We are closed
Coronavirus update: 4th January 2021 - In light of the recent government announcement placing the UK under alert level 5 and the reinstatement of a nationwide lockdown, we have closed Howletts Wild Animal Park and Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve to the public. We are awaiting further government guidance and will work to reopen both parks to guests as soon as it is appropriate to do so.
As a charity, we appreciate your support and understanding. This is an unprecedented situation and during these incredibly challenging times we ask you to consider donating to our Animal Support Fund and contribute towards the feeding and care of our animals.
Donate to animal support fundDay Visitors
How Can You Help?
Day Visitors
We are awaiting further government guidance and will work to reopen the both parks to guests as soon as it is appropriate to do so. If you have tickets pre-booked, a member of our team will be in touch. However, we will do all we can to bring the parks to you! Visit this page for live streaming webcams, light-hearted animal videos and fun educational resources.
How Can You Help?
As a registered charity, The Howletts Wild Animal Trust relies on short break bookings, ticket sales, memberships and donations to operate. Despite the closure, our keepers and vets will continue to work incredibly hard to continue to deliver an excellent level of care to all of our animals.
It costs us £300,000 a week to operate Howletts and Port Lympne. Without the support of our guests, visitors and members, we are facing an unprecedented crisis. We implore you to consider donating to our Animal Support Fund by texting ANIMAL to 70300 to donate £3 or by visiting this page. Any donation, no matter how small, will help us to keep look after our animals.
VISIT KENT'S AWARD WINNING WILDLIFE ATTRACTION
See conservation in action at Howletts
Visit Howletts, Kent's original wildlife park, it's a unique adventure like no other! As a dedicated animal conservation charity, your visit directly helps us to protect wildlife here in the UK which, in turn, enables us to send animals back to the wild in conjunction with The Aspinall Foundation.
Our commitment to conservation, through captive breeding, education and reintroduction into the wild allows us to gain a greater understanding of some of the world’s most fragile environments and the endangered animals that live there.
Great days out
The animals
Howletts is home to over 390 animals, including Kent’s only giant anteaters, the largest herd of African elephants in the UK, and more gorillas, leopards and monkeys than any zoo in the county, Howletts offers a fun packed, wild day out for a great price!
Visit our popular amur tiger, Arina and see our family of western lowland gorillas. There are so many rare and endangered animals waiting to meet you! With new babies arriving throughout the year, there’s always something new to see.
Learn more about our animals here.
Your day out
Explore a 90-acre adventure in beautiful ancient parkland that is ideal for great days out in Kent with the entire family. No gimmicks, no nonsense, Howletts Wild Animal Park is committed to one thing, the conservation, breeding and reintroduction of rare and endangered animals.
Over 30 years later, our mission remains the same!
Join in our free animal talks, watch our animals being fed and visit our education centre, all included free with your entry ticket. Why not pay us a visit and see why we keep winning a TripAdvisor certificate of excellence year after year?
Your visit will directly help our charitable work continue.
Book online to save up to 15% and get access to our wet weather policy!
How your visit helps
Your ticket will help to fund not only the care of the animals here at Howletts Wild Animal Park but will also support our overseas projects. Thanks to the generosity of visitors like you, we - in conjunction with The Aspinall Foundation (charity number 326567) - have released more than 70 gorillas back to the wild and our released gorillas have had over 35 wild births! In Indonesia, we have released 33 Javan gibbons, 12 Javan grizzled langurs and 90 Javan ebony langurs. The Indonesian primates have over 30 wild births. We have also transferred 8 black rhino from our Kent parks to Africa, who have produced 25 offspring between them.
Explore: Animals of the Ice Age!
Discover a world lost in time, as you marvel at the life size prehistoric creatures taking over the Woodland Walk. Wonder at the mighty mammoth, stare at the savage sabre toothed Smilodon and delight at the sheer size of the giant sloth, plus many more. Our mighty outdoor exhibition, is the coolest thing in Canterbury!
Find out more
Walking with Lemurs
You can walk alongside our lively lemurs in their natural leafy enclosure as the playful primates explore the branches overhead. See ring tailed lemurs, crowned and red-bellied lemurs in this ever popular walk-through lemur experience found in the heart of Kent – it’s a must visit!
Extra experiences
Make your day out even more special with a close encounter with your favourite animal, or see the park from a monkey's perspective when you tackle the Treetop Challenge high ropes course!
Memberships
Book your Season Pass or Annual Park Membership online today and enjoy exclusive benefits just for you, while being part of real conservation that makes a huge difference to countless endangered animals from all over the world.
Get your membershipTripadvisor
Amazing day out!
We went expecting a small and relatively quick day out, but this place is full of lovely surprises and amazing animals! The best day out I had while we were in the area of Canterbury!!
Tripadvisor
Another fantastic day out.
Have been lucky to visit here and sister park Port Lympne many times. Every time see something new. Listened to the goriila talk and the rhino talk given by Emily, very interesting. Lucky to watch the baby rhino Mizzy? with her mum. So sweet .
Tripadvisor
What a great park!
We were the 2nd customers through the door just after Christmas and it was perfect. We had the Park almost to ourselves and even better all the animals were out having just been fed. Within 5 minutes we had seen 2 magnificent Black Rhino and several African Elephants at close quarters.
