T

ell someone you’re going on a safari in Kent and chances are they’ll eye you suspiciously. “What do you expect to see?” They’ll guffaw. “Dogs and cats? The occasional urban fox?”

Let them laugh it up because at the Port Lympne Wild Animal Park near Hythe, more than a 1,000 animals roam free including elephants, giraffes and buffaloes.

As unlikely as it may seem, a piece of Africa thrives in the Home Counties thanks to the vision of conservationist John Aspinall who used the 600-acre estate as a haven for endangered animals.

The safari experience includes a stopover in a safari tent at the Livingstone Lodge where you can hear the call of the wild all around you. It’s also the base from which you take two safari excursions – one in the evening and one at dawn.

You travel out in jeep, driving past giraffes, elephants, red lechwes and even a black rhino. You’ll be glad to know there’s a secure enclosure for the carnivores such as lions, tigers, and cheetahs.

Where else in the UK can you wake up to the sound of zebras slurping from the waterhole or look out a window to see giraffes ambling past?

When you experience the sights and sounds of the Serengeti on the south coast, you’ll be the one that’s laughing.