We are into week 5 of the Summer holidays (not that I\u2019m counting or anything) and I have to say time is going by superfast. With a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old to entertain, I have jam packed our days with activities, play dates, sports camps, swimming camps, you name it!<\/p>\n
One of the most memorable activities we have done so far has been our stay at Port Lympne. You may remember I wrote about it in last years column when we stayed at Tiger Lodge. This year we booked Lion Lodge which was an even more incredible experience. The lodge itself is the most luxurious of all the accommodation at Port Lympne. It is an open plan, timber-clad, Manhatten loft-style building, with two bedrooms, a lounge area, kitchenette and chic bathroom complete with Bamford products. Not to mention the huge gardens with stunning views of the Kentish coast. The lounge area and downstairs bedroom offers panoramic views of the lion\u2019s habitat. We were lucky enough to occasionally spot the two beautiful African lions; Wilma and Zulu. They were not as frequent as the tigers last year, most likely because lions sleep for around 18 hours a day!<\/p>\n
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With this type of room, you also get access to your own golf buggy for the duration of the stay and a safari tour included. You can even drive around in the golf buggy after park closure hours which is lots of fun!<\/p>\n
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My favourite feature of this room is the Scandinavian style outdoor bath which is built to overlook the lions and their habitat\u2026a truly unique experience! Unfortunately, the lions did not join us during our bath time. I had to remind myself that they are animals after all and whether or not they decided to hang out near the bath was up to them.<\/p>\n
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The thing I love about Port Lympne is that it is so different from a conventional zoo. It is a reserve, so they aim to breed, nurture and release many endangered species back into their natural habitat in protected reserves. By staying here you are essentially helping this to happen. For example, they have managed to release 70 gorillas back into the wild and have transferred 8 black rhinos back to Africa who have produced 25 offspring between them.<\/p>\n
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This year we decided to do a giraffe encounter which included a really informative talk, an off-road trip into the Kentish Savannah and feeding the giraffes from the jeep. This was one of the most incredible experiences ever!<\/p>\n
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During these sorts of trips I am always wanting to take a million pictures but also conscious not to spend too much time on my phone. Having been so busy in the holidays and focusing on the children, I have been spending less time on Instagram which has actually been rather nice. The way Instagram is heading right now is more like Tik-Tok, full of reels and adverts that frankly I\u2019m just not interested in. What happened to just seeing pictures of your friends?! Don\u2019t get me wrong I\u2019m all for looking at a bit of inspiration for fashion, interiors and recipes, but I\u2019m just finding it all too staged and forced at the moment.<\/p>\n
As the algorithm started to change, I tried to fit in by creating a \u2018get ready with me reel\u2019 but then realised it just wasn\u2019t me. I pride myself on keeping it real. I always said to myself that everything I post on Instagram is what I actually get up to and that wouldn\u2019t change whether Instagram existed or not.<\/p>\n
So as Instagram is changing, I am going to make sure that I stick to doing what I do best and keeping it real, taking snaps and videos as I go with the flow, just like the animals at Port Lympne!<\/p>\n
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We are into week 5 of the Summer holidays (not that I\u2019m counting or anything) and I have to say time is going by superfast. With a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old to entertain, I have jam packed our days with activities, play dates, sports camps, swimming camps, you name it! One of the most memorable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"yoast_head":"\n