Running your own business means you have to be prepared to work long hours and even weekends, especially at the time of events, such as trade fairs or fashion weeks. But last weekend, despite the London Fashion Week being in full swing, I decided to treat myself to a rare day away from Caradiaz and take family and friends to Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent.

I must admit I was a bit worried about going on a Saturday, as I thought it might be too busy a day. But with an area that spreads out some 600 acres, the park is just perfect for those of you who, like myself, are somewhat averse to large crowds.

On arrival at the park, we took a look at the main site map and decided to skip the visit to the estate’s mansion and gardens and concentrate on the animals, which we thought the kids would enjoy more.

Our first sighting was a magnificent tiger, accompanied by a mummy tiger and her cubs. Unfortunately the high security fencing made it impossible to take decent photos but the adult tigers were stunning and the cubs playful and cute as you can imagine. The next enclosure was home to a pack of wolves that came quite close to the fence for a quick sniff but lost interest pretty quickly.

Shortly afterwards, we arrived at the so-called African Experience (highly recommended), where basically they put you in the back of a military-type of lorry and drive you the massive estate to spot all sorts of beautiful creatures, from ostriches to deer, antelopes, bisons, buffalos, rhinos, elephants, zebras and giraffes. These animals are roaming relatively free through the vast estate, although they do have boundaries and electrified fencing where required for safety reasons.

The first part of the drive was actually a bit boring, as the animals seemed to be in hiding but when we got to the highest point in the estate, the lorry dropped us off to enjoy the scenery (the views are stunning) and get some refreshments. That’s when things got exciting: a group of five or six giraffes came fairly close to us. It was amazing to see such beautiful animals so close and at total ease (unless, like New York-based publicist and blogger, Lauren Scott, you have been to Kenya(*) or another African country and have had the chance to experience the real thing – lucky you!).

Back on the lorry for the return journey, we drove past the same giraffes and as the lorry stopped so we could take a closer look and some photos, the giraffes decided to circle us casually and we were stuck amongst them for about ten minutes. What a hilarious moment! They were not at all worried, let alone threatening, they were just munching away at the tree leaves and would not move, despite the lorry’s horn and also the beeping noise the lorry made when the driver tried to reverse to get out. Eventually the giraffe blocking the front moved and we could get going again.

The rest of day was spent seeing the rest of the animals, including more big cats, small cats, chimps, gorillas and other apes. By 4pm we were exhausted, so we called it a day. But there are areas of the park we didn’t get to so we’ll definitely be back some time, maybe when we have friends with kids visiting as it’s a truly wonderful day out for both children and adults.

I still have a ‘real African safari’ noted down in my list of ‘things to do before I die’ but, for the time being, the experience at Port Lympne will do me fine.

Port Lympne Wild Animal Park is managed by the charitable organisation Aspinall Foundation. To learn more about the park or the animal rescue and rehabilitation projects carried out by the charity, please visit www.aspinallfoundation.org/portlympne

(*) You can read about Lauren’s Kenyan trip on LibertyLondonGirl’s blog

All pictures by Marisol Douglas