Longleat Safari Park is located in Wiltshire, not far from the famous Stonehenge. We visited in late June 2003, and were impressed by the variety of entertainment on offer - the safari park is just one of the attractions including the stately home, gardens and grounds, a railway, the worlds longest hedge maze, plus numerous exhibitions. When you tour Longleat Safari Park, the first section you encounter is the East Africa game reserve. This enclosure contains giraffes, camels and zebras which are able to roam freely. The giraffes are Rothchild giraffes from Uganda, while the camels are from northern Kenya. Interesting fact: Giraffes have been known to go up to ten months without water! The second enclosure is the monkey jungle, and in this one you have to be prepared for the playful nature of the Rhesus monkeys which are prone to tampering with cars. They love trying to rip off windscreen wipers, wing mirrors etc. The monkeys actually have a well developed hierarchy, usually with a female at the top of the family. In this same enclosure you can see the water buffalo. In the big game park you'll see the White Rhino, which are not in fact white. The name came from Africaans meaning wide lipped. Interesting fact: a group of Rhinos are known as a crash! There are also camels from Asia, Oriks from Africa (whose horns can grow up to 1.5m!). The deer park is populated by both red and fallow deer. The fallow deer have been part of Longleat since the sixteenth century. You can also see deer roaming freely in Richmond Park in central London.The Lions and Tigers occupy two enclosures. A full grown tiger is about 3 metres from tongue to the tip of the tail, and are remarkably powerful. Longleat is lucky enough to have a white tiger, which are now rare in the wild. Unlike lions, tigers live alone.
