari tour which we had missed on the Saturday. We rode in the back of an open sided lorry trailer for an hour long safari around part of the zoo which is not accessible by foot. The safari was pretty amazing and very informative. We managed to get some real close up encounters with many different types of animals. Probably the highlight of the safari was seeing the giraffes of which there must have been easily 9+ just roaming out in the wild.

Once we had completed our very hilly and bumpy safari we took a drive over to the sister zoo of Howletts. This zoo is much smaller than Port Lympe and definitely not as hilly - although the kids were all still complaining about their feet and legs due to the amount of walking done on day 1. 

Howlett's has a really impressive elephant enclosure, more wild cats, more rhinos, giant anteaters, European bison and LOTS of monkeys (especially Java monkeys which are apparently endangered yet appear in every other cage at Howlett's). Howlett's also has lots of large models of ice age animals to give you an idea of animals which once roamed the planet many, many years ago.

The weather wasn't quite as nice as day 1 and we had to take shelter at lunchtime to let a storm blow over, then on the way home the weather turned again. Overall though we had an amazing weekend away and all seemed to thoroughly enjoy our short glamping trip to Kent.

Teasing the kids with a golf kart whilst we wait for our safari tour.

Like on a school trip we were the naughty ones sitting at the back of the lorry.

Brandon enjoying the safari and trying to avoid photo's.

Holly and Tina sitting opposite me and Josh.

Nicky had the pleasure of Brandon's company on the safari.

More white rhino's. I learnt that white was translated for wide as they have a wide mouth (nothing to do with their colour).

More rhino.

And even closer to a rhino.

Amazing creatures that almost seem prehistoric.

Eat, sleep, roll in mud, repeat.

An ostrich out on the safari.

A beautiful deer resting in the long grasslands.

Many different species of deer, antelope, gazelle etc on the safari.

At one point we though we would only see the giraffes from a distant.

But we did manage to see some closer and they are amazing animals.

More giraffe.

Difficult to count how many their were as they were spread out a lot.

Another stunning photo from the safari.

A very rare albino deer.

A zebra out grazing in the grasslands.

Some views across the safari.

So much better to see these animals not caged up.

Very unusual facial markings.

It may not be an African safari, but it was still very enjoyable.

Nice looking beard.

Just casually walking alongside our safari lorry.

And the safari draws to an end back at the baboon enclosure.

They seemed to follow the lorry up the road.

At Howlett's one of the first animals we saw was another tiger.

Some sort of hog type animal which I can't remember the name of.

The elephant enclosure was massive and opened out onto some large fields.

Another lion.

The very unusual giant anteater.

Watching some of the elephants splashing around in a pool.

More of the elephants.

And more.

Beautiful colours and stripes. Funny shaped ears!

More of the lions.

And the tiger still prowling up and down.

Port Lympne Bear Lodge Glamping Day 1

Finally we managed to get away in 2021 for a short weekend break glamping in Port Lympne zoo in Kent. Glamping in a zoo is something we have had on our radar for a couple of years but just not got around to doing it because it was either booked or shut due to Covid. So as soon as we got a chance we booked an 8 birth glamping tent in the Bear Lodge for an overnight stay. As it was an 8 birth we also invited Nicky along with us (although she probably regrets it given how the kids behaved at times!).

The forecast for the weekend was pretty grim which wasn't great, but boy were we lucky with the weather. Heavy rain driving down to Kent and then blistering heat later in the day leaving everyone wishing they had shorts and t-shirts on. By the time we got to our glamping tent we were trying to take shade up the side of the tent to get out of the sun.

The zoo is "extremely" hilly and the kids were seriously cursing me for not hiring one of the golf buggies to get us around. Everyone had very tired feet by the end of the day! During the day we learnt that we cannot hold on to a bar longer than a gorilla, Port Lympne has the highest population of Rhino's outside of Africa, the Trojan steps are very aptly named, and that Joshua didn't know what a pessimist was? Probably the two highlights for me were the gorilla enclosure which is world class and secondly seeing four new born lion cubs playing and some adult lions being hand fed.

Our glamping tent was pretty special with loads of space for everyone plus we had a really nice meal in the Bear Lodge restaurant (prawns for starter and sirloin steak for main for me and Nicky!). We skipped desert as firstly everyone was full and secondly we planned on having smores by the camp fire later that evening. 

Anyway enough words, tonnes of pictures from today.

Pretty much first thing in the zoo is a wallaby walkthrough.

Port Lympne is known for having the largest population of rhinos outside of Africa.

The baboons were funny, even if they were XXX rated.

More of he baboon enclosure.

Port Lympne hotel.

Beautiful gardens with stunning flowers and animal statues.

More of the hotel.

By some miracle Brandon decided not to jump in this pond!

All 6 of us in the Port Lympne gardens.

Getting lost in a maze.

I can see a Holly, can she see an exit?

More monkeys.

Apparently gorillas can hang on for over 5 mins, I managed a minute, Brandon about 15 seconds.

The gorillas were fascinating to watch, and such an amazing enclosure for them.

Really makes you realise just how similar we are to gorillas when you sit and watch them for a wile.

Yum, eating grass.

Heading back to the hotel to find the trojan steps leading to the wild cats area of the zoo.

And this is the aptly named trojan steps (if you fancy a Rocky moment).

The tigers were awake and prowling up and down the cage allowing very close up views.

More of the tigers.

Brave zoo keeper hand feeding some lions through the cage.

The grumpy male lion looking for more food.

More feeding time.

We got nice and close to the adult lions but the cubs were playing too far away to get any good pictures.

Me and Brandon watching the lions.

Anyone for a bit of steak?

Check out the evil eyes on that dude (Scar ow what?).

He didn't look happy at not getting enough of the meat.

Some of the baby gorillas.

Another lion kept right down the far end of the zoo.

Brandon's favourite meerkats.

As we head back up the hill to go to our lodge we see even more rhinos.

Holly outside Bear Lodge reception.

Our glamping accommodation for the night.

Probably the best tent I have ever stayed in.

With a stunning view looking out over the zoo.

Resting our weary feet and trying to chill in the shade at the side of the tent.

All dressed up and ready for dinner.

Enjoying some drinks whilst waiting for our starters to come out.

And on the other side of the table.

After dinner and it is time to cook some smores.

That fire was pretty damn hot (especially when Holly accidentally through in a whole box of matches!).

Sitting around the fire eating smores.

After a long day we finally got Holly in to bed.

One very tired little girl.

Brandon and Josh enjoyed the top bunk beds in the camp.

In the morning I finally got a view of the bear outside our tent.

One of Nicky's pictures of us going down the Trojan steps.

More of our tent.

A log burner to keep us warm in the evening.

The hallway to our bedrooms

A happy me chilling in our lodge.

Very posh shower for a tent!

The toilet won't stay this clean with two teenage boys that still can't aim!

Looking out from the back of our tent.

Nicky's bedroom for the night.

One of the master bedrooms.

I think this might be Holly's first time in bunk beds.

You will eat a smore even if you are full up from dinner.

Me and H on smores duty.

All of us in the restaurant.

The living area of our tent.

Holly exploring the glamping tent.